The Matterhorn!

This weekend's adventure theme: Zermatt or bust! We again hopped on our little village bus, went to Nyon, then got on a longer (3-hr) train up to Zermatt, the cute village at the base of The Matterhorn: the mountain on the border between Switzerland and Italy, and one of the highest peaks in the Alps.  It was CRAWLING with hikers... just all sorts of cool-looking, VERY fit, outdoorsy people with packs bigger than themselves strapped to their backs. Maybe one day we'll return and hike it the 'real' way after the kids are grown. And maybe not. 8-)

Here we are beginning our adventure... Kas began a snail collection at the bus stop ~ I love how she doesn't even think twice about digging her fingernails into the dirt.

The train rides are always so entertaining...

Another dog friend on the train! Pure heaven for the kids... especially since the owner let us feed him.

And we arrive in Zermatt! There's the Matterhorn behind Daron's head ('matter' meaning 'meadow' and 'horn' meaning 'peak').

Daron spots some sausages... we opt for ice-cream instead.

The downtown streets are ADORABLE - the flowers everywhere. Like Gatlinburg, TN or Lake Tahoe, CA...

Our pretty Hotel Primavera ~ with a balcony view of the Matterhorn...

The town is totally kid-friendly - parks everywhere, including this one with a climbable mini-Matterhorn. We decided not to climb the ACTUAL peak; we printed the Wikipedia info about it's history and read about the countless tragedies (500 deaths over the years) of hikers attempting to ascend to the zenith. Ya' know, we just didn't bring the right gear this time. AH-HAH-AH-AH-AHA-AH!

And it's a good thing we both have high self-esteem so we can post this one ~

We realized August was probably the most travel-busy month for us thus far: Monaco, Cannes, Grenoble, London, Scotland, and Matterhorn ~ it's hard to sit still in one place when there are so many amazing spots to discover!  When we got back to Nyon, we had to wait 30 minutes for our bus, so I decided to let Daron take the kids on the bus, and I ran all the way home to Crassier! We've been wondering how long the 8 minute drive would take to run... I did it in 40 minutes. It felt great. Especially after we had been eating Toblerone chocolate all weekend. We of course HAD to though, after discovering that Theodor Tobler made his characteristic mountainy chocolate peaks in the shape of The Matterhorn... who knew.  We SHOULD HAVE, since the Matterhorn picture is right on the front of the package!!