Sunday June 30 - Zurich to Zermatt
We took the 9:46 am train from ZRH to Visp changing to the cog-wheel train to Zermatt arriving at 2:15 pm. It was a nice trip - great scenery - however the trains were having difficulty coping with the 30+℃ temperatures. It was over 30℃ when we arrived.
Gerald met at the station and we were settled in pretty quickly - did some grocery shopping, etc. finally settled in for a G&T and beer and chips in lieu of lunch.
We had cold cuts and cheese for dinner sitting on our terrace which was very pleasant once the sun started setting.
Monday July 1 - Zermatt
Even though it was below 20℃ overnight it still felt quite warm in the bedroom even with a window open. We had an OK sleep and got up around 7 am.
We did our first hike - up to Furi, around the Glacier walk then down to Zum See for lunch and back home - 3h40m - we were pretty tired.
We did some shopping then had spatchcock for dinner.
Tuesday July 2 - Zermatt
We took the winter weight donnas off and used the covers only - as well there was a massive thunderstorm overnight so it was a lot cooler - 14℃ when we got up.
We took the Sunnega train then gondola to Blauherd and did the 5 lakes walk - 9k’s and 2.5 hours not counting a stop at Green Lake mountain restaurant for lunch.
Back at home and after some more shopping we settled in to watch a bit of Wimbledon.
Wednesday July 3 - Zermatt
We had a late start as Gerald needed to do some work on our balcony (automatic watering system for the planters) and he only wanted to enter the apartment when we were home.
Anyway we set out at 11 am for the Gornergorge walk then onto Blatten for a wonderful lunch - a bit of a shorter day.
From here we continued onto Blatten where we had a great lunch.
Back at home we watched some tennis, had happy hour and dinner of the most delicious pork chops.
Thursday July 4 - Zermatt
We took the Gorergrat train to Rotenboden (almost the summit) and walked to Riffelsea lake which offers spectacular views of the Matterhorn and conditions permitting a great reflection in the lake - iconic photos taken here.
We walked on for 3.5 hours to Furi via Riffelberg and Riffelalp - finally taking the gondola down to town.
Totally whacked - we watched some tennis (saw Kirios being defeated by Nadal in a tight action packed 4 setter) - we had warm lamb salad for dinner.
Friday July 5 - Zermatt
We had brekkie pretty early planning a trip to the Kleine Matterhorn but at around 8:30am the power went out - at time of writing the power is still out (9:40am). Power came back on around 10:15 am so we walked over to the gondola to head up to the Kleine Matterhorn as it was a perfectly sunny day.
After some site-seeing at the top of Europe - including the glacier cave we headed back to Trocker Steg; however, once we alighted the big gondola I noticed Dieter had left his hiking poles in the gondola. On speaking to the attendant he said he called the summit and they retrieved them and send them back - some 20 minutes later.
So finally we set out on the walk from Trocker Steg to Schwartzsee - a supposed 2 hour walk but due to some poor signage it took 3h30m - the last hour being quite gruelling - fortunately we still made the Schwartzsee gondola at around 4:15 pm (it closes at 5pm - missing it would have been a disaster with the walk all the back to Zermatt is 3 hours - however there is a hotel at Schwartzsee so I guess we could have overnighted there (subject to space available).
Back home around 5pm we were both shot ducks - fortunately we had planned to go out for dinner which did at Schweiterhof sitting on their new outdoor terrace - we had a very nice dinner (lamb cutlets for Dieter and black cod for me - not cheap at 139 CHF + tip).
Saturday July 6 - Zermatt (Marathon Day)
After breakfast and some tiding up (mid-stay clean scheduled for today) we did the grocery shopping - stopping to watch some of the runners pass the station which is around mid-point before the ascent to Riffleberg (1000m higher).
We had a bit of a rest day - walked to Blatten for another great lunch then home.
We stayed home for dinner of spatchcock and a bit of tennis.
Sunday July 7 - Zermatt
There were showers in the early morning but we set out by train for Tasch around 10:30am then walked back to Zermatt - about 2 hours - it was sunny however soon after we reached the apartment it started raining again - dodged a bullet !!
We stayed home for pasta and salad but no tennis at Wimbledon on Sundays.
Monday July 8 - Zermatt
Huge day - we took the train to Randa (18 minutes) then hiked 2-hours (very steep uphill slog) to the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge - the highest and longest pedestrian bridge in the world - it was quite amazing. Even though the hike is a loop we hiked back to Randa the same way as the return part of the loop is “very steep” (according to the tourist bureau) and the way up was steep enough.
Back at home we relaxed, watched some more tennis and stayed home for dinner of salad and cheese & cold cuts.
Tuesday July 9 - Zermatt
Up early - we took the gondola to Schwartzsee and walked down to Blatten for lunch then home. Unfortunately my small toe on my right foot was really hurting making it a very uncomfortable hike for me.
Back at home for some tennis and dinner of delicious pork chops.
Wednesday July 10 - Zermatt
We walked to S’Mutt - a lovely mountain hamlet with several restaurants but we had packed sandwiches. From S’Mutt we continued onto Furi then back to Zermatt.
We had pasta at home for dinner and watched more tennis.
Thursday July 11 - Zermatt
We took the Gorergrat train to Riffelap then walked to Chez Vrony - the #1 restaurant in Zermatt and had a great lunch (shared an entree of buffalo mozzarella and a shared Zurich veal). We then walked home.
Since we had a nice lunch we opted for sambas for dinner at home.
Friday July 12 - Zermatt
A long but easy walk today - Sunnegga to Zermatt via Tufttern and Ried with a packed lunch along the way.
Back home early we watched the men’s semis at Wimbledon then had spatchcock for dinner.
Saturday July 13 - Zermatt - last full day
Another nice day - weather has been cooler for some days - great for hiking. We decided to finally make the ascent to the Edelweiss Hut for lunch - see video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJxR4SbB7nA&feature=youtu.be
We had our farewell dinner at the bistro at Hotel Cervin - it was not the best value for money in our opinion.
Sunday July 14 - Zermatt - Stuttgart
We bade farewell to Zermatt and spent most of the day on the train to Stuttgart arriving at our hotel around 5:30 pm. We stayed at the Steinberger Graf Zeppelin - the “other” 5-star hotel - right at the train station. To our surprise the room was a full suite with separate living area and a huge walk-in robe and a Nespresso machine. We unpacked and had dinner at Zeppelino - the hotel’s brasserie.
Monday July 15 - Stuttgart
It was a nice sunny day - we spent our time checking out the shops but in the end did not buy anything. We had a light lunch at the Schlossgarten Cafe - one of our favourites. We met Maggie and Helmut for dinner - again at Zeppelino's.
Tuesday July 16 - Stuttgart - my birthday
We spent most of the day going to visit Rolf and Lori - both of whom are very unwell. Back at the hotel we decided to try the Block House restaurant for dinner - a bit of a cheap-eats steak house across the street from the hotel - good value for money at least.
Wednesday July 17 - Stuttgart
We were supposed to go out with H&M but they cancelled as Helmut had an unscheduled doctor's appointment. Instead we did a Neckar river cruise to Marbach then back to Stuttgart by train.
Thursday July 18 - Stuttgart
We were booked on the 12:30 pm SQ flight FRA-SIN-MEL then Virgin MEL-SYD with a 9am train booked from Stuttgart to FRA. Just as I got up at 6 am to finalise the packing etc I received a text from SQ - flight delayed by 2.5 hours then later changed to 3.5 hours - bummer - meant we would miss our connection in SIN - so I got on the phone to SQ and after a big of argy-bargy got re-booked on the 11 am SIN-MEL (all flights to SYD were fully booked) - this also meant we would eventually miss our flight MEL-SYD.
We still had to take the 9am train to FRA as the ticket was non-changeable - on arrival in FRA we checked in and were advised that a restaurant had been booked for passengers to have lunch - which we did - we then spent the next few hours in the Air Canada lounge as the LH which SQ uses is pretty ordinary.
So we finally made it to MEL and had already booked the Park Royal at the airport to overnight before catching an 8am flight to SYD.
Back in Sydney we still had major hassles ahead - apartment keys, car keys, replacement of all the stolen documents (passports, credit cards, drivers licence) as well as making the insurance claim. Crickey !!!