2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 10 - Zermatt, Switzerland

This morning I woke up very sick. I was very dizzy and nauseous. I took a shower, then got back in bed while mom and Amber went down to breakfast. I was vomiting and feeling awful, but fortunately mom had some Zofran with her so I took that. By the time we had to leave our hotel for our Matterhorn excursion, I was feeling a lot better. We left the hotel at 9:00 a.m. and went up some lifts on little capsules, that took us most of the way up to the Klein Matterhorn. The Klein Matterhorn is a summit next to the Matterhorn. About 2/3 of the way up we got off and had a group photo. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so we didn’t get to see the Matterhorn. It was completely covered with clouds. I was really disappointed, but still happy to be here. We then got on a cable car and went up to the summit. On the summit it was still cloudy, but we walked on the snow and took some pictures. Mom and Amber, especially mom, were not feeling very good with the high elevation. We were at 12,500 ft. Mom sat in the café and Amber and I went inside the glacier palace. It was very cool, walking into an ice cave, being totally surrounded by ice. They had carved out rooms, and sculptures, and even a slide. It was a very fun place. An hour later we went back down the cable car, and got back on the little capsules to take us back to Zermatt. Halfway down, there was a little stop. Amber and I decided to get off and walk the rest of the way down the mountain. I had wanted to hike in the Alps all my life, and this was the perfect opportunity. We found the hiking trail, and it said that Zermatt was 1 hour 45 minutes away. So we started down the trail, and then it turned up the mountain, in the opposite way of the city, so I thought we must have read the sign wrong. We came across some fellow hikers and asked them if we were on the correct trail to Zermatt. She said yes, that it has to loop around and cross a bridge over the gorge and then it will head back down the mountain toward the city. Our hike today was so far, probably the highlight of my trip. It was so amazing to be walking in the mountain below the Matterhorn, among meadows of wildflowers with wooden chalets on the mountain sides, and little villages we walked through, and sheep and cattle and butterflies and birds. I absolutely loved our walk down the mountain. Everything was so beautiful and perfect. We got down to Zermatt in 1 hour 45 minutes, just like the sign said. We had to walk to our hotel which took another 15 minutes. Mom was in the hotel on the balcony reading. She had been out souvenir shopping while we were walking. When I got to our room, I began to get a very bad headache, and my nausea hit me again. I took some ibuprophen and another Zofran and lad down, waiting and hoping for it to pass. After awhile I was able to fall asleep and slept for about 30 minutes. I felt better when I woke up. Amber and I wanted to do a little shopping, so we left and walked back to the city center. Amber got her boys some Swiss Army knives. I went to the Co Op and bought some yummy hot chocolate mix to take home. I’m so excited; the hot chocolate here is delicious! On our way back to the hotel, I noticed the Matterhorn was trying to peek out of the clouds. We got a few pictures, but I’m still waiting to see it all. We ate some snacks and Johannes berries that Amber bought at the Co Op for dinner. Then I took mom and Amber on the walk through the old part of town and to the church and graveyard.