Friday July 29
We left the Steigenburg before 8am for our train to Zermatt - it was going to be a long day - 7 hours straight through with 2 changes, one in Zurich and of course one in Visp.
All went smoothly except I was feeling pretty poorly - head cold and cough - I was quite embarrassed. On arrival at 15:15 we both did RAT tests - not unsurprisingly I was a strong positive so we went to the local walk-in testing center for a PCR test - it was cool (13℃) and raining but I got it done and was back at our apartment by 5pm to call Mary as arranged. Dieter did the shopping and I told Mary the bad news - she was OK to do her own thing but did not want to socialise with Dieter as he was still a faint positive.
I was feeling very poorly so we had some cold cuts etc then off to bed early with a sleeping pill.
Saturday July 30
Dieter slept on the couch in the lounge while I had an OK night thanks to a sleeping pill. It was a quiet day of lying about the apartment for me; shopping then a walk to Blatten for Dieter. It was a beautiful clear day - high of 21℃ - I felt I was in jail but overall did not feel too bad - just like having a cold.
We spoke to Mary a couple of times and she seemed to be soldiering on - she went up to the Gornergrat today and would be off to Zurich and Dublin tomorrow.
We, of course, stayed home for dinner of pasta and salad.
Sunday July 31
Today was even clearer and warmer - high of 24℃ - a perfect Zermatt day - I felt pretty much the same as yesterday so stayed home again.
Monday August 1 - Swiss National Day
Last night was a disaster noise-wise - there was a huge street party with DJs and bands and very loud singing keeping us awake until the early hours even though most of the noise stopped at midnight. It was the lead in for the Swiss National Day. I felt better so we took the gondola up to Furi then walked down - hardly major but after 5 days of couch surfing it was a start. We had rack of lamb for dinner.
Tuesday August 2
I felt a lot better today and could have been even better if I could just get a good night’s sleep. We did a repeat of yesterday but stopped for an excellent lunch at Blatten - it was yet another warm, 25℃, and totally sunny day - it does not get any better.
It was another stay at home for dinner - pasta and salad.
Wednesday August 3
I felt pretty OK so we went up to Gornergrat - walked around taking photos of the wonderful vistas in brilliant sunshine. The high in town was 25℃ - even though it was much cooler at 3100m we did not need our puffers. There is a new display on top - Zoom - sort of surround photos of the Matterhorn etc in all seasons - there was also a virtual reality thing for paragliding - Dieter choose to wait his turn and really enjoyed it even though he waiting nearly 30 minutes.
We took the train down to Rotenboden and walked to Riffleberg - past one of the most famous lakes in the Alps - where on a good day you can get amazing photos of the reflection of the Matterhorn. It was such a day so we got many great photos. There were also many small groups of the famous black nosed sheep - Dieter met the shepherdess who is on the Zermatt website.
We had lunch at Riffleberg - a self-service restaurant - we both had salad plates - all in all not great value for money even in Switzerland. We continued onto Rifflealp where there is a 5* hotel (a small luxury hotel of the world) where we stopped for afternoon tea (Aperol Spritz and a beer) - most enjoyable.
Dinner at home.
Thursday August 4
We walked up to Blatten for another excellent lunch then home.
Friday August 5
We took the train to Riffleberg and walked to Rifflealp for lunch. We took the longer walk which had a few challenging bits but I made it. Lunch was excellent - we ate in the bar area - a ciabatta and a mixed salad to share. There were clouds around and thunder and even a bit of drizzle - we debated if we should walk to Furi as we had not packed the gortex jackets (how dumb) - we decided to proceed - it was just over an hour walk and we made it before rain set in the late afternoon.
Again we had dinner at home.
Saturday August 6
A big day out - up to the Kleine Matterhorn - amazing as always - the ice caves never fail to impress with the great ice sculptures It was a bit cloudy so the photo ops weren’t as good as usual. We took the gondola back to Schawartzsee then walked (1 hour) to Riffelalp restaurant for lunch - amazing venue but food is not really a 10 out of 10. We then continued our walk to Furi (1 hour 15 minute) and took the gondola back to the village.
We were totally pooped out so a bit of a rest was in order then pasta and salad for dinner.
Sunday August 7
Another great sunny morning - looked like the same as every day in spite of the forecast not always being the greatest. We started the morning by booking our return flights from ZRH in July 2023 !!
We decided just to walk to Blatten and back for lunch - a bit of a quiet day.
We had dinner at Julien Bistro where we had booked for 6pm but they could not find our reservation on arrival. However, they were able to give us a table. The portions were huge - we should have just shared a main course - saving about $75.
Monday August 8
Another warm and sunny day in spite of late afternoon storm and overnight rain. Today was our “big” lunch at Vrony. We took the tunnel train to Sunnegga then walked to Chez Vrony - only about 20 minutes - we were a bit early for our midday reservation but the place was already filling up. We had a really nice lunch of 2 salads and a shared main - excellent but not sure it really deserves its “Michelin star”. From here we walked back to Zermatt - about 1h20m. We stayed home for sambos for dinner after our ‘blowout’ lunch.
Tuesday August 9 - last full day in Zermatt
A great sunny and warm day again - I completed the ArriveCAN documentation - hopefully all OK. We walked to ZumSee for a final mountain lunch. We had our favourite “Zermatt” dinner - pork chop with porcini mushrooms, veggie stir fry and spaetzle.
Wednesday August 10 - back to Zurich
We took the 10:37 train to Zurich with the usual change at Visp. We arrived around 2pm at the airport Radisson Blu - we did some minimal unpacking and had our welcome drink (downgraded from ‘anything’ goes to beer or wine) - then rested and showered and had dinner at the hotel.