paris no more... switzerland more more...

my initial plan over the weekend was to go over to paris to take a glimpse at arc de triomphe and the infamous eiffel tower. however due to cheap tickets promotion, all the weekend tickets to paris were fully booked from 2 months ago. i was glad that my colleague here pre-warned me in advance, which is probably why i dun felt so disappointed when i heard the news from the ticket counter. taking it positively, with paris out of the plan, i will be saving 75 eur on the lodgings and ticket reservation. also, i get to go at a slower pace this weekend so that i can be all geared up for exam this friday!!! (yea it's this friday) however, in the end, i still did quite alot in switzerland and ended up coming back only when it's dark.

on saturday, i went to zermatt - matterhorn, a 4hr train ride away from zurich. according to wat i read on internet, the small village zermatt was made famous by a dramatic event that happened in 1865. on tat day, four of seven young men - lead by Englishman Edward Whymper - attempting the ascent of matterhorn lost their lives. zermatt, today is a town built for tourism, there are souvenir shops everywhere. the matterhorn is the key attraction for zermat, a mountain that has inspired the swiss chocolater master for the creation of the toblerone. this mountain made by nature reminded me of a pyramid.

very frankly after being up jungfraujoch, the idea of snow-capped mountain only strike me as cold ... *shiver* nonetheless i still decided to pay this mountain a visit, since it was strongly recommended as a must-see by my colleage. arriving at the highest view point of matterhorn by cable ... i dun jus see snow (like at jungfraujoch). in fact, i can see all the alps around matterhorn and i really felt "high". unfortunately due to the altitude, i felt abit light-headed after a while, so i din really stay at the view point for long (another reason was because my hands were getting numb with the cold). thereafter i went to the glacier palace that turned out kinda disappointing cos it was partially under renovation. i only managed to capture a few snaps and with the lighting, it's not an easy task.

at the peak of matterhorn, there wasnt really much to do especially since i dun know how to ski. so i descended shortly after 30 minutes or so and went to the self-service restaurant (unlike jungfaujouch, matterhorn is not as commercialised so the restaurant was kinda empty). i managed to grab a seat that gave me a perfect view of the beautiful mountain and enjoyed my "meal" - free ovaltine chocolate giveaways with every cable car ticket. after resting my feet for about 10 mins , i decided to move on. the sun at that altitude felt warm and comfy, alot of people were there "sun-bathing". but being me, the consistent paranoid, i worried about the about of damage done on my skin ha!

here comes the highlight of my trip, i had a short hike starting from the mountain cable station - furi as recommended by some internet postings on virtualtourist. the supposedly 30 mins hike, took me one hour at least (probably cos i have shorter legs). when i finally reached zermatt i really felt "leg-soft" (translate to chinese please hee). however, it was a great walk - quiet and beautiful, occasionally i will stop and enjoy the scenery of the surrounding alps. i even walked past gushing mini-waterfall ... hmmm reminded me of my last encounter with waterfall ... once in a while, i will be overtaken by another hiker who will always greet me harlo. people here are really warm yea, so uncommon in asia.

so finally i got back to zermatt town. i decided to visit the matterhorn museum that carry the torn rope of the moutain first ascent. here, i also watched a documentary covering on the life of air zermatt pilots, who fly everyday sending deliveries up the mountain and saving mountaineer stranded up the mountain due to unexpected snow. it's amazing to witness so many climbers attempting to conquer this mountain despite the danger they are putting their lifes in. the news jus reported a climber fell to death off the mountain last weekend O_O. this is common news in zermatt though, there is even a cemetry - home to many graves of unlucky mountaineers who died during their attempts to climb the various mountains.

so there goes my saturday and by the time i got back zurich, it's already close to 11pm.