Part 2: Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt: Matterhorn? It Matters Not!

When we woke up in Lauterbrunnen, we were delighted to discover that the roads to Täsch had opened and the train from Täsch to Zermatt (the town where you can see the Matterhorn) would be operating the next day. So, we would be seeing the Matterhorn after all. It was with light hearts that we explored the Lauterbrunnen Valley that morning and headed towards Täsch.

Our view upon awaking in Lauterbrunnen. I didn't actually
get a picture of the waterfall, unfortunately.

We decided to take our time going to Täsch. I'd been begging to go on a hike ever since my parents had arrived. In fact, it was one of the reasons I was so excited for them to come. I had spend a lot of time bumming around the cities in Europe and I was ready to go off trail and see Europe from another angle. Apparently Switzerland isn't the kind of place you can really go off the beaten path. Every hike we tried to get to was either by a road, or the trailhead was not accessible by car. I know that there are probably amazing hikes in Switzerland, (how could there not be?), but they weren't easy to get to if you didn't know the right information. However, we did find a short hike to the ruins of an old cliffside fortress, so that was a fun find.

After our hike, we drove the rest of the way to Täsch, passing more beautiful country on the way. The sight of broken trees and slumped fences as we approached Täsch was proof that the snowstorm we'd been hearing about was not exaggerated. Once we arrived at our airbnb, it was time to fulfill a request I had made to my parents at the beginning of the week; get kebab. Now, if you've been keeping up with this blog you'll know that when I'm traveling, I basically live on kebab. Its the cheapest food option in Europe and arguably one of the best. I didn't want my parents to miss out on the European Travel experience that is Turkish kebab (or falafel if you're vegetarian), a cold Fanta, and the excitement of not knowing if you'll wake up with food poisoning or not. So, we walked into town and ordered from the only kebab place there. It was the most expensive kebab I have ever had, but I saw it as a reward for making it to Täsch after so much uncertainty. When I checked the weather forecast that night, it showed cloud cover in the morning, but a sunny afternoon the next day; perfect weather to see the Matterhorn.

Kebab and Fanta acquired.

We were on the train to Zermatt early the next morning. And when we arrived, what did we see but clouds? The sky was a gray blanket whose edges had poured down into the valley and covered the tops of all the mountain peaks. Once again, we were forced to bide our time, waiting, just waiting, for that moment when sunshine would break through the clouds and illuminate the Matterhorn as if it were presenting us with a gift for all our trouble. In the meantime, we decided to reward ourselves.

Up until this point, we had been running into a lot of roadblocks when it came to getting a chance to do normal tourist things like shop, eat, look around, etc., because everything seemed to be closed, inaccessible, or we were traveling. So we took advantage of our time in Zermatt and went shopping!

Our first stop was this adorable cafe with the cutest

little catch phrase: "Something like 2,437 steps to the top

of the Matterhorn, but only 17 steps to a strong coffee and a

delicious cake."

Now, this cup of hot coco is very important. When I was a little girl, my aunt used to send me to ski lessons at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. There were a lot of affluent kids who took the same classes as me, and I was always the odd one out because, well, I wasn't. One day, we were eating lunch and I had innocently stated that the hot coco in Jackson Hole was the best.

And some snooty girl scoffed at me and said, "No it isn't. The hot coco in Switzerland is wayyyy better."

"Oh," I replied meekly, suddenly embarrassed I had ever dared to make a comment on something as complex has hot coco connoisseurship. "I've never been to Switzerland, so I wouldn't know."

"You've never been to Switzerland before?" She cried, astonished by my poorness.

I ordered this twelve dollar cup of hot coco to spite that girl and to prove to her that hot coco is definitely not what should determine ones social class, and/or worth, and also that you don't need to be rich and snooty to enjoy a decent (but probably not the best in the world) cup of Swiss hot chocolate.

The Squad

Morning crept into afternoon and finally the clouds seemed to be lifting. And LOW! I saw a tiny smidge of black floating in the gray abyss of cloudcover in the very spot I knew the Matterhorn to be. I called attention to it and thus commenced two hours of me and my parents sitting and watching as the clouds lifted tantalizingly for a moment, revealing just a bit more of the Matterhorn, and then engulfing it again... It is with deepest regrets that I inform you now, that despite many prayers, many last minute changes of plans, and much determination, we never saw the entire Matterhorn. We probably saw about 96%, but the clouds never lifted over the tip.

Cheesy as it may be, Switzerland never rewarded us with the view of the Matterhorn, but it rewarded us with something a little better; the sound of each other's laughter as we sat on a cold bench, necks aching as we peered up at the clouds, searching for, and not finding, a colossal mountain and one of the earth's greatest natural wonders. One that would remain for us, a colossal enigma and one of earth's greatest mysteries.

We thought a different angle might give us a better shot at seeing the Matterhorn, and hopped on a ski lift. Unfortunately, most of the ski lifts had shut down due to wind. The only one still operating, took you to the base of the ski hill, and you couldn't see past it. We wanted to get our money's worth so we road it up and down about three times. However, we did see some Alpine Ibex bedded down in the trees which was really cool!