A new day, and the plan was a relaxing one. Our final destination would be St. Moritz, however first we would be making our way to Vals, where we would visit the famous Therme, Thermal Baths designed by architect Peter Zumthor. Again, another architectural visit (though this time with a relaxing twist), one I had been looking forward to particularly to see how it would hold up. My gosh did it ever! The baths themselves are beautifully designed, certainly feeling as though you were descending at the start into a quiet, blissful network of caves with a series of baths at different temperatures and each with a particular theme.
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| The exterior of the thermal baths complex |
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| One of the interior baths |
The most spectacular however is the baths which leads outside and with a view that is breathtaking. The cold temperature actually made it quite dramatic as it caused a field of steam to hang over the baths, making it a little mystical!
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| Exterior bath with Alps backdrop |
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| Exterior bath with the veil of steam! |
Unfortunately I could not capture the exact view with a photo (you aren't allowed so I have borrowed some from elsewhere!), but with my words and some context photos, try and picture relaxing in a hot thermal bath, overlooking the Swiss Alps not 200m away!
(For a more in depth architectural review of the baths, see http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/degrees/made-of-stone-and-water-for-the-human-body-id2843)
After a greatly relaxing and extremely refreshing few hours, we caught the bus back to town (which itself was an unforgetable short journey rounding some very tight cliffs and passing through some massive gorges) and caught the train on to St. Moritz.
Arriving at just after 8pm we caught the bus to our hostel and walked a short way to reach our destination. Feeling a "little" cold we walked inside and saw the thermometer reading of the outside temperature; -19degrees celcius – blooding freezing!!
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| The lovely meal awaiting our starved selves at the hostel. First steak in over a month! Below; James' response... |
Waking up early once more, we stocked up on the inclusive breakfast and rushed out to catch what would be an activity in itself, the Glacier Express. Travelling from St. Moritz to Zermatt, this scenic railway makes its way through the Swiss Alps, ranging from 600-2000m above sea level. This journey would take us 8 hours, and sent us through some sometimes 'nervy' but nevertheless always breathtaking terrain. The views were consistently stunning everywhere we looked and we could not have had a better day; perfect bright blue cloudless skies! Consider that area of the world well and truly photographed.
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| The Glaciar Express making it's way through the Alps |
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| James (hilariously) reduced to wearing ski goggles |
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| One of many picturesque views |
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| Picturesque view number two |
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| Picturesque view number three |
We arrived in Zermatt around 5pm and after settling into our hostel (which was located up an unpleasant number of steps – James aptly noting that he couldn't recall the hostel mentioning it was located actually on the Matterhorn), we then explored the town and got our bearings and info down pat so we could jump straight into skiing the next day. A beautiful sunset and an early night read for a big day ahead.
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| View from our window the next morning |
Rising as early as we felt we could (7am...laughable I'm sure, but we were tired!), we smashed down breakfast, very much excited to get onto the mountain ASAP. Our hired ski gear fitted; we decided which runs we wanted to explore and went to the relevant station to catch the train (yes, train. ..seriously Australia take a hint) up to the slopes. Climbing through the trees and up the incline to 3000m we got our first proper glimpse of the Matterhorn in full breaking daylight – what an awesome sight!
This impression is even without skiing yet, and setting foot on the slopes for the first time we got a look at what we would be exploring that day. The best word that comes to mind to describe the conditions are phenomenal! Everywhere you looked was worthy of a thousand photographs. Being able to ski in such a fantastic environment, we felt almost privileged (despite probably deserving it given the amount we'd paid..). Looking back now, we were insanely lucky to have two days in a row of perfect weather and fantastic snow conditions so we were feeling very grateful towards mother nature!
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| Skiing in front of the Matterhorn (left) |
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| View from one of the chairlifts |
The skiing itself was great fun, with a good variety of runs which meant after mastering one there were plenty more to challenge. Certainly not professionals, we stuck to blue and red (beginner, intermediate) runs which even still seemed to stack higher than home (swiss blue = aus red roughly...) and then occasionally through either improved confidence or sheer stupidity went down the odd yellow and black (hard, expert) runs., That being said, we did quite well I think, only falling a couple of times when attempting a jump or something a little out of our league. I wish I'd caught one of James' mighty falls when he went flying down a slope, over a jump and flying, legs and ski's pointed up landing right on his ass – directly next to a waiting rescue helicopter which was airlifting someone injured down to the base.
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| We explored the Gornergrat and Rothorn runs |
Halfway through the day we found ourselves a little parched, and so as you do, we found ourselves a drink; at an igloo ice bar located midway through a run and probably at 2000m. A great novelty; I grabbed a beer, sat back and took in the view. They even had deck chairs.
Another early night to rest our bodies and we were back skiing again the next day. Choosing a different part of the mountain we started at the top and found a beautiful sweeping run which rounded the edge of the cliffs providing unobstructed views of the Matterhorn and the surrounding Alps, not to mention the sheer drop to the town below.
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| View from top of Rothorn. (Sorry about dodgy stitch!) |
A little hungry, we spotted a restaurant so took off our ski's and walked on over. A large timber deck hanging off the edge, outside bar and some great live music all backdropped by the Alps created yet another surreal moment.
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| The restaurant deck with Alps in the background |
Getting back onto the slopes, I definitely did not want to leave! Unfortunately the day eventually came to an end, but not before exploring a few more runs on the mountain; and some interesting moments; James nearly colliding with a squirrel that ran out of the tree's.
James showing his skills. Taking off goggles not one.
Later that evening we found a bar for a couple of drinks and ended up watching a live jazz gig. The band were straight from the US, with one of the members, on sax apparently playing with James Brown for 10 odd years. Needless to say; some great music and very catchy stuff.
The next morning we said a sad goodbye to Zermatt and James and I also parted ways with Yen who would be travelling to Italy. We jumped on a train and made yet another spectacular journey down the Alps on our way towards Interlaken.
Part 2 of Switzerland coming soon...
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