- Flew out of SFO on Wednesday. (Fun fact: There were at least five other Googlers on the same flight to Zurich. We recognized five, but there may well have been more.)
- Landed in Zurich on Thursday afternoon. We worked for a couple hours, and then shuttled off to the Google Christmas party.
- Scrambled around Friday morning to find power adapters and SIM cards. We then worked for a few more hours, and took a three-hour train ride to Zermatt.
- Skied on a glorious, sunny Saturday, underneath the Matterhorn.
- Strolled around Zermatt on Sunday morning, took the train back to Zurich, and then strolled around Zurich while sipping Glühwein and watching pre-Christmas festivities in the city.
Now, Chris has found a way to stream the Patriots-Bears game, and we have some time to relax.
Here are the pictures from our Zurich/Zermatt adventures (so far). For once, I wish I could write about all my pictures, but since they're really painful to import into Blogger, I actually added captions in Picasa, and I'll only post my favorites.
Front and center at Zermatt is the Matterhorn, of course! I didn't really believe how close we would be until we got there. And how lucky were we, to get such a crystal clear sunny day?!
Front and center at Zermatt is the Matterhorn, of course! I didn't really believe how close we would be until we got there. And how lucky were we, to get such a crystal clear sunny day?!
Before the trip, we were super-psyched about the idea of skiing into Italy. I'd read about a particular run called "Red 7" which is an intermediate run starting from Switzerland and ending in Cervinia, Italy. It's been called one of the top intermediate runs in the world. But sadly, the top of the "Matterhorn glacier paradise" wasn't open.
We ended up spending the day on the blue (easy) and red (intermediate) slopes around Gornergrat and Trockener Steg, and had a ton of excitement. We took our first ski lesson at Squaw in Tahoe the previous weekend, and thought we'd improved by such an amazing amount (hooray, Level Four skiers) that we could tackle lots of reds, but it turns out the blues at Zermatt were quite challenging enough for us.
The conditions were a bit icier than they were at Tahoe last week, and we both took a bunch of spills, but we managed to make it all the way down from Gornergrat to Furi. WOOHOO!! Our reward was a yummy, warm, ~$15 (!!!) cup of goulash soup. (People are not joking when they say Switzerland is expensive.)
Toward the end of the day, we went up to the highest slope open, a wide, gentle blue one with magical powdery snow, a fantastic view, and best of all, very few people! Gornergrat was extremely crowded with (in my humble, level four opinion) really good skiers that went intimidatingly fast. Up at the blue run above Trockener Steg (the one with the t-bar lift), close to the time the sun was setting, it seemed like we had the whole mountain to ourselves. We felt so lucky.
We ended up spending the day on the blue (easy) and red (intermediate) slopes around Gornergrat and Trockener Steg, and had a ton of excitement. We took our first ski lesson at Squaw in Tahoe the previous weekend, and thought we'd improved by such an amazing amount (hooray, Level Four skiers) that we could tackle lots of reds, but it turns out the blues at Zermatt were quite challenging enough for us.
The conditions were a bit icier than they were at Tahoe last week, and we both took a bunch of spills, but we managed to make it all the way down from Gornergrat to Furi. WOOHOO!! Our reward was a yummy, warm, ~$15 (!!!) cup of goulash soup. (People are not joking when they say Switzerland is expensive.)
Toward the end of the day, we went up to the highest slope open, a wide, gentle blue one with magical powdery snow, a fantastic view, and best of all, very few people! Gornergrat was extremely crowded with (in my humble, level four opinion) really good skiers that went intimidatingly fast. Up at the blue run above Trockener Steg (the one with the t-bar lift), close to the time the sun was setting, it seemed like we had the whole mountain to ourselves. We felt so lucky.
Staying at Hotel Antares
At the advice of my teammates who organized the trip, we booked at Hotel Antares, a hotel that was practically next door to the Matterhorn Express Gondola Station. Google Maps says it's 110 meters.
The location was perfect for someone with short legs and who can't really walk in ski boots. There was an ATM at the station, and the rental shop, Dorsaz Sports, was right across the street and a short elevator ride down. Couldn't be easier.
The hotel itself was cozy. I thought the furnishings in room were a little faded-looking, though very clean and comfy. There was a nifty balcony with a view of the mountains and the river Vispa. The most annoying thing was that the bathroom, which looks so sleek and new, had an absurdly low shower head, below chest-level for me, and I'm 5'2". But the location was so excellent that I didn't mind, and we loved the breakfast – delicious croissants (I had no idea croissants were supposed to taste so good), lots of meats and cheeses, and Nutella!
As I wrap up writing about Zermatt, I'll leave you with one more awesome picture. That's right, an ad for a Swiss Army knife with a laser pointer and USB key.
At the advice of my teammates who organized the trip, we booked at Hotel Antares, a hotel that was practically next door to the Matterhorn Express Gondola Station. Google Maps says it's 110 meters.
The location was perfect for someone with short legs and who can't really walk in ski boots. There was an ATM at the station, and the rental shop, Dorsaz Sports, was right across the street and a short elevator ride down. Couldn't be easier.
The hotel itself was cozy. I thought the furnishings in room were a little faded-looking, though very clean and comfy. There was a nifty balcony with a view of the mountains and the river Vispa. The most annoying thing was that the bathroom, which looks so sleek and new, had an absurdly low shower head, below chest-level for me, and I'm 5'2". But the location was so excellent that I didn't mind, and we loved the breakfast – delicious croissants (I had no idea croissants were supposed to taste so good), lots of meats and cheeses, and Nutella!
As I wrap up writing about Zermatt, I'll leave you with one more awesome picture. That's right, an ad for a Swiss Army knife with a laser pointer and USB key.
More on Zurich some other day! Again feel free to look at the album if you want to see more.
