Zermatt 2016

I climbed the Matterhorn!!!

Walter invited me to join him in climbing the Matterhorn this year. He thought about it and decided in January that he could commit to it and fit it into is world travel schedule sometime in mid to late august. I said ‘hell yeah’ when invited. This to me was one of those opportunities that don’t come around too often, and I have for a long time wondered what it would be like to climb a mountain, and by that I mean mountaineering type of ascension, not a hike and this was an opportunity to experience it. So, yes, it was an easy choice for me.

I won’t go into the details of my training, but I was diligent about my fitness from January into August. I joined the climbing gym in January, but I can’t say that that went particularly well for the most part. After I found out that John Cobau has been a climber for years, I was able to join him and have someone to climb with during the last 6 weeks or so before heading to Switzerland. This time in the gym was useful, but did not make a big difference I don’t think, in the experience, or affect my success significantly.

I had another fantastic travel day to Zurich. My flight was leaving from National Airport around 4. A few hours before I left for airport I logged in to United to see that my flight was cancelled and they had booked me for a flight the next day. I was not particularly pleased about this as I was flying to Newark and meeting Walter. I called United and also went to airport as scheduled. After a bunch of time on the phone, they got me a flight that would take me to Frankfort and then onto Zurich and my arrival time would be about the same. Only problem was I was at National Airport and this flight was from Dulles. I jumped in a taxi and went to Dulles. I got on my flight, but it took more phone calls, because Walter had upgraded me to business class, but that status was lost during the rescheduling, but that was eventually worked out. Boarded plane and sat on  for the next 2 hours or so. Was not so bad in business class, but I was worried about connection in Frankfort. The flight finally left and it was nice flying business class. I highly recommend.

Of course, I missed my connection in Frankfort. But, when I exited plane, I had already be rebooked on a new flight to get me to Zurich. Not great, but ok. So, I found my gate and had a while to wait. I checked in at gate, but I think there was something amiss, communication issues and the family in front of me had some issues to work out that took a long time to solve. Anyway, I got on flight, but not sure my luggage was going to make it, I had lost or not received my luggage claim ticket at Dulles, this could have been my fault, but not entirely sure. It is a bit fuzzy.

Anyway, my new flight took me to Dusseldorf, which is a rather small and boring and warm airport, I was quite tired, and had a 5? hour layover. I was now on Lufthansa, but the flight to Zurich was on Swissair. I tried talking to an agent, because I did not have a boarding pass at this point. I think this might have been confusion in Frankfort at counter where agent thought I was only going to Dusseldorf, but I am not sure about this at all. After trying to nap and relax for many hours I tried to board the flight I thought I was on. They said my name was not on list, and I was not boarding the flight. So, in Dusseldorf, no boarding pass, on different airline than originally, no internet access for most part, and tired. Also, there was no one from Lufthansa to talk to. I was told to leave the secure area and go to ticket counter. hmm. I had no choice, so I did this and after a bit of time the agent there did get me booked on a flight to Zurich in an hour. But I was flying to Copenhagen first, and then Zurich. The status of my luggage was unknown and at this point unknowable. Make sure you get and keep track of luggage claim tickets. I have found my last few trips this is important because I keep having luggage that does not arrive with me.

I board the flight to Copenhagen, which is a fantastic airport, in my opinion. I had a drink and got some food and was able to finally get on a flight to Zurich. I arrived in Zurich and went directly to the lost luggage office. The person there was really helpful, but it was 9pm and I did not have my luggage tag, so I did not have ID number, no ID, no ability to know where luggage is. I found the airport shuttle and went to hotel and met Walter, who had an easy no problem original flight. The next morning after a bit of flailing around  I called United and got my luggage tracking ID. I then went back to the airport and went to the lost luggage office. I showed them my lost luggage claim and they let me thru the office and back down to the lost luggage office I was at night before, without having to go thru security. I thought this was interesting. I ran into agent I worked with night before and she was able to see that my luggage had arrived, a bit after I did the night before.  I was then able to look thru the luggage and spotted my suitcase quickly. I got it and went left. Yay!!!

Six airports in under 24 hours. National, Dulles, Frankfort, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Zurich. I don’t want to experience that again, and I don’t wish that upon anybody. It was a situation that would try the patience of just about anyone. I maintained my composure with the idea that yelling at someone who was trying to solve my problem was not going to be productive.

Zermatt!

After a 3 1/2 train ride from Zurich, we arrived in Zermatt. In short, Zermatt is a great place to visit. Beautiful small mountain town, with all the amenities you could want. Summer is the offseason, and Walter rented an apartment for 2 weeks. This was great as Switzerland is so very expensive. It made it easier for me eating, as we were able to buy food at the grocery store, and not eat out every meal. A pharmacy had a small gluten free section of Schär products. So I bought crackers, cookies, bread, and a lemon pound cake. Sandwiches! We also ate out a number of times and I had a couple of gluten free pizzas. The crusts were fine, not great, but the toppings, especially the second place we visited were exceptional. I am not sure that either place was particularly careful with controlling contamination, but I did not have any big problems. I also had a delicious risotto. Our last evening I had spaghetti with gluten free penne pasta that was quite tasty. Walter and I ate outside every time we went out to eat except for one night.

The day we arrived in Zermatt there was ongoing a folklore festival in the town square. It was exactly what I think of as a european town festival. There were picnic tables lined up in long rows with table cloths, and food and beer aplenty and various folk music. One such group was about 20 people ringing huge cowbells, cowbells a foot or more across. Not sure it was particularly musical, but certainly interesting. Walter and I both got some raclette, which along with rosti, seems to be the national dish. The raclete for the festival was served on plastic picnic plate. A bit of cheese was melted and put on place. Think a thin smear that covers about 1/2 the plate. There was also two, exactly two small potatoes, two gherkin type pickles, (not sweet) and 3 small white onions, the kind you would put in a martini. It was good, if a bit odd I think. Also, the Matterhorn was clearly visible while in the town center. It was beautiful, and it felt so very european. Maybe that comes from some stereotyping by me, but it was a nice place to be at the time.