Zermatt Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

I woke up as the alarm sounded at 7 but went back to sleep when the other 2 didn’t wake. Everyone was feeling the tiredness so we allowed ourselves more sleep.

Finally awaken about an hour later, prepared and went for breakfast. The breakfast variety was about the same as the previous one, nothing much. There wasn’t much guests eating either, supposed it was due to the renovation.

Before leaving the hotel, I feedback to the hotel staff (whom might be the owner) about not getting the room with the Matterhorn view although we paid for it and she returned to say that because there were 3 of us, and that the Swiss law dictated a larger room for that many people, and triple rooms had no Matterhorn view. Unfortunately, during booking we didn’t fill in the extra baby and I couldn’t argue further, lesson well learnt.

Going back was the same way as we came, via the shuttle train. By the time we reached Tasch, it was already 11am. Paid 15.50 CHF for 1 day parking and drove to Gruyere.

I took slightly more than 2 hours to get there. It was a difficult journey as baby K was extremely cranky and crying a lot. Wife was also tired and frustrated. By the time we arrived at the carpark, it was pure relief.

The little village was supposedly medieval and it still had that look. We went over to Le Chalet du Gruyères to have lunch. I ordered the cheese fondue as Gruyères was famous for its cheese. It was indeed really delicious, much better than the one we had in Geneva.

After lunch, we went to the Chateau de Gruyere and paid 10CHF each to enter. This was a much smaller one than the one at Montreux so we finished exploring much faster. It had better looking rooms though. There was audio guide available and it would probably be more interesting with the history information told thru the audio guide but we didn’t had time.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Huge carpet hanging above a bed.

It was another hour to Bern and it was a pretty easy drive. Entering the city was faster than the previous cities I had been to and arriving at Marthahaus, which was In a much smaller street, there weren’t any traffic to be aware of. Furthermore, having reserved a parking slot (10CHF) just across the street, luggage was easy to handle.

This hotel offered very simple room so I supposed what you pay was what you get. Nothing much to complain nor anything to brag about too.

After resting for a while, we went to Viktoriaplatz to take the tram no. 9 to Zytglogge, where there was a huge clock and the old town to explore.

It was just 2 stops away and 5mins journey. Once off, we could see the clock a few meters away. Continued to move east and we could see the Munster Cathedral. Same same but different, the intricate cravings on top of the doorway was really attractive.

Walked in the opposite direction, we could see the Parliament building. Although a tour was available though at earlier timings. The area behind the main building had a panorama of the other side of the city.

Early dinner was our next objective since all the shops had closed at 7pm. We had nothing else to do but to head to Luce, a pretty popular dinning option on Tripadvisor.

This Italian cuisine restaurant was crowded by the time we arrived. I ordered some chicken and wife got some better tasting pasta.

We didn’t take too long to finish the meal as it was nearing the dreadful 8pm where baby K will get very cranky as he wanted to sleep.

Baby activities and bathing was a challenge as the shower was much smaller than the one in Montreux. Thereafter, baby slept and it was bottle cleaning time and unpacking of haversack from the Zermatt trip. Lights off after.

Woke up as early as the alarm sounded and got ready for the day ahead. It was to be some travelling and therefore we needed the extra time. First stop today was to catch up on the Chateau de Chillon that we missed the day before.

Went to move my car as the time was almost up, and fortunately there weren’t many cars this time so I shifted the car park to the one right opposite of the B&B. Loading the luggage was then much easier.

Had the not much variety breakfast in the B&B and proceeded to check out. Drove about 5 mins and we were back at the chateau, this time not as many cars at the car park. Parked my car easily and we proceeded to the chateau. It costed 12.50CHF per adult and with the audio guide, it was more expensive. We didn’t take the audio guide as we were short of time.

The chateau was really an old castle, very different from those that we saw in the Loire Valley, big and beautifully decorated. It was still interesting to walk around. What was unpleasant during the visit was the presence of children who were making a ruckus and we were concerned that it would wake our sleeping baby. Luckily he slept through.

Nice view at the entrance of the chateau.

Room with coat of arms painted on the wall.

Without walking the full circuit of the chateau as recommended by the brochure, we drove to Zermatt train terminal in Tasch. There was a huge parking area for many cars and parking was pretty straightforward. Went over to purchase the return tickets to Zermatt and bought some hot pastries that we brought up the shuttle train of 10mins ride.

Snow capped mountains in view en route to Tasch.

Zermatt was also full of people. We got to the information board where there was a map that showed the location of our hotel. It was about a 5 mins walk to Admiral hotel.

Upon checking in, we were quite disappointed to have received a room without the Matterhorn view although we thought we had paid for it. There were ongoing renovation works on the top 2 floors and as the reception tried to offer the available ones, those were too low and the view was blocked by their own pine trees.

We prepared the cold wear and went to the Gornergrat train station to purchase tickets up. However we we dissuaded as the staff advised that it was not good for babies below 1years old to go above 2000m and so she recommended that we go to Riffelalp instead, at about 2200m. We took the return for 80CHF for 2 and boarded the train.

The ride up was easy and baby K fell asleep. He didn’t looked uncomfortable anyway so that was ok. The ride up was about 10mins and we got off to walkabout. The stop was actually more meant for customer staying at the luxurious Riffelalp resorts but we could walk around as would any other hikers.

View from the train en route to Riffenalp.

We were able to see Matterhorn at a closer view but the clouds were covering its peak. Stayed long enough and went back to Zermatt instead.

As we walked back to our hotel, the peak started to clear up and so presented a photo opportunity.

Satisfied with the photos, we went to walk around the town of Zermatt and along the shopping street which was just infront of the train station. There were just lots of shops selling souvenirs, watches and clothing. We didn’t walk through everything and instead went for dinner at the Timeout Sports bar and grill. Had a burger and some curry, which was actually tasty, before returning to the room.

It was an early return and a welcome one since we really didn’t have much time to rest since the start of the journey. With all the shops closed as 7pm, there wasn’t really much that we could do then to return to the room, do baby stuff and then take a nice short break from the holidaying. More to come tomorrow when we go north towards Bern.

Switzerland 2015 Day 12 – Gruyere and Bern

Switzerland 2015 Day 11 – Montreux to Zermatt and Matterhorn