Matterhorn
Rotenboden-Mountain View
Zermatt-Door to Matterhorn
Zermatt is at the foot of the mountain range that includes the Matterhorn. We stayed at the Hotel Bahnhof, right next to the station, and turned out is the hotel many Japanese mountain climbers stayed for decades. A plaque on the outside memorializes their thanks to the hotel’s support and kindness.
Matterhorn Flowers
Flowers and fauna near the Matterhorn.
Eiger-Switzerland
THIS IS IT! The Eiger.
Grindelwald First
The views here are from our hotel/restaurant, Grindelwald First.
Cable Car to view Eiger
Grendelwald is the tourist town, access point to some Swiss alps, a famous one- Eiger, made famous in the Clint Eastwood movie “Eiger Sanction”, based on a book by Trevanian. Eiger is among mountain climbers’ top challenges. We stayed atop a 25 minute cable car ride at Grendelwald First, a place with spectacular views, something i recommend you experience. The hotel has a few private rooms but is mostly dormitory style with some inconvenient multi story facilities. Bring a big suitcase filled with cash ready to pay Swiss prices. But as a tick on the bucket list it is well worth it even if you just sit and enjoy the views for a few days. these 3 posts are from this area.
Small Town – St. Gallen, Switzerland
St. Gallen is a very beautiful and old town frequented by tourist. We stopped here to visit a friend who was born in this town and is now living here at least temporarily.
Konstanz (Germany) – Kreuzlingen (Switzerland)
Konstanz, Germany is on a beautiful touristy lake on the border with Switzerland. We found it cheaper to stay across the border 50 meters than to have a hotel near Konstanz station. The Swiss town is Kreuzlingen and as typical with Switzerland everything but the hotel was more expensive than in Germany, double in many instances. We found Konstanz to be a much more beautiful environment as well. A thing to remember is the currency difference. Euros are not used in Switzerland or Liechenstein. They use Swiss Francs. Now the US Dollar, Euro and Swiss Franc are about equal, give or take a few pennies so it’s pretty easy for merchants to accept the neighbor’s currency and make the calculations. Another thing to note is prepaid phone sim cards don’t cross this border without subscribing to some special, and expensive, roaming service. So I just bought a Swiss sim and switched back when back in an EU country. The signal disappears 5 meters from the border. Those phone companies surely are jealous about a few pennies.
Entering Italy, finally
Jumping ahead on the posts to where we are today. A great relaxed feeling stepping off the train from Switzerland, finally on Italy. I just feel so “at home” here; the people, the food, the noise, the excitement and the beauty.
