World Adventure

19Sep
Today we are moving. It is raining which annoys me as we have a 1km walk to the train station with our packs. I always want perfect weather when I travel!
We are heading to Zermatt which is were we hope to see the Matterhorn. The journey, on the Matterhorn Gottard Bahn, is down the mountain pass towards Lugano and the Italian side of Switzerland. Unfortunately the weather closed in so we did not see much of the mountain tops but the journey was really interesting as it passed through sections of mountain and there were avalanche tunnels for the roads. We passed through Bellinzona and its old castles then continued down to Lugano for a look. It was surprisingly warm when we arrived.
We did not have much time as we needed to return back up the line to Goschenen where we still had a 4hr train trip to Zermatt. We arrived at Goschenen and it was snowing and train was tiny. The weather started to clear along the trip and we started seeing snow capped mountains. The trip was along a valley with old wooden villages and the mandatory cows wih bells around their necks. The train filled with walkers who had come down from the mountains in the afternoon. If you looked at a map you would find that the mountains we passed contain the Aletsh glacier - the largest in Europe - on the other side. We changed the train at Brig then another 80 minutes to Zermatt.
It was a short walk to the Hotel Cima and the enthusiastic Italian owner Silvano. He had lost our booking but was not bothered and upgraded our room for a little extra to a view of the Matterhorn and the spacious yard. He also grabbed me for a glass of italian wine, cheese and bread. Nice warm welcome.  The hotel is more along the lines of a B&B and was fairly priced considering it is a ski village.   
We went for a walk in the village. Yes tacky tourist central. You can purchase any iconic swiss memorabilia for an impressive swiss ski village price. We declined of course but did like the cow that yodeled when pressed.
The church bells in town ring the start of three blind mice on the hour then follow with the usual ringing.
There was no cloud and the Matterhorn was quite clear to view. It was distinctive but a bit of a letdown. I had expected it to dominate.