Zermatt

This week I spent five days in Switzerland. It’s been a while since I had been here and that had always on business. This time it was to see my girls! Dale and I flew to Zurich and spent a day in that lovely city. Dale insisted on going to the FIFA museum in Zurich so I said okay :-). We ate well and drank Swiss beer and wine and the next day the two girls arrived, one from London and the other from Colorado….impressive commitment as it’s heck of a long trip for a ski weekend!

We took the train from Zurich up to Zermatt and discovered what we agreed is the loveliest ski town we have seen. We booked a little hotel on the outskirts of town (Alpen-something or other, of course) and you can see the Matterhorn from our window (see above).

First important point – I am a shitty skier. I can get down the mountain, but without style and always in danger. My wife has always been a good skier and the kids have all learned properly. I ski once (maybe twice) a year and only with Katie. She usually can use her employee status to get me a discount that makes it worth it even if I only last a couple of hours before I start complaining of my knees or ankles.

Friday the two girls skied alone, which I expect they enjoyed. The weather was lousy so I had little interest, and Dale skipped as well. Saturday I could avoid it no longer – I went to the shop, rented all the necessary equipment, bought a one-day pass (i don’t think I had ever skied two days in a row) and headed up the mountain with all three girls. This mountain is huge (over 12,000 feet at the highest point) and it takes a long time to get up there. I made it for a couple of hours and then we got to go sledding, which was a blast and then back to eating and drinking, activities I am far more skilled at…and paying.

Saturday morning started as a bluebird day – not a cloud in the sky, and Sarah talked me into going back out. With plenty of trepidation (two days in a row?) she insisted that I had to see the Italian side of the mountain. It turns out that the mountain lies on the Swiss-Italian border and you can ski both sides with the right pass. It took about and hour to get all the way to the top. It was breathtaking. The view was worth the journey.

But then I had to get down the mountain. We started out and I thought I was going to kill myself it was so steep. Sarah only told me after we made it down the first run that it was supposed to be “for experts only.” that little b____h.

Okay after that I started to get a little confidence and the Italian side was sunny and warm and gorgeous. We went to a tiny little restaurant just on the ski run, not at the bottom. We had lunch, a couple glasses of local wine and then I earned a nap in the sun, while Sarah did a couple more runs and Dale and Katie caught up with us. Nothing like a two-hour break in the sun to rejuvenate. I was then able to join them for several more runs and can now say that I skied two days in a row. Of course we stopped again for more wine and then went out for Italian dinner, and more wine.

I am not much of a skier, as I have already admitted…but the chanced to spend several days with my girls is priceless. They were patient enough to wait for me as I plodded down the mountain…and nobody got hurt.

Bottom line – I cannot recommend Zermatt highly enough. The town and the mountain are gorgeous, the service is excellent (very Swiss) and even though somewhat expensive, the meals were wonderful. Sitting here in the lounge at Geneva airport I decided to kill some time by sharing.