Friday 9 December 1983 – Zermatt
Rab and I
were awake early this morning although Matt slept in until 07.30 – most unusual
for him and I actually had to wake him up. We had bought some fruit juice last
night at the Co-op on the way back to our hotel and left them on the windowsill
with our breakfast yoghurts to chill overnight. We miss our early morning
coffee and they are a good substitute.
Another very
nice breakfast and then off to the station. We went by taxi because my back is
playing up a bit and the suitcase is heavy – not to mention the flight bags.
The taxi took a bit of time to get to us which caused a bit of anxiety because
if we missed the train we would have to wait two hours for the next one. It
duly arrived and we were soon on our way down what had become quite a familiar
route. Matt amused himself writing graffiti on the condensated windows – an
unusual experience for us and our warm weather ways. We changed at Interlaken with no problem and again at Spiez after a
short trip around the shore
of Lake
Thun. The day was clear and some of
the views quite beautiful. Soon after leaving Spiez the countryside began to
change and the snow started getting thinner to Matt’s consternation. The scenery
was not so spectacular either, although still very pretty. There is a very long
tunnel on the line and when we came out of it about twenty minutes after
entering it we just could not get over the change in scenery. When we went into
the tunnel we were travelling along the bottom of valleys where snow covered
most of the land and the trees: when we came out the other end we were high
above very broad valleys free of snow with all the trees in their autumnal
colours. There was a bit of ice about so we assumed that it was cold outside
but the sun was shining and it looked warm. Matt was not amused by the
absence of anything white in sight.
We wound our
way down to Brig, a dreary looking dorp which seemed to be surrounded by stone
and/or cement works. We were scheduled for a twenty minute stop to change
trains. Our train to Zermatt was due there at
12.18. we had a bit of a job finding the train since we were changing systems
but eventually found it on the other side of the station. At least we assumed,
because the sign on the side of the carriages said “Zermatt”,
that it was ours, although the sign also said it was departing at 12.30.
Matt and I
went off to get a snack as he was feeling peckish and as we came out of the
restaurant we saw Rab and all the others who had been waiting to board (the
train was locked) shooting off around the other side. Since it was now 12.15 I
assumed we had all been waiting at the wrong spot so Matt and I dashed over to
the luggage and made a mad sprint to get to the other train by 12.18. we
needn’t have bothered. Hot and sweaty we sat until 12.40 when the train finally
pulled out. Most unusual for Swiss Railways.
And what a
boring, slow journey it was at times. In the early stages there was nothing to
see and we stopped at every station on the way – sometimes for ten minutes.
Higher up – and we were climbing all the time – there were some spectacular
views – frozen waterfalls, glimpses of beautiful valleys, quaint houses, but we
were all getting a bit fidgety by the time we got to Zermatt.
Fortunately there was a fair bit of snow about (Matt interjects to say that
there was not as much as there was at Rigi but I suspect there will never be as
much snow anywhere that will be more than Rigi.). We also discovered that no
vehicles with combustion engines were allowed in the town. There were three or
four horse drawn sleighs which met the train and some electric pick-ups from
various hotels.
 |
| Arriving at Zermatt railway station |
I spoke to
the driver from the Europa Hotel and as his tariff sounded reasonable I was all
for going off with him. Rab argued however that it was madness to take the
first offer and insisted on going to the Information Office, where we soon
established that the Hotel Europa was “moderate” and within our normal price
range. Poor old Matt had been left guarding the bags while the argument raged –
not his favourite job. Fortunately the old gnome of a driver was still hanging
around and we were soon off through the icy streets of Zermatt
sitting in the back of a pick-up. If Matt and Rab hadn’t been so grumpy they
would have enjoyed the experience more.
 |
| Rab and Matt with the Matterhorn |
We finally
arrived at the hotel and it was clear from Rab’s approach that she was prepared
to find fault and reject the choice of residence out of hand – in much the same
way, Matt was prepared to reject the entire town. Her face was a picture when
the Manager showed us to our room. It was luxuriously appointed, large clean
etc and through the large window a perfect view of the Matterhorn.
It was the best room we had stayed in and only f110. Rab almost admitted that
she had been wrong. (We only found out
later that hotels in resorts like Zermatt charge a substantial discount over
normal tariffs in the two weeks before the season opens to attract custom to
‘warm up’ their premises and break in new staff).
We stowed
our baggage and headed for town amid a heated argument among my two companions
about the merits/demerits of Grindelwald and Zermatt.
We were in and out of the souvenir shops and bought Rab a musical box – a small
simple one – but that was her choice. We finished up right at the far end of
town where got some gloves for Matt at the Co-op as his had split. Marvellous
shop that! I also found that the beers which are so expensive in restaurants
are quite cheap in the supermarkets – about one third of the price. (It may seem odd that this was a ‘discovery’
for us, but the fact of the matter was that restaurants in Southern
Africa didn’t charge astronomical prices for beers.)
 |
| Street scene - how exotic for us Africans! |
We caught a
sleigh taxi back to the hotel and it was a wonderful experience, all bundled up
under the bearskin cover (well, OK, sheepskin, but it could have been
bear) while the horse’s bell jingled away and the Christmas lights were
shining. Matt and Rab were for once in accord and thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. We went back to Church
Square and Rab found a very reasonable restaurant.
She had schnitzel f13 while Matt and I had cheese schnitzel with spaghetti
(f8.50) Rather unusual but I liked it very much. Matt found his a bit rich so
he and Rab traded half of their dishes.
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| Matt with an ice block from the Marmot Fountain |
Dinner over,
we trekked back to the hotel – and so to bed.
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