Dear blog

Tonight we write from the Matterhorn express on our way back home from the Swiss alps.

But first I think we left off when still back in italia and on our way to bellagio. After a rather stressful drive around the lake (sometimes needing to reverse 100m to let a truck squeeze through in between water and cliff) we made it to bellagio. Bellagio is in a stunning spot on lake Como and is a bustling little town ( at all times apart from November when it turns into a ghost town) you could almost say nic and I had it to ourself but after a little exploring we found a great restraunt, and wine bar and we were sorted for a nice few days. Nic found her love of walking tours but I think they may have been with the goal of finding George Clooney but unfortunately he was nowhere to be found. We also managed to fit in our first haircut of the trip in Bellagio, Nic spent a good 3.5hrs there getting some foil put in her hair, but it was much needed so good to have that out of the way!

We then headed north into Switzerland and the nice little town of luzern. It was a great little city with lots to do. We ended up in the transport museum (sounds exciting) but it was actually awesome and Inc things such as jet simulators with this pod spinning around all over the place.

We then headed to interlarken for a few days. It is situated in between two amazing crystal clear glacier lakes and surround by snow covered peaks. Unfortunately we were in between seasons (again) and the Swiss are having an unusually late winter so we did some great drives and visited lots of great little Swiss towns. From Interlaken we explored Bern and visited the bears and wandered around a the very pretty city. The bears were definitely a highlight - the old pit is no longer their home, rather they have a 'park' in the middle of the town where they just do their thing while everyone wanders around. We thought they may be hibernating, but given the late winter and the beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies, we got a great look, one of them was very active! We also visited Einstein's apartment in the city where i was very interested to learn Einstein struggled through uni and struggled to get a job! Bern was a great little city with a really nice atmosphere and plenty to do. Unfortunately about 3.30pm the fog rolled in and the temp dropped about 6 degrees (taking it from a pleasant 4, to a very chilly -2!), and that was our cue to head back to Interlaken!

With the threat of snow we left the car and caught the train to Zermatt. After buying snow chains we did have a practice run but 30mins in a snow blizzard trying to put on chains didn't really appeal. The trip up to Zermatt was stunning, with the imposing Alps wherever you looked. We decided to stay a night in Zermatt, and it was a picturesque Alpine Village just as you would imagine. Yesterday we headed to see the Swiss famous mountain Matterhorn towering above from 4478m on Europe's highest railway. With freshly made sandwiches and cold beers in hand, it was as good a spot for a picnic as you can get. The imposing Matterhorn on one side, the beautiful Alps on the other side, and the valley as clear as day, it really was amazing. After chilling our beers in the snow (best way to drink them!) we spent a fair while just chilling in the sun, which was just perfect as for 45 mins we probably didn't see another person up there. It was more picturesque and amazing than either of us could have ever imagined.

After a casual dinner we got and early night and we geared up for the slopes today. They have 365 days a yr of skiing up here and it was great quality not icy and just a cable car up on zermatt. It ha been a while (11yrs for Nic!) and we were both a bit rusty but after a few runs we were right back into it. Let's be honest though, Nic is s*** on a tbar, but not wanting me to miss the ground level action always seemed to take me with her. It was an amazing place to ski with 360 deg views of Swiss alps and skiing in the shadows of Matterhorn. Taking the chairlift up you choose either ski in italy or Switzerland and with no waiting for lifts it is just nothing like home. It has certainly got us excited fore our 10 days in colarado and week in whistler, I just hope the aching body can recover by then.

Anyway better go as need to workout where going tomorrow, we have a few days left in Switzerland before Rome and the US!

Hope all is well at home

Ciao,

Nic and James