Travel day from the scorching heat in Lausanne to the cool mountains of Zermatt. The weather is showing a 30 degree difference in temperatures. Break out the woolies!

Up early to clean up and pack before heading out. We decided to take the 11:50am train to give ourselves a little time. We can’t check-in until 2:00pm, so why rush.

We really enjoyed Lausanne. There isn’t one thing that we would have changed about the itinerary. If the heat wave wasn’t in full effect, we might have had a little extra time for sight-seeing instead of taking three showers a day, but what the heck – we smelled good!

Off to the train station we went. It only took about 15 minutes to get there and we only had a half hour to wait for our train. Our route today had us travel from Lausanne to the town of Visp. At Visp we changed trains and then headed to Zermatt. The scenery along the way was beautiful, especially as we neared Zermatt.

Much of our journey went through agricultural regions with lots of fruit, vegetables and vineyards. When we neared Visp and headed for Zermatt, the scenery changed to high, rocky mountainsides with occasional streams of water cascading down between the rocky crags.

Below are a few pictures from the journey:

When we arrived in Zermatt, the town was bustling. Others from the trains, plus the daily tour bus people were scurrying about taking pictures, looking for rides or just wandering the streets.

Zermatt is a car-free town, but they do have some small electric cabs and vehicles from hotels to move people or luggage. Our hotel included a pick-up service, so we called and they were there for us in five minutes. It was a short trip to the hotel, but we managed to get a feeling for the way the roads worked.

Our hotel is the Hotel Bellerive and at first glance looked nice. Our location is nice and quiet with beautiful views.

We were a little early for check-in, but our room was ready for us. We’re on the third floor and there is an elevator – hooray!

Our room is wonderful. Wow! The bed is big and comfy, and there is a day bed in case a friend drops by. The outer wall is a sliding glass door and there is a balcony with two chairs and a table. Because I booked through the hotel website, we not only got the free ride, but we also have free access to the minibar for soft drinks.

I wanted to see the Matterhorn while in Switzerland – little did I know it would be the first thing I see upon opening my eyes each morning. Not that waking up on the other side and seeing Sue isn’t just as awe inspiring – sort of.

We are here, we are thrilled with our room and hotel, we took a little walk to get acquainted with the area and now it’s dinner time. For our first night we chose the Restaurant Spycher to entertain our taste buds.

After a three minute walk, we arrived at the restaurant and we were first. We made earlier reservations to avoid the crowds and so that we could get home earlier this evening.

Everything was truly delicious and we had fun with the servers. Fun with the servers means we tried to order in German, and then found that they also spoke Italian, so the night was a mix of bad German, bad Italian and English thrown in when we were completely stumped.

We sat outside even though rain was predicted. The Host assured us the umbrellas over our table would keep us dry, and luckily we never had to worry about it at all as the rain waited until the overnight to fall.

As for our meal, let me tell you about it. We had heard that the food was good here, but hadn’t anticipated it being as good as it was. We started with a glass of Prosecco, then had a bottle of La Coraline Cornalin 2017, which is a delicious Swiss red wine.

For our meals, Sue had a salad with greens, warm goat cheese, tomatoes and nuts. Her main was braised veal cheeks and she opted for a scoop of pistachio ice cream for dessert. For me, I started with a salad of fresh homemade burrata cheese with greens, sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes. My main was a filet sampler – veal, lamb and beef filets with side vegetables and spatzle. Dessert was a trio of chocolate – cake, mousse and ice cream with chocolate liqueur.

Yes, we were full. Yes, we loved it. And yes, we waddled our way back to our hotel to rest and digest.

We are crossing our fingers that the weather tomorrow will hold out – so we can go to the mountains.