Switzerland

If we were trying to go somewhere that was the complete opposite of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, then Zermatt, Switzerland would be near the top of the list.  The enormous mountains covered in snow were a stark contrast to the flat, sandy landscape that we're used to seeing.  Everything in Zermatt was pristine; in Jubail, there's frequently trash littering the ground and dust in the air.  On the other hand, food in Jubail is relatively cheap... but there's nothing cheap about Switzerland!  Armed with our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we set about to conquer the Alps!

So excited to be almost off the train!  The ride from Germany to Switzerland was a long one.

We had planned to do some snowshoeing and sledding in Zermatt; however, on the first day, we went to buy our lift tickets and found out that there wasn't enough snow for either of those activities.  We were pretty disappointed, but we tried to find other stuff to do to occupy our 3 days in Zermatt.

Day 1:  checking out some of the peaks and winter hiking

Zermatt is situated at the foothill of the Matterhorn, one of the most famous peaks in the Alps.  It is part of the border between Switzerland and Italy.

#1 reason I don't climb mountains.

On a hiking trail from one of the beginner areas down to the town.  Allegedly a 2 hour hike.

We had lovely views for most of the hike!  I was still smiling at this point because I hadn't fallen yet.

Checking the map to decide which path to take back down to the town.

We chose incorrectly and ended up hiking for an hour on icy switchbacks all the way down the mountain.  I fell ~6 times.  A month later, my bruises have all disappeared.

Day 2:  breakfast with a view and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise

The next morning, we took the cog train up to Gornergrat to have breakfast with a view of the Alps.

Clearly we thought ahead and decided mimosas should be on the breakfast menu.

Mimosas, yogurt, and bananas...breakfast of champions.

Sipping champagne and enjoying the view

This was a pretty spot for a jumping pic.

Jumping pic pro tip:  jumping off the ledge gives you great height!

This was the only way we were gonna touch the peak of the Matterhorn!

This was a cool spot to try out the panorama on my camera.  You can see the observatory, the Matterhorn, and Brian!

Champagne all gone, time to descend and head back to town.

After dropping off the cups, silverware, and trash from breakfast, the next stop was even higher up... to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, an elevation of nearly 13,000 ft.

Matterhorn Glacier Paradise was pretty cold and windy that day!

We took a series of small and large gondolas up to the viewing area and glacier paradise.

This was the big gondola that took visitors and skiers up to the very top!  (With the Matterhorn in the background!)

The views from the top of the observation platform were beautiful!

Another panorama pic... this one from the top of the observation platform

Then we went to the "glacier paradise" area.  We had no idea what it was before we got there, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a big tunnel through the glacier that led to...

Cool ice sculptures!

Areas to dress up on ice thrones!

And an ice slide!  All of this (and more!) inside of a glacier!

Day 3:  skiing (!!!)

I had never been skiing before, and Brian had to have surgery the last time he went skiing, so skiing in the Alps definitely wasn't on our original itinerary.  But by the third day, we had run out of things to do in Zermatt that weren't skiing. So I booked a 2 hour ski lesson for our 3rd day to try it out.

The view from our balcony!  We woke up on Day 3 to find that Zermatt was covered in a light dusting of snow from the night before.  This made the slopes nice and soft, perfect for falling during a ski lesson.

My ski teacher, David, made me start with only 1 ski.

Pretty soon I had graduated to 2 skis and was ready to make some fresh tracks in the snow!

I made this scared face pretty much the whole 2 hours.  Meanwhile, 5 year olds were whizzing past me on the beginner slopes.  David was very patient with me.

During my lesson, Brian took on the blue slopes!  Around 10 am, the fog started to come in, engulfing the beginner area and the surrounding blue slopes.  Brian skied right through the fog at the bottom of this picture!

It got REALLY foggy there for a few minutes!  Here's Brian, me, and my instructor David on the magic carpet.

The "magic carpet."  It's like an escalator ramp that takes you up the bunny slopes!  This was where I spent the vast majority of my time on day 3.  

Like Derek Zoolander, I am not an ambiturner.  I spent about an hour of my 2 hour lesson trying to turn right.  I am excellent at turning left!  But I could not manage to turn right.  It ended up like this a few times:

But with just a few minutes left in the lesson, I finally broke through my mental block and was able to turn right!  This was the first time I was able to weave through all of the cones without falling.

The next morning we left beautiful Zermatt for Zurich, where we had about a day and a half to explore before our flight home.  Here are a few pics from Zurich:

Train station breakfast pastry!

Gorgeous Lake Zurich, with the Alps in the background (a little too cloudy to see clearly that day).

We went to a farmer's market and sampled some cheese.

We also went to a famous chocolate shop and ate some expensive (but delicious) Swiss chocolate!

A gorgeous Christmas tree in the main train station, decorated with Swarovski ornaments.

We loved the Singing Christmas Tree at a Christmas market in downtown Zurich.

Though brief, we enjoyed our time in Switzerland!  Thanks to the Borcks and the Hitts for loaning us cold weather clothes!