7/5 "Wait... This trip is costing me how much?!"

We got up just before 5 AM after about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. We brought our luggage down, loaded it into our awaiting taxi, and headed to the train station.

We had about 30 mins. so Chris and I ran to a coffee shop to get breakfast- chocolate croissants. We hurried back and were soon on the train. It was a pretty long ride. We got off, switched trains, got on another one and were headed to our next destination- Zermatt! On the train ride I started to do some math. I started to add up all the costs of the trip- flights, hotels, trains, taxis, food... My list kept growing thanks to losing my passport and having to pay to change my flight and rush a new passport. As my list kept getting longer and my number kept getting bigger, I had to stop. I was starting to realize I may have gotten a little over my head. 5 weeks is a long time to travel, especially since every move you make costs something, including going pee! No joke! I then just had to realize that I should just enjoy myself and worry about it later... because there was no point pouting about it! So I got over it and enjoyed my view of the Alps as we made our way to Zermatt!

It took about 7 hours to get to Zermatt from Spello. Once we got to the train station, we had a mini electric car with a trailer pick is up and take us to our hotel. Cool side note: no cars are allowed in Zermatt. Only battery powered vehicles! No gas stations!

We got to our hotel and unloaded our stuff. We got our rooms assigned: I had a one bed room by myself that looked like a dorm, Chris and Combes shared a room, and Bruce and Renee and my parents have what looks like mini apartments facing the Matterhorn. We took some awesome pictures outside their rooms.

A couple hours later we met up and walked around town to find a place to eat. We found "The Brown Cow" pub and we ordered delicious chili cheese dogs and fries. Not having eaten all day meant our food was gone within 2 mins. Afterward we walked around the cool town. There are tons of sport shops, restaurants, watch shops, and Swiss army knife shops. Everything there, including most restaurants, is crrrrazy expensive!!! To give you an idea: a mcd's big mac meal is about $14!!! Yeah. No thanks.

It was interesting to see the people who visit this resort town: Americans, Swiss, Brits, and tons and tons of Asians. Everyone who visits here looks like they just stepped out of an REI magazine with their hiking boots, backpacks, Nordic walking sticks, and cargo pants.

Another interesting part of Zermatt, aside from the ridiculously amazing
mountain views that put Tahoe to shame, is a small cemetery where people, mainly twenty something year old guys, are buried. They all died while trying to climb one of the mountains. The youngest guy in the bunch was only 17! Once you look up and see the mountains, you can see what a challenge they all would have faced.

It was nice going back to my to thw hotel after dinner to take a shower and go to bed in my very own room. I laid out my hiking clothes for the next day and decided 11 was a good time to go to bed.