Tuesday, August 31, 2004
We encountered our first setback of the trip today, when we got up early to check out and catch the earliest train out of Paris. Both of our credit cards were declined at the hotel. We had to pay in cash, which we luckily had on us, and we barely caught our train to Lausanne, Switzerland.
We arrived there around 12:30 p.m. and had 1-1/2 hours to eat lunch at a pizzeria and take a quick walk down to Lake Geneva before boarding another train to Visp.
The ride was very scenic, passing around the lake and through vineyards and mountains.
In Visp, we switched trains again, for the last leg to Zermatt.
Here we encountered setback #2 – this leg of the trip was not covered by our Eurail pass, cost 35 euros each, and was payable in cash. Luckily, Chad had visited an ATM earlier in the day, and again we had the funds on us.
This train ride was even more scenic than the last, climbing steadily and passing through alpine villages and snowy peaks. We finally pulled into Zermatt around 4:45 p.m. It’s beautiful here, with cobbled streets, tons of flower boxes, horse-drawn carriages instead of cars, and of course the Matterhorn – from our hotel, we have a stunning view!
Our hotel is a little treasure. Our room is huge, with wooden chalet details, and amazing duvets and pillows on the bed.
We walked around town and went to Cafe du Pont for dinner. Chad had roti mit kase und schecken, and I had roti with sausage and a salad, all of which we enjoyed.
We are finding Switzerland to be quite expensive, as our meals were 15.5/17.5 Fr, and we chose the restaurant in part because it was among the most inexpensive places in town.
After dinner, we walked some more, and then got dessert at the only dessert place open past 7 p.m. I had a scoop of caramel ice cream, and Chad had a banana and chocolate crepe. For some reason, the crepes really aren’t doing it for me like I thought they would. Then, we called it a night.
Cook Family Travels 