Arising today to a promising morning, we proceeded to start out for a drive to see the Matterhorn. This requires some assurance that the clouds won't totally obscure it as the trip is long. We set out to come down off the Crans-Montana elevation into Sierre. From there we drove east to Visp and then south to Tasch where we parked the car and boarded a cog-driven train up to the village of Zermatt. From there we boarded another shuttle train to Gornergrat at an a...

A very pleasant surprise greeted us this morning with sunshine and clear blue skies after the gloomy yesterday. Taking advantage of the opportunity for good views of the surrounding Alps, we set out in the car for Val d'Anniviers, a beautiful valley south of Crans-Montana and south of the Rhone. We drove to the village of Zinal at the end of the road and stopped for a coffee. Along the way were charming chalets and dairy farms on the valley slopes and breathtakin...

Another surprise greeted the morning today. Snow! Light snow came all morning and covered the trees and lawns. Temperature was around 3 Celsius (35 F). The snow melted before noon. Lazy morning was followed by lunch in the village at 'Le Chalet'. Marie then drove to a place where she showed me a Bisse du Rho which channels water from a lake to where it is needed for cattle. Our sightseeing included a visit and coffee at a dog school and kennel. We took dinner i...

We awoke this morning to fog and rain. The fog was actually low clouds at this high elevation. We had planned to drive to the other side of the valley for a view of the Matterhorn but Mother Nature had other ideas. So after a lazy morning we went for a coffee where there was free Internet and then to lunch at Au Greni. After a stop at a grocery we returned to the chalet. Constantly checking on the weather all afternoon, we found no let up in the mist and low cl...

After breakfast in our chalet we set out for Marie's bank for a conversation with her banker. Skies were overcast and the air was breezy and chilly. Most stores and shops are closed here on Thursday, so after her meeting Marie and I roamed empty streets window shopping. A good number of restaurants were closed as well so we came back to the chalet and made lunch of a cheese fondue. Marie then drove me on roads leading higher out of this village to great meadows...