Zermatt is a "car free" town so anyone driving to Zermatt has to park here and take a train for the last 15 minutes or so. The lack of traffic sounds was not noticeable at all when we arrived but after leaving Zermatt it was surprising how noisy cars were. *** We finally arrived in Zermatt about 8:30... 26 hours after leaving home (including the time spent in Bern). After having a second dose of "there is no cheap way to eat in Switzerland" we crashed for the night.
Our home for the next 4 nights would be a coworker's apartment that sits up on the side of the Zermatt valley. We had a great view from the balcony. What was a bit of a surprise was the telephone booth / aka shower stall that sits square in the middle of apartment. *** Thanks again Brian for letting us stay at your place ;-)
First thing we did was pick up a 3 day pass so we could ride the mountain trains without worrying about buying point to point tickets. You get a photo pass that you just wave in front of a sensor on the turnstiles... pretty neat. *** On our first day in Zermatt we decided to go up to Gornergrat which is at 10132 ft and a 45 minute train ride from Zermatt which is at 5262 ft.
