April Alpine Adventure - Part 4: To the Heart of the Matter

April 29th:

It was our last day in Zollikofen at the Bern Temple. We had another beautiful morning inside the temple and we took some group photos outside...

We ate the rest of our food in the kitchen and then piled in the car, now four of us, and headed south into the Alps again.

This is where the milk for Swiss chocolate comes from...

We drove through some spectacular scenery...

Eventually we came to where the road ended and we had to drive onto a train car that would take us through a tunnel to get from this valley to the next. So we waited briefly and then drove onto the ferry-train...

It was a weird sensation moving along but with the car not running...

We passed extensive Swiss vineyards and then we entered the tunnel...

We drove for a good while longer up down and through several valleys. Eventually we drove as far up one valley as was permissible and then parked the car. From there we took a bus to the car-less resort town of Zermatt.

This famous ski town was bustling even though it was the off season. We even saw a few sun-burned skiers with skies over their shoulders after a day on some distant melting glacier.

Downtown Zermatt...

Many of the houses are kept in the traditional style...

Even though there were no outside cars, Zermatt does have a taxi system with these little guys...

And then we came to it, Switzerland's most famous mountain....


THE MATTERHORN!

...oh wait, I mean...


THE MATTERHORN!

Because it was late afternoon, the sun was not really at an optimal angle, but it was still beautiful and bigger in person than I thought.

The surrounding mountains weren't too shabby either...

So we found a nice grassy slope amidst the chalêts with a fine view of the Matterhorn, took our shoes off, and enjoyed the sun. We passed around the Swiss chocolate we had brought and simply soaked up the surroundings.

Eventually the shadows started to creep over our hill and we knew it was time to bid the Matterhorn farewell...

We went back through the town, passing taxis and boys coming back from soccer practice..

We took the bus back down the valley and then got in the car and headed off once again.

Once we got to the main highway, we passed several Swiss Army tanks on their way to or from something. We knew they wouldn't attack us because they are neutral...

The highway took us higher and higher up into the mountains, we stopped briefly for the sunset...

Eventually we reached the great pass between Switzerland and Italy. We drove through several kilometers of half-tunnels...

And then we entered Italy and began our descent in the darkening night.

It wasn't long before we reached our destination for the night, Stresa, Italy.

This little town is located on Lago Maggiore in Italy's lake district (Lago Maggiore's smaller cousin is Lake Como where the original Bellagio is located.)

We found a surprisingly cheap yet nice hotel where the four of us shared a room (there were bunk beds).

After checking in, however, we took a pleasant little stroll along the lakefront...

The islands were lit like fire...

Another cool day in the Alps.

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