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Finally left the apartment at about 9am & headed to Zermatt for some adventure.
We took the cog train up to Gornergrat. A few stops on the way & lots of views of the Matterhorn and I spotted 3 Alpine marmots running in the grasses.
At the top 3112m above sea level was a hotel & restaurant as well as a tiny solid rock Chapel that looked like it was built in the 1800's.
At the top we got to see so much snow on the rugged rocky slopes that we often stood there gaping at the views. We walked as high as we could, took heaps of pictures and then began to make our way down towards Rotenboden station.
We spotted a woman who had injured herself just as 3 hikers approached her. She had fallen & hit her head & was not able to walk or move much. We moved on as we couldn't do much - she spoke German.
As we headed off to hike across country - I kept delaying things by asking John to take photos of the gorgeous wildflowers dotted everywhere. We heard a helicopter hover overhead & land near where the hurt woman was being attended to. The 'copter dropped off a gurney & headed off to find a flat spot to wait until they could evacuate her. We watched the 'copter pick her up with a towline & bring her back to his flat waiting spot to disconnect her & transport her to medical support in Zermatt. The whole process was efficient & seemingly effective.
Later in the day we decided it was time to give John the thrill of his life - a 4 part journey form Zermatt to Furi to Schwarzsee to Trockener Steg to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, on initially little gondolas then a huge cable car for the last part. The views were awesome. The incline was massive as we travelled from a height of 1620m to 3883m. Again we were blown away by our entire surroundings. By the way we travelled into Italy on the last part of the journey. The Italian alps were even thicker with snow than the Swiss ones.
John and I have now both stood & walked around at 3883m above sea level & survived.
We arrived 'home' at about 5:30pm, worn out and with sore legs & eet .
After we cooked & ate dinner we decided to go back to Zermatt to view the Matterhorn at sunset & were delighted when at 9:15pm the original route taken to the top of the mountain was light up one light at a time & we got photos as well. On the 14th of July this year is the 150th anniversary of the first successful climb to the top of the Matterhorn - so the lights are being tested each night in the lead up.
Today was another great day, even better as we felt the cold for the first time this trip - it only got to 20 degrees max. We had almost forgotten what goose bumps were.
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