Sunday, September 6, 1981
Awoke early to catch the 7:52 train to Interlaken. Déjà vu! The train to
Interlaken usually includes cars heading to Brig, but today there were extra
reserved cars full of people in traditional dress, and no cars for Brig. All
this traffic for the second day of the Unspunnenfest. I changed in Bern for a
train to Brig leaving at 8:47 that left late. Many people disembarked at Thun
and Spiez, perhaps to catch boats to Interlaken.
At Mülenen you could see the funicular that appeared to go right to the top
of the Niesen mountain. We passed through a lovely valley of scattered chalets
as we climbed up towards the mountain tops. We apparently spiraled our way up
as we passed the same areas twice, but at higher levels.
Kandersteg has a chairlift to Oeschinensee/Lake and the end station for the car transport train that goes through
the Lötschberg Tunnel. We zoomed through the tunnel ourselves, arriving at the
other end in Goppenstein, 14.6 km/9.1 miles later. Hard to believe they began digging the
tunnel in 1906, and service began in 1913. We then went through a series of
shorter tunnels, coming out to look straight down in a deep valley. It wasn’t
as pretty as the previous valley, but because of our height above it, it was
spectacular. As we traveled along the valley, we slowly lost altitude as the
haze started to clear.
In Brig, I only had a minute to catch the narrow
gauge train to Zermatt which left from in front of the station. Since my day
pass was only good to Visp, I had to purchase a half-price round-trip ticket to
Gornergrat. I was shocked by the steep price at 35 CHF/$17.50. Others have to
pay 70 CHF/$35! I made it to the bright red train and took one of the few empty
seats. Everyone else seemed to be Swiss and I wondered where all the foreigners
were. I did see signs indicating the Eurail Pass was not valid here.
We left Brig about 11:00 and headed up the same
valley I had come down, except we stayed at the bottom. You could see the concrete
embankments of the main railroad as it climbed up the mountainside. At Visp we
turned south into a narrower valley that was very similar to the valley I had
driven up to view the Matterhorn from the opposite side in Italy! A mountain
stream tumbled down the middle of the steep sided valley with all its trees and
rock outcroppings. Peeking above the nearer mountains was a snow-capped peak,
but since we kept traveling on, that wasn’t the Matterhorn.
At the St
Nicklaus station, some foreigners boarded the train. For a long time this was
the farthest you could come by car, before taking the train. On a rocky “landslide”
I saw some movement; two chamois! Most of the buildings had roofs lined with
flat stones, and we passed a quarry where it seemed these flat stones were collected.
Saw the “mazots,” small wooden buildings with stone rooftops built on stilts. At
the top of each stilt was a flat round stone, like a squirrel guard on small
trees. These are supposed to keep out the rats. A few Swiss chocolate brown
cows. Mostly towns of vacation chalets. The train suddenly became very crowded
at Täsch, which was another vacation chalet town, but also had a large parking
lot. This must be the current end of the road for cars. People oohed and aahed
at all the parked cars, but having been to US football stadium parking lots
during a game, this was nothing!
Our train ran on regular tracks, but once in a
while slowed down to latch onto a rack for climbing. Just as we entered the
town of Zermatt, you could see the Matterhorn. It is such a unique mountain peak,
I wondered how I could have thought that previous snow-capped mountain was it.
Arrived in Zermatt after 1-1/2 hours at 12:30. In the station square were several types of vehicles waiting to transport people to various hotels. There were dozens of electric carts, and horse-drawn carriages and wagons. I did see one private car, and the only other gas-powered vehicle was an ambulance.
 |
First view of Matterhorn in Zermatt
Electric vehicles in the square |
 |
| Matterhorn |
 |
| Train from Brig to Zermatt |
Now it was time to catch the Gornergratbahn/Gorner
Ridge Railway. I was able to bypass the ticket line since I already had a
ticket. A conductor punched your ticket and you went through a turnstile. You
had to check the numbers on the wall to see which had a green light. It was
number 3, so we went to the line for Gate 3. We had to pass through another
turnstile before boarding the car. The car had graded shallow steps for a
floor, so that on flat ground, everything was tilted back a bit. I took a
forward-facing seat, and felt like I would slide forward off it. Many people
were not paying attention and tripped on the steps. Especially the two old
drunk men with red faces in old hiking clothes who made a loud ruckus. As our
car filled up, I imagine the green light for #4 turned on. After the two-car
train was full, we departed at 13:00. Once the train started climbing on the
rack, everything was level inside.
Zermatt was a town of chalet hotels, restaurants,
and vacation apartments, interspersed with little wooden “mazots.” We crossed
over a green river in a concrete channel. The French girl across from me
thought it was the Rhône River. But this was a tributary, since the Rhône is in
the Brig/Visp valley.
As usual, I was on the wrong side of the train
to watch the Matterhorn appear closer and closer. Although the Matterhorn is
average in height (4478 m/14691’) for the Pennine Alps, the fact that it stands
alone makes it outstanding! Because the sides are so steep, snow doesn’t stay
on the pyramidal mountain. The east face looked like it would be easy to climb,
which I am sure is an illusion.
 |
| Matterhorn from highest point in Gornergrat |
 |
| Gornergrat Glacier |
 |
| Gornergratbahn |
 |
| Gornergratbahn rack rails |
Below was a small lake that was sapphire blue.
 |
| Hiking trail and blue lake |
From Gornergrat you can see the tallest peak in Switzerland: Monte Rosa at 4634 m/15203’.
 |
| Monte Rosa |
I hadn’t had to do much walking on this trip, but now I had trouble going downhill from the observation point to the souvenir shop. Perhaps from all the climbing yesterday, today I woke up with an aching left knee that was okay with weight-bearing, but didn’t like active flexion or initial swing phase! Going down stairs or downhill, the pain was in the lateral aspect of the knee.
I returned to the train station and caught the 14:45 back to Zermatt. I sat on the proper side of the train, but this time the sun was in the wrong place! Saw some sheep near the protective overhang (for avalanches).
 |
| Riffelberg Chapel (1961) and Matterhorn |
 |
| Avalanche protective covering over tracks |
 |
| Zermatt valley and funicular |
 |
| Leaving the Matterhorn |
 |
| Zermatt valley |
 |
| Matterhorn across the Zermatt valley |
 |
| Zermatt |
 |
| Mazot seen from train |
 |
| Ski lock-up at train station |
 |
| Gornergratbahn station |
In Zermatt I wandered a bit, finding mazots (small wooden raised hay barns, some on stilts) and the Monte Rosa Hotel, one of the first hotels in town.
 |
| Mazot |
 |
| Mazot |
Passed a large church and a tiny cemetery. I was passed by electric taxis that quietly snuck up behind you. Also passed by horse-drawn vehicles that jingled in warning. Saw a St Bernard dog that seemed to have especially long legs. Lots of skiers in full regalia carrying skis and poles. Apparently most of the aerial cable car users are skiers. Saw the aerial cable cars for Trockenersteg and Schwarzsee.
 |
| Aerial cable car |
 |
| Channelized Matter Vispa River |
 |
| Zermatt main street |
 |
| Electric vehicles |
After a long walk on the straight
or uphill, my knee loosened up and felt good. But on returning to the station
on a slight incline, it tightened up.
On the way down from Zermatt to
Brig, my ears plugged up, and my head drained through a runny nose. In Brig my
ears and nose were hopelessly plugged. Arrived in Brig by 18:00 and caught the
18:07 train to Bern. Something happened to Swiss efficiency when we entered the
series of tunnels; they forgot to turn
on the lights. Unfortunate for the fellow across the aisle who was trying to
read a book, Fascinating for me to find no difference in opening or closing my
eyes. And fun for a couple kids who changed seats in the dark, to be surprised
where the other was sitting when we hit daylight. By the time we reached the
extremely long Lötschberg Tunnel, they remembered to turn on the lights!
I was joined by a couple guys, and the one
sprinkled his talking with Italian expressions and used an excessive amount of
hand gesturing. I had forgotten how much the Italians used their hands, and realized
Germans don’t use their hands at all. The companion spoke only Sveetseer-dootch
and kept his hands in his lap. I wondered if the other fellow, now throwing in
some French and high-German, was trying to get a reaction from me. Even though
he was easy to understand, I was Miss Stone Face.
Arrived in Bern at 19:50. Took the 20:05 train
to Biel, which was a local, arriving at 20:45. My knee didn’t mind the uphill
walk home too much.
Monday, September 7, 1981
Labor Day in the U.S. and I sure did labor
today!
After work I hobbled down to the library to turn
in my books. I thought the librarian would give me my library card, but she
just thanked me for the books. I picked out some more books including "Sophie’s
Choice" in German, and went to check out. I expected her to ask for my library
card, and I would have to say I haven’t received it yet. She didn’t even ask
for my name as she stamped the books and wished me a good evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment