Day 6 Zermatt

Day 6 Zermatt
We got in late the night before. We had left the warm Italian air that afternoon and didn't know it would be 47 degrees and raining when we got to Switzerland. Luckily there was an electric taxi at the exit of the train station ready to take us to our hotel. We checked in and unpacked a little before heading to bed.
We woke up to even more rain unfortunately. Luckily our hotel had a great breakfast so we could at least get some good food to start the day. The hotel employee recommended a shorted hike around the base of the town instead of paying the expensive train fares for a limited view. Ben and I decided to walk around the town of Zermatt since we were not ready to head up the mountain in the rain. As we walked into town we practically walked right into the Sunday marching band. Who knew they were so hard core- rain or shine they were playing in traditional Swiss attire. We continued window shopping and people watching as we meandered down the main drag. The rain seemed to let up a little so we headed back to our hotel to check out the panorama view from the terrace on the roof. Even with the clouds the view was lush and rich. Mountains and rolling green hills surrounded us and it was incredible. We then headed to a pub for lunch and had one of the best burgers! I was able to satisfy my guacamole obsession with the "Mexican Burger" :) After lunch Ben and I went to the Matterhorn Museum, which Ben decided he liked much better than the Uffizi. It was below ground and had a lot of interactive features that he found more entertaining than the art. The museum gave us plenty to explore before heading out on our hike. The rain had stopped and the Matterhorn was finally visible. The pictures in the museum were finally becoming a real view for us. We hiked upthe hill side to the first gondola. We were able to get some amazing pictures of the mountains and enjoy the incline and exercise of a hike. Ben felt so "legit" when we actually hiked up the snow. Today we were more appropriately dressed with at least pants and coat instead of our shorts and Chacos we were wearing the day before. Our day turned out to be a lot of fun despite the dreary start. We had plenty of laughs and even finished the day by making a new friend at the pub. Ben invited a lonely Italian to join our table. Through Ben on google translator, my understanding of the similarity between Spanish and Italian, and our new friends limited English, we managed to have a nice evening together. We begrudgingly packed our bags that night and set our alarms for our early train to Interlaken.

We really did enjoy Zermatt but decided May is not the best month. We found that a lot of the resort hotels and tourist sites are closed this month because it is between the snow months and the warmer summer months. We are glad we got to appreciate the beauty of the town and would love to return in the snow or heat to see it in full swing.