Zermatt: A Swiss Wonderland

This past weekend we ventured to Zermatt, the home of the Matterhorn - the mountain of mountains.  This was one of our favorite places in Switzerland from our last stint here, and it was so fun to introduce Kenzie & Lexi to this Swiss wonderland.  This was our first visit to Zermatt in the fall, so we weren't quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a gorgeous weekend and the perfect time for a visit.  Our goal was to hike, relax & enjoy the Swiss mountain air - and we did just that.

This is truly off-season in Zermatt so many hotels (and some restaurants & the Glacier Paradise) were closed, but what it meant for us was that we got a great rate on a fabulous hotel and were able to explore without the crowds.  We spoke to one shop owner who said that it was the nicest November weekend that she has seen in 35 years, so I think we truly lucked out.  There was not a cloud in the sky which meant that we got to enjoy unobstructed views of the majestic Matterhorn all weekend.

We picked the girls up early from school on Friday afternoon and drove from Geneva to Taesch, and then took the train into Zermatt (since it is a car free village).  We were picked up at the train station by The Omnia's cute blue electric car and whisked to the hotel, where we were greeted with welcome drinks - champagne for Randall and me and hot chocolate (the size of their heads) for Kenzie and Lexi.  We got settled in our room just in time to catch the sunset from our balcony, then explored the village a bit, before heading to the hotel's gourmet restaurant for dinner.  Quite a treat!

The next morning after breakfast we boarded the mountain train up to Gornergrat.  As you get further up into the mountains the views of the Matterhorn and surrounding mountains just become more and more impressive, but nothing compares to the view from the top of Gornergrat (and pictures do not do it justice).  The girls were a bit disappointed that the St. Bernard dogs that we had told them about were not at the top of the mountain (probably due to low season), but they quickly recovered by building a "baby snowman."

We then started our hike back down the mountain.  The terrain was a bit rougher than we were expecting, since it was a combination of snow, ice and mud but the girls were troopers and we made it all the way to the Riffelsee.  The Riffelsee is one of our favorite spots on Earth - it is stunningly beautiful with the reflection of the Matterhorn in the water - and it was amazing to get to bring our girls there.  We then hiked another 45 minutes down to the Riffelalp train stop and caught the train back down to Zermatt, as everyone was getting tired and hungry at this point.

After a late lunch we made our way back to the hotel, took a little rest, and then went for a swim.  The sun set as we were swimming and it was pretty amazing to sit in the hot tub with the Matterhorn illuminated by the moonlight behind us.  That evening we went to a very traditional Swiss restaurant for dinner and had fondue - because you have to have it at least once when staying in the Swiss Alps.

On Sunday morning everyone was ready for some more hiking, but we decided to stay below the snow line for some drier (less slippery) terrain.  We took the lift up to Furi and then hiked from there. We have found that hiking down the mountain is the way to go with kids, especially at altitude ... it makes for far less complaining.  Kenzie was actually snapping while hiking and the girls were both singing made up songs, in a addition to Sound of Music classics :)

There were so many moments this weekend where I was just in awe of all of the beauty that surrounded us.  Switzerland truly is a beautiful country and we are so blessed to get to live here and share these amazing experiences with our girls.

Trick or Treat

We had a successful first Halloween in Geneva.  When we lived here 10 years ago, I honestly don't remember seeing anything Halloween related in the 3 years we were here.  I was a bit worried that Kenzie & Lexi would be disappointed, since they declared that Halloween is their third favorite day of the year (after Christmas and their birthday).  But to my pleasant surprise, Halloween has certainly taken a rise in Geneva over the past decade, and we had not only a fun Halloween night, but also a festive month leading up to the big day.

Randall brought back costumes for the girls from his trip to New York at the beginning of October (a ninja per Kenzie's request and a cozy bat for Lexi, as the snow owl she wanted was sold out) and the day after he got back there was a Halloween event at Chateau de Chillon in Montreax, which is about an hour from Geneva.  Who can pass up the opportunity to go to a haunted house in a real castle?  We couldn't.  The girls were too young for the actual haunted house part of the event (which is probably a good thing), but we had fun watching knights sword fight, eating shepards pie, listening to live music and touring the beautiful castle.  Definitely a fun setting for a spooky Halloween celebration!

During the month of October we also visited an apple orchard, and picked out our pumpkins while we were there.  The girls and I had fun carving them last Wednesday afternoon after school.

On Halloween itself, we had a wonderful evening celebrating with American and Canadian friends from school.  One of Lexi's classmates hosted us for dinner and fun Halloween games before heading out for trick-or-treating.  

Trick-or-treating itself proved to be somewhat interesting.  We were in Veyrier and started out in a neighborhood that we had heard about that has lot of expats and therefore many houses that participate in trick or treat.  I think the kids hit about 8 houses there and then we walked about a mile towards another classmates house, finding a couple of additional houses along the way.  The kids had a blast and didn't complain at all about all of the walking and even though they ended up with far less loot than they would have in the US, they were content and happy.

A great Halloween and beautiful fall so far in Geneva!