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Switzerland/Italy Trip
Thursday, Sep 11
We ate our last leisurely breakfast on the castello patio and checked email again before packing up the car and leaving for Zermatt, Switzerland. We drove through the flatlands of northern Italy and then into the gorgeous foothills of the Alps. We stopped at Verbania and had pizza for lunch before leaving Italy. At the confine di stato (the border), we couldn't take the ferry train because it was closed, so we drove over the Simplon Pass. It was rainy, so the scenery was obscured.
The scenery was hard to see in the mist and rain in the Alps. This bridge
was under renovation this year.
We turned up the valley toward Zermatt and accidentally drove past the station and the train we were supposed to take up the valley. We ended up driving a scary, one-lane road up to Zermatt. When we arrived in the town, some locals waved us down and said, "No, no, you have to go back down, you can't drive up here without a permit," and so we immediately turned back and took the same scary road back down. If we'd been caught, it would have cost us over 500 Swiss francs. Only electric vehicles are permitted in Zermatt.
Back down in Täsch, we parked and took the train. It was a much more beautiful and peaceful trip up the valley. We were then picked up in an electric truck and taken to the Hotel Wallisherhof, right in the middle of town. We're hoping the weather will be nicer tomorrow so we can see the Matterhorn.
Downtown Zermatt
Our (messy) room at the Hotel Walliserhof
We ate at the hotel restaurant. Not our best meal, probably because we did the half-board. From now on we'll do ala carte.