Europe 2021...Day 7: Zermatt...

We woke up the next morning and had beautiful views of the Matterhorn from our balcony!  It is really unbelievable how beautiful it is.  There were still clouds, but getting to see the Matterhorn was definitely spectacular.

This view from our balcony.  We absolutely loved our hotel in Zermatt.

The Matterhorn

We had breakfast and then felt a little indecisive as to what to do.  We were originally going to take a cable car up one of the mountains, but decided against it when we saw all of the people waiting to get on the cable car.  It is definitely way different than taking the cable car in Lauterbrunnen!

Walking around Zermatt

We found another hike that we could do starting in the city center that went straight up.  We ended up starting it and deciding against it and decided that we really wanted to go back to Randa to hike to the suspension bridge.  I knew it was risky with clouds in the sky, but I also really wanted to see the bridge without the clouds.  We were getting a little late start so we decided to take the train to Tasch and then hike to Randa and to the bridge.  

We were so excited when we made it to the bridge and got to see it in all its glory hanging across the valley!

Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge

The bridge without the clouds

Getting ready to cross the bridge again!

I made Ken go first because I was still terrified!

Ken on the bridge.  The clouds continued to move out as we were crossing.

The views were spectacular!

Charles Kuonen Bridge selfie

Please note that I am holding on with only one hand this time!

We felt so blessed to have such a beautiful day since we had all clouds the day prior.

Made it across with the views to prove it!

Ken let me go ahead and stayed on the bridge to get a few pictures.

The trails in Switzerland are always well marked.

We sat for a bit and enjoyed a Snickers, which was a great lunch.

I hiked up a bit to get a better view of the bridge.  I cannot believe that it just hangs there and crosses the valley.

Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge

The view from above

When I see this view, I have a hard time believing that I crossed it...three times!

Having such a fun day together.  We were so happy that we decided to come back to hike the bridge again without all of the clouds.

We decided not to do the loop this time and just cross the bridge and go back the way we came.  

Stepping onto the bridge to cross

Look mom, no hands!  

We made it back to Randa and continued to enjoy the beautiful day.  Randa is such a sleepy town and not much was open.  We decided that we would walk back towards Tasch and stop at a waterpark that we saw on the way to Randa.

The view from Randa

We walked past a Swiss golf course

We arrived at the water park and stopped for a drink.  This is one of my favorite stops from our entire trip.  We ordered our drinks and sat and watched people on the water ski line.  The playlist that was playing was amazing and we added several of the songs to our pool playlist.  It was so much fun.

I enjoyed my Limoncello Spritz, which was delicious!  I wish we could have stayed here for hours.

We left the waterpark sad that we could not stay longer.  We needed to get back to Zermatt to eat dinner.  We were also hoping that we would still have beautiful views of the Matterhon.

We were not disappointed to see the Matterhorn when we arrived back to Zermatt.

So magnificent!

It was difficult to stop taking pictures.

This is one of my favorites.

As we were walking back to our hotel to change for dinner, we saw some Edelweiss.  To be completely honest, the Edelweiss were growing around someone's headstone in a cemetery, but at least I got to see Edelweiss!

Our darling hotel, Hotel Bella Vista

We had a delicious dinner of Italian and walked around the city center.  We found a cute little wine bar and decided to stop for a glass of wine before heading back to our hotel.  

Finishing the night with a glass of wine at a cute little wine bar.

We walked back to our hotel pretty tired from our long day.  We had so much fun hiking back to the suspension bridge.  We had a beautiful view once we got back to our room.

A million dollar view!

We ended the night with wine on our balcony and packing up our bags to head to Italy in the morning!

Europe 2021...Day 6: Hiking the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge

 We woke up early the next day and had a delicious breakfast at our hotel complete with homemade pastries and jam.  We had planned on making our way to Randa and hiking to the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the Alps.  

We decided instead of taking the train to Randa, we would walk, which was six miles.  It is on a flat path that runs along the river, which turned out to be one of our favorite things we did during our time in Zermatt.  You hike from Zermatt to Tasch and then from Tasch to Randa.  

Just after leaving Zermatt we got to watch a helicopter flying over us delivering supplies up into the mountains.  It was very intriguing to watch.

Helicopter picking up supplies

The path we were on to Tasch is part of the Zermatt marathon course.  

It was cloudy out, but we were enjoying the walk to Randa

It was an easy path between Zermatt and Randa

We arrived in Randa and it is a super sleepy town.  We were headed to the Hauspil.

Sleepy little Randa

One of the churches in Randa

We originally looked around Randa for a Co-op to get a snack, but nothing was open.  We decided we had enough snacks in our backpacks to go ahead and hike to the bridge.  We ended up doing to circular hike to the bridge which ends up being 5.50 miles round trip.  This of course did not include our trek to Randa itself.  

The scenery along the hike

The hike was consistently steep on the way to the bridge, but nothing that was unmanageable.  It was nothing like our hike to Hotel Obersteinberg a few days prior.

Soon enough we saw signs that said we were minutes from the bridge.  We turned a corner and saw the bridge.  The clouds were moving in and we had just seconds to see the bridge before it was completely covered in clouds.

The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge 

Looking at the bridge, it was really kind of intimidating.  I am not going to lie, I was terrified to cross it.

Crossing the bridge in the clouds

Ken on the bridge.  Shortly after this photo was taken I had a meltdown and made Ken take my phone because I was afraid I was going to fall.  True story.

I was able to cross the bridge.  I kept my hands on the railing the entire way. BTW, my hands were absolutely frozen by the time we crossed it.  It took about 10 minutes to cross.  You feel it sway in the wind, which was a very odd feeling.

Ken shot this video as we crossed.  He did make an error as it is the second-longest pedestrian footbridge in the world, not the longest.

Once we were across the bridge, it started raining.  We enjoyed a few snacks to see if it would lighten up, but sadly it did not.  We really wanted to hike to the Europahutte, but did not want to bother since the views would be poor due to the clouds.  We decided to hike back in the drizzle.

Looking up at the bridge from the trail below.  Too bad it was not a clear day.  That bridge was really something to see.

The hike back was not the best in the rain.  Hiking downhill can be challenging and factor in wet rocks and trail, and it can make it more challenging.

We may have been wet, but we were having a great time.

Hiking back into Randa

It was not the view we had hoped for, but we had a fun time hiking together in a new area of Switzerland

We ended up finding a little Co-op that was open on our way out of Randa headed to Tasch.  We got an ice cream bar, a candy bar, and two drinks to go.  It is a tradition to walk back down mountain valleys with a drink.

Obligatory drink picture on a bridge in Switzerland

We hiked the three miles back to Tasch and stopped at a restaurant for Aperol Spritz and pizza.  We were starving since the last real food we had was breakfast and it was now around 5:00 pm.  We opted to take the train back to Zermatt instead of walking three more miles.  

We enjoyed the remainder of our night with a bottle of wine on our balcony, enjoying the view.

Picture the Matterhorn behind the clouds!

It was a great day all around Zermatt!

Europe 2021...Day 5: Heading to Zermatt...

We woke up on Tuesday to a beautiful morning.  There was part of me that wanted to stay a little longer in Lauterbrunnen, but we ultimately decided that we would make our way to Zermatt mid-morning as we had previously planned.  I, of course, went for a run down the valley.  It was so beautiful.

This is the view just outside of Camping Jungfrau.  It is hard to believe that Ken and I were hiking in those mountains the day prior.

My favorite house in all of Lauterbrunnen.  I am already so excited about our next visit!

The clouds were disappearing even more as I was out running, so I decided to go up to a viewpoint for a few pictures of the church.

Such a gorgeous view

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

It is difficult to choose which one is my favorite

We had breakfast and prepared to say goodbye to Hotel Staubbach.  Our friend Adam was working and we had to get our traditional selfie with him.  We made plans to hike with him on our next visit!  

Covid times selfie with Adam

Adam has always been so kind to us and we look forward to seeing him again soon!

We stopped off at the doctor's office to purchase some eye drops and Advil.  The funny thing about Switzerland is that you cannot buy these items at a store and you must purchase them from a doctor.  As we walked to the train station, I really wanted to turn around and stay for one more day.  It looked like it was going to be such a gorgeous day!

Such a gorgeous view looking back into town

This picture is for Miss Lotti.  She is named after Lauterbrunnen.  We plan to get this picture framed to hang up in her bedroom.

We took the train from Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt.  The last leg from Birg to Zermatt is kind of brutal.  Yours truly, slept most of the way.  We arrived in Zermatt and it was quite chilly!

We checked into our hotel, Hotel Bella Vista, which had a beautiful view of the Matterhorn, well I guess if the Matterhorn did not have clouds over the tip!

Our first order of business was an Aperol Spritz.  It was chilly, but beautiful out in the sunshine.

We enjoyed our drinks and decided to go wander around town.  Zermatt reminded us of a combination of Vail, CO and Chamonix, France.  

The streets of Zermatt

Zermatt has a lot of shopping options

We found a spot to sit and enjoy drinks and dinner.  Ken got a traditional rosti and I ordered pasta.  We were both pretty tired from the train ride, so we decided to get a bottle of wine and enjoy it on our balcony from our room.  

Travel days are always rough.  Being on the train for a few hours always makes me more tired than I am after hiking several miles.  We were grateful to be in a new area of Switzerland and looked forward to hiking the next morning!