Day 6
"It was another picture-perfect day..."
We then made our way over to western border within the French speaking cantons of Switzerland to our next stop in Lausanne. Our bus driver, Marian, achieved an incredible feat of automotive manipulation by parallel parking our large tour bus in the smallest spot imaginable along a small side street just to get us close to our hotel. Cheers to you Marian!
Lausanne’s walkways were marked with steep hills which were fun to navigate after a long day of walking. Our group dinner consisted of a unique and varied menu. They presented us with a platter of raw meat and a steaming pot of flavored broth as our main dish. After some help from our guides, we learned we were to cook the meat ourselves in the stew until satisfied with its color and then dig in. We also had a limitless supply of fries. I don’t know how they paired those two together, but the fries were delicious. We trekked back to our hotel room and welcomed the sweet embrace of foot relief and unconsciousness.
It’s Matterhorn day!
We got prime view seats on the bus on our way to Zermatt, the little village at the base of the iconic peak, the Matterhorn. Our bus dropped us off at the train station where we took a scenic ride to access the town. The weather could not have been more cooperative. We had been told that the mountain is usually hiding behind cloud cover, but we got lucky and it wasn’t hiding today. It was another picture-perfect day with the only cloud in the sky clinging to the edge of the Matterhorn.
Unfortunately, the cable car that typically gets mountain viewers much closer to the slope was closed for the day for station renovations (what are the chances?) so we settled for exploring the town while we edged closer to the base trails to get a closer look. Perhaps it was the reflection of the snow on the mountain, but such colors there were as we had never seen before or have yet again. Not a shadow touched a flower or blade of grass as they all seemed to beam with their own iridescence. Beyond these gentle slopes there it lay in stillness and majesty beyond time itself. All we could do was stand there, awe struck trying to memorize every crevice, every aspect of that moment. It took every ounce of willpower we had to tear ourselves away from it to make it back to the bus in time. We timed our exit well though as on our way up through town we were joined by a bubbly herd of cattle whose large jangling bells made us smile.
