Kittens From The Dark Side: The Matterhorn!

Look! It's the Matterhorn!

The real Matterhorn!

We started out the morning in our cozy little chalet.

There were lots of homespun touches, like this painted mirror frame.

Here's a tour:

Isn't the view out our window beautiful?

Off we went, down the big hill,

past our sweet friends, the sheep.

There's the train station!

This train station was all outside,

except for a small little trailer-type building with sliding glass doors and seats inside.

Here's what I wore!

jeans: Style & Co from Macy's
blouse, shoes, socks: Target
bag: from Ross
hat: bought in Switzerland!

Along with the candy were prophylactics

and pregnancy tests!

That way to the Riederalp cars and the Aletsch glacier region.

On the train again

on the way to Zermatt!

This train had HUGE windows.

We saw some great ROCK roofs.

Apparently, there are crazy skills to install them to keep out the rain and snow.

They probably won't blow off in heavy winds!

The views along this train route were astounding.

But there were ZERO days on our trip where we didn't see astounding views!

See the back of the train coming around the corner?

The alert sign is a warning about avalanches.

On the way up the mountain, there was some rubble, probably from previous rock slides or avalanches.

We saw alpacas (always a happy sight!)

This little tiny train stop was called "Kalter Boden" (Cold Ground)

Once we reached Zermatt,

we needed to get our tickets up to the Gornergrat

Here's the ticket - sideways.

Don't worry; Greg brought his sun protection factor: dark chocolate!

There's our train!

Here's the map of where we were going.

The town of Zermatt is very beautiful but obviously set up mostly for part-time residents.

Lots of tall apartment buildings as in a bigger city, but it's very small.

In the winter, I imagine is buzzing with skiers.

Look at how beautiful the chalets are with the stone and woodwork.

Through the buildings and trees, I saw the Matterhorn for the first time.

There were little stops along the way.

This one says "Monte Rosa" (red mountain).

This one says "Rotenboden" (red ground) and Riffelsee, which is a lake.

When it's not so cold and snowy, there's a beautiful hike to and around the lake. We decided to decide about that on the way down, and at that time, we were really chilly and didn't want to walk around in more snow!

If we go back maybe slightly later in the year, perhaps it will be less chilly.

There's the Gornergrat at the top!

The Gornergrat is where non mountain-climbers can get the best view of the Matterhorn.

There were quite a few people there, but not as many as at the Jungfrau

(thank goodness!)

Can you find me?

Hint: red coat.

Lots of snow!

They'd gotten a meter of snow the night before, if I remember correctly.

This snowplow truck was driving around making paths.

Mmmm . . . Toblerone!

Wow - look at those clouds!

Up nearer the building with the observatory and hotel in it was this little chapel.

Adorable!

Confessional:

The snow was piled quite high around it.

Yes, even in late May!

There was a little sheep at the top with a great view and a reminder that we were

3089 meters high (10,134 feet).

Over the outfit you saw earlier I put on a striped sweater (Target)

and a lined weather-resistant coat (DKNY from a consignment store).

Once we had seen lots of stuff, Greg bought some lunch.

Not the healthiest of fare up there!

Happily, I had brought food, as usual!

These alpine birds were extra cute.

They were sneaking into the food trays and taking out fries and flying away.

This photo turned out really cool and slightly creepy!

As the clouds were rolling in (was more snow on the way?),

Greg noticed a sort of rainbow in the clouds!

We went up a little further to see what else we could see.

Ice and snow were melting . . .

Here's a little video of our Gornergrat experience:

Greg's phone got confused up there and on our way back, it had sent him a message,

welcoming him to Italy!

On the way down . . .

More gorgeous chalets:

Downtown Zermatt has only teeny little vehicles allowed in the center area.

We bought some groceries in Zermatt, since our grocery store would be closed by the time we got back.

The guy in front of us bought this and I snapped a photo because that is a cigarette package with HUGE warnings on it that take up half the box. In three languages, it says "Smoking kills."