Silent Saturday – Montreux
A Weekend in Zermatt
Over 9 months ago, four of our closest friends, who make up our “Supper Club” group decided to book a week trip to Switzerland. It started as a whim when we’d all enjoyed one too many glasses of wine during one of our infamous supper club cooking evenings on a Saturday night. Elizabeth pointed out that the only time off from her MBA program was Spring Break, which would be a perfect time to visit us in Europe. Within a few days the group agreed that it was a plan and marked the dates on our calendar.
When we finally got our act together and started planning trip details, one item rose to the top of the list – skiing. Where better to take our friends skiing for a weekend than Zermatt. Home of the Matterhorn and skiing 365 days a year, we were excited to experience a new city and the German side of Swiss culture.
Our 48 hours in Zermatt were perfect. The days were filled blue sky, sunshine and lots of time on the slopes while the evenings were filled with rich, delicious Swiss food and exhaustion induced sleep.
We stayed in a small studio just a 5 minute walk from the lift which Brad found on AirBnB. The studio housed the 6 of us perfectly and featured a larger than expected bathroom, a small kitchenette, wireless, a ski storage area and all the linens and kitchen tools we needed for our two night stay. In keeping with Swiss culture and stereotypes, it was also spotless! We would highly recommend this Zermatt AirBnB for anyone looking for simple and reasonably priced accommodations.
We spent three full days skiing the area which is the largest ski area we’ve ever experienced! There are over 225 miles of pistes (trails) in Zermatt that cross through Switzerland and Italy! The mountain was perfect for our group as more than 60% of the trails are red slopes which are the equivalent of blues and blacks in the United States. I was able to ski with the guys the entire trip keeping up on the red routes though going slower as I made my way down the long, steep runs slowly but surely – huge headway since December when I started skiing over here!
What intially struck us about Zermatt was the shear size of the mountain and area as we were on a gondola at one point for 30 minutes before we started skiing. However, at the same time, we were able to ski all the way down from the top of Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (12,740 feet)! In addition, the area felt very natural, untouched and filled with glaciers, huge mountains, and exposed boulders.
On our last day we stopped at a fun, unique area called Iglu-Dorf or the igloo village. Igloos fill the small area along with fur laden tables and chairs allowing skiers a place to stop and enjoy fun music, mulled wine and a break in between runs.
We enjoyed dinner and drinks at four different spots in Zermatt, each very different but so much fun!
Our first stop was Elsie Bar, a tiny bar across from the church in Zermatt and features everything from local beers to champagne and caviar. We enjoyed a glass of champagne and 6 oysters before heading to dinner.
Our first dinner spot in Zermatt was not recommended by one but three different friends. That is the sign of a great restaurant! Every bit of Restaurant Julen was perfect from their warm atmosphere and comfortable booths to the friendly staff and delicious Swiss German cuisine. Our entire table ordered a lamb dish as the restaurant is known for their lamb which they raise right outside town.
The next night we started with drinks at Papperla Pub while enjoying their live band and a lively apres ski crowd. Their aperol spritz was refreshing after a long day on the slopes and cooled us down after two straight hours of dancing to the cover band. The band even played our request of Sweet Home Alabama which almost caused us to lose our voices from singing, ahem shouting the lyrics.
Finally we ended our food tour of Zermatt with a fondue dinner at Restaurant Pinte in the Pollux Hotel.
Our eyes were bigger than our stomach as fondue, rosti and raclette were enough to leave us with cheese induced night sweats but man was it delicious. I think I need a long sleeve shirt that says “I ski for cheese” because that is the way we all felt by the end of the weekend.
What an incredible weekend but I am happy to spend the rest of today recovering on the couch with Bo!
If you could request one song from a cover band what would it be? Mine is always Dixie Land Delight or Sweet Home Alabama
Chocolate or Cheese?
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Bo and I were able to spend the day together as we participated in a cross cultural training which is a service offered for expatriates via our relocation company. While the course is intended to be taken during the first month or two in a new city it was still very relevant and helpful for each of us.
The course was split into different parts including a section which focused on Switzerland. While we’ve lived here for 7 months neither of us have had the opportunity or time to learn about the culture from an expert. I thought it’d be fun to share with you all a few of the things we learned during the session!
- The Swiss people are known to be very risk adverse, perfectionists and the law is held in the highest esteem due to their true democracy versus representative democracy.
- Switzerland was founded in 1291.
- Switzerland is the only country in the world to have a square flag!
- The population of Switzerland is approximately 8 million which is 300,000 less than the 5 boroughs of New York City!
- There are 4 official languages in Switzerland – French, German, Italian and Romansh. Romansh is only spoken by .05% of the total population and is a romance language descending from Vulgar latin.
- Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons, or states. The last canton, Jura, was created in 1979!
- Geneva has been a canton since 1815
- The population of Geneva is approximately 195,000 people which makes it the 2nd largest city in Switzerland, behind Zurich.
- Switzerland does not have an official state religion however the most common religions are Catholic (39%) , Swiss Reformed Church (28%) and other Christian religions (6%). 21% of citizens claim that they are not affiliated with any religion.
- The unemployment rate of Switzerland is 2.7% versus 7.1% in the United States.
- According to the World Economic Forum Switzerland has the world’s highest life expectancy: 84.7 years for women and 80.5 for men!
- Martina Hingis and Roger Federer are both Swiss!
Question: If you could only take one Swiss delicacy with you on a deserted island which would you choose? Chocolate or Cheese? I would DEFINITELY choose cheese!
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