Carly Kovacik and myself entered Zermatt by train during mid August. The village is fantastically more luxurious than any ski village in the United States, including Aspen and Jackson...architecture was modern and radiated money, but there was still a bit of old warm charm, and the town was terrifically embedded and built up into the surrounding terrain/valley, with a swift running river flowing down through the middle of the community. We had to lug our heavy baggage from the train station up the surrounding terrain in order to reach our Airbnb. The physical effort was worth it, as the Airbnb was a beautiful studio with an in-your-face view of the Matterhorn [see the link here for the Airbnb].
A reoccurring theme in Zermatt was the outstanding meals Carly and I enjoyed every night. Two restaurants stand out in my mind, the first is Pizzeria Ristorante Molino Zermatt. I've never had real pizza until this moment when I ate authentic Italian pizza...it was pizza Nirvana. The second restaurant that stands out for great service and food is Wallisnerkanne, where I feasted on additional Italian cuisine, but other options/nationalities were on the menu and undoubtedly delicious.
The primary objective during out time in Zermatt was a Matterhorn climb. Carly and I took the gondola up to Schwarzsee, then trekked a few miles and several thousand feet up to the Hornli Hutte. We check in and lounged the rest of the afternoon and evening, meeting new friends from the Bronx and Lithuania. After dinner, we hit the bunks, and tried to sleep through a barrage of nocturnal thunderstorm development. Not a good sign when thunderstorms are ongoing through the night. When we awoke, we ate breakfast, then got ready for the climb, walked to the base of the mountain, and assessed the weather. It was not promising...we decided that the probability of volatile weather was high while we got high up on the mountain, thus we decided not to climb. This choice turned out to be a good one, as robust thunderstorm development enveloped the mountain by late morning/early afternoon...Carly and I would have surely been near the summit during that time if we had climbed. Oh well, maybe some other year. We still had a nice hike back down into Zermatt, forgoing the gondola, and enjoying the Zermatt countryside, which was a mix of pastures, old-style homes, ancient Swiss ruins, and steep slopes that descended down into the Zermatt valley.
A google map of Zermatt is here. YouTube video is here.
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