Matterhorn, Mountain Goats, and Marmots

WOW. Today we walked from our hotel to the Zermatt cable car station - we took 3 cable cars - 1 from Zermatt to Fuci, Fuci to Trockener Steg, then Trockener Steg to Gletscher Palast. The view up there was AMAZING - so gorgeous. We went to this Glacier Palace - 50 feet under the glacier there are all these ice sculptures. Then we took the cable car back down to Trockener Steg and HIKED all the way down to Fuci. It's about 1200 meters or 3600 feet. All down the side of this mountain. We went from the edge of the Matterhorn glacier where nothing grows but moss, lichen and these wee little flowers, down through this lush valley on the side of the mountain. We saw mountain goats - which is rare because they don't like people - and marmots. Then, as we were getting closer to Fuci, we're walking through a forest and we keep hearing bells. We were speculating as to WHAT that noise was - it was Swiss Cows! 4 of them grazing in a field with giant bells around their necks. It was so cool! Then - since we had just hiked 3600 feet down the side of a mountain on switchback trails - we decided to take the cable car back down the last 1000 feet to the town. We walked for MILES today. It was so cool though. The PICTURES are stunning!! I got to talk to Mom from 3283 meters. It was a trip. There were people going skiing up there - all decked out in their ski gear.

Tomorrow, we leave this wee little Swiss town that I just adore and we are for Florence. It sort of blows my mind where I've been. I've gone from Loch Lomond in Balloch, Scotland to the mountains of Switzerland - stuffing London, Paris, Brussels, Stuttgart, Zurich, and Montreux in between. Now we're heading to Italy and the heat. The weather felt like a South Dakota December up on top of the mountain - windy and COLD. It was freezing on top of the mountain, and tomorrow we launch ourselves into the sultry heat of Italy. Just amazing!

I heard back from WIPO - they are processing my application, but the individual I'm communicating with says that he doesn't see a problem with it. It's looking more and more likely that I will be Geneva in January! Yikes!