Apparently Paul found a neon blue bathroom at one of the train stations along the journey, the photo evidence of which I just uncovered.
When we arrived in Zermatt we found Hotel Bahnof was right across the street from the train station (hence it's name). I loved this place. It had a clean kitchen and common room to use in the basement, comfy beds, and a nice balcony and was right in the middle of town. A lot of climbers stay here as opposed to the resorts filled with rich skiing families that make up the rest of Zermatt.
We dropped off our bags and tried to find something to do pronto (we only had a few hours of daylight left, as traveling took quite a bit of the day). We walked to the end of the city to where the tram goes up the mountain and bought a ticket to go to the "Matterhorn Glacier Paradise", because every single one of those words sounds like a great experience and then combined, how could it not be the best?
On our walk to the other side of the city (less than a mile) these are things I liked most: no cars, beautiful planters of bright red flowers everywhere, amazing mountain views, and the the bright blue river that went through the town.
We took the Gondola up up up UP. On the way we got a good side view of the wispy cloud Matterhorn (the jewel of Zermatt) and crazy deep ice crevices on the mountain.
The glacier paradise was so weird and funny. Ice sculptures, an indoor ice tunnel/slide (that I went on multiple times even though it was probably for the children), blue and purple lights. It was all kind of hokey, but still a nice time. I mean, we were inside a real life glacier at over 12,000 feet.
When we went outside the palace, we were on top of the world.
It was SO WINDY and FREEZING cold. It must have been 10 below zero. We were so mad at ourselves for leaving our down coats in the hotel room in our rush to beat the tram closing for the day. My fingers almost fell off every time I tried to take a picture.
But it was worth every second of the amazing view.
The Breithorn!
Back down the Gondola we went!
We spent the rest of the evening exploring Zermatt, buying groceries and splurged on dessert at... McDonalds. :)
