After a 7 hour train, bus and train journey from Venice, we arrived in Zermatt, and the journey was worth every minute of it. Zermatt has a completely different look, feel, atmosphere than all the other places we have been. Its hard to describe really, but it leaves you uplifted and energized.
Zermatt is a small village at the top of a valley and at the foot the famous Matterhorn mountain, right near the border to Italy. Although the Matterhorn is a majestic mountain at 4478 m, it's not the highest in Switzerland. Mount Rosa takes that honor at 4634m, and its situated quite close to the Matterhorn, on the same ski fields, and the same mountain range as Mount Blanc in France.
Zermatt was first used as a trade route by the Romans from as early as 100BC. Since about the mid to late 1800's, its been the gateway to the the Matterhorn and Mount Rosa for the mountain climbers and provides all year round excellent snow skiing. In fact, right now the Swiss national ski team are training on some black runs right under the Matterhorn.
For a small village, there is heaps to see and do. Aside from the obvious snow skiing and mountain hiking through the numerous trails, there is also a glacier at the top of the mountain range that you can walk through (see pics) and Gorner Gorge which is about a 15 minute walk from Zermatt along mountain cliff edges, rope bridges etc.
The village is quite cutesie, traditional alpine with the odd goat herd wondering through the town.
We took a ski lift right to the top, at around 4000 meters. The views are just spectacular and so was the temperature, of which our jumpers and long pants were no match. A quick trip to the ski shop and many Swiss Francs later, we were ready to play, in our gloves, beanie and jackets.
There was heaps of snow up there along with skiers. We took a quick toboggan ride and rumbled with the kids in the snow (snow fights are a must!), only to discover that the air/oxygen is pretty thin up here. After just a few minutes of play I was pooped and started to feel a bit dizzy. I've never felt that before and it was a weird feeling, made me appreciate what mountain climbers must go through.
After a brief rest we descended 15 meters into the heart of a permanent glacier and stroll through some of the many tunnels, which was coo l- actually it was bloody freezing in there, even with our snow gear on, but well worth the experience.
By now the girls had had enough and made there way back to the village, while Henry and I got off halfway down to explore the mountain trails and mountain lake in amongst the snow. We found a spot, high on a ledge, sat down and swung our legs over the edge and just admired the alps for a good half hour. From here we could see the Matterhorn, Mount Rosa and many other breathe taking mountains. Felt like we were on the roof of the world. What we didn't realize at the time was that we were at the highest point a ski lift will take you in Europe!
 
What an awesome day. After all that we were pretty knackered. Had an early dinner which included a meat fondue ( common on, were in Switzerland - cut me some slack), and after dropping the kids back to the apartment Shirley and I found an cool bar (Bar 55), and indulged in a couple of cocktails - Caipiroska for me and a Cosmopolitan for Shirl, which I have to say we're the best We have ever had, which was a fitting way to end our absolutely perfect experience in Zermatt.
 
After all that walking and hiking, I have chalked up a total of 385k steps or 300km walked and climbed a total of 738 stories of stairs, that's nearly 2.5 Kms up and down. 

Tomorrow we head back to Paris for some R&R before we head home. There is always more to see in Europe, but to be honest, we are a little travel fatigued and need a rest. No better place to do that from than in our favorite city away from home.