Switzerland 7 - Mt Toblerone

Today we rose with the sun, probably. We we're definitely up and out the door before it had any chance of penetrating the courtyard of our hotel. A short walk later we were on a train to Visp, where we sat next to a rescue-skier. He was an interesting conversationalist, he spends the winters EMT'ing 1-10 injured skiers a day, and his summers traveling. He'd even shipped his Vanagon to Baltimore at one point, to journey across the US before making his way down to Argentina. He wished us well on our way to Mt Toblerone and asked us if we'd visit the tiktok lake.

At Visp we went out separate ways, and transferred to a local train that immediately headed up into the mountains, paralleling the course of the river <Matter Vispa>. The river was violent and energetic, and scars in the riverbed hinted it was capable of far more violence. Sort of sounds like a bad idea to put a train next to violent mountain drainage, and it is! Just a few weeks ago this line was closed due to a wash-out. But it's repaired now and scenic AF. I took a lot of video clips just looking out the windows, hopefully I'll edit them some day.

Finally, we arrived in Zermatt! Another town primarily dedicated to skiing, this town exists purely because the Matterhorn is stunningly gorgeous. Sharp and triangular, it is the platonic ideal of a mountain. We caught a few glimpses of the mountain as we crossed town, making our way to the funicular up to Sunnegga - the ride was totally underground, and blisteringly fast for the angle of attack.

We emerged on top of Sunnegga (one of the neighboring peaks a fair bit lower) and were immediately met with the tectonic masterpiece that is the Matterhorn. We found our hiking trail for the day, and set off down the mountain.... and in a few minutes found ourselves at TikTok lake! I don't tiktok, it's more of a pond than a lake, however none of us know the actual name <Leisee> so that sobriquet stuck. It features a playground, a cable ferry that Adam and Sage took across the lake, and most importantly reflections of the mountain. I hiked around it to get the iconic shot (which was slightly ruined by ripples, but like everything on tiktok I'll fake it), rejoined the rest of the family, and we headed further down the mountain.

Note the slates that prevent mice!

We chose Sunnegga because the trail has the best views and angles of the Matterhorn, and it did. We walked across (mostly down) fields that would be ski-slopes admiring the mountain, the traditional slate-roofed huts, and - of course - some cows. Or as we call them now, Moo's. The peak quickly beclouded, but even in clouds it looked majestic. We also passed a handful of restaurants, which felt rather bizarre. We're 45 minutes into a wilderness hike and there's a full-blown restaurant with power, running water, a beer list... but we soldiered on until Sage fell asleep in her carrier. This was a great excuse to sit and chill, watching the cloud ceiling slowly envelop more of the peak and enjoying the fabulous weather. Whatever layers we'd worn were stripped off and we had a nice 20 minute nap-break.

Napping achieved, we continued down, looping into the forest beneath Sunnegga. This trail was only mildly downhill which made for fantastic hiking, and wove around massive boulders, beneath (and above) towering pine trees, and led to cliffs offering a great overview of Zermatt. Almost a hiking equivalent of Via Ferrata, this was incredible drops protected with only a railing, and the runner-up  highlight of the trail (second to Mt Toblerone, of course). We wove our way through the woods, tasting raw juniper berries (bad, but a pleasant gin after-taste), identifying scat (primary fox and goat), and just generally enjoying nature. After a few miles of this casual descent the rest of the family was hungry, and chose a steep down-hill side-trail that descended directly to town.

The steep downhill was brutal, and the only positive I can give it was some cute black squirrels (who would not sit still for photos). While not objectively as harsh as our first hike in Mürren, subjectively.... I need another rest-day, maybe a rest-week.  Near the bottom we took a break at a playground where I built mulch piles and blew bubbles (for Sage, obviously), and soon after moving on we were abruptly dumped out into Zermatt. Down half a dozen flights of stairs, of course.

"I could build this..."

Back in town, we set about finding a late lunch. I'd only eaten a soft pretzel, was slightly dehydrated, my calves hated me, but I've long ago learned the ideal method for restaurant choice in these situations: Total apathy. So I silently followed my family across the city as they debated the merits of various options, and then back across once they finally chose the local sports-center.  Honestly, it was a great choice. I had a brisket panini, then stole from my brother's heaping mountain of nachos, and a pint of the local lager put me in a far better mood. 

We went out the back door to the local playground and enjoyed the chaos. Swings, trampolines, a cool rocking table that rolled a ball through a maze.... I enjoyed it all, not nearly as much as Sage though, who was enamored of the toys and all the slightly-older children running amok. We were all enamored of Sage being enamored with everything, screaming with joy, shouting over balls, trying each trampoline back to back to back to back. So cute. She's no longer always an angel, but she can be.

The trainride back was the reverse of our morning's trip, and I split my attention between the stream and Sage, who now (finally) adores me. The only other point to mention is the worlds 7th longest train-tunnel. 30km straight through a mountain. Boring (hah!), but very impressive. <maybe talk about easy-ride and how I now don't even know where I'm going even when I got on the train)

And as our train arrived in Bern, we crashed hard. We did make a stop for gellato, but everyone was looking forward to showers and bed. Shower complete, I'm looking forward to lying down and reading a book, and hopefully not moving very much. Tomorrow, some castle!