Hoogeveen Vacation - June 10

In order to spend some time with Andy, and to take a fun trip, we planned to take the Glacier Express, which is admittedly the slowest express train in the world :). It goes from SE Switzerland to SW Switzerland where it ends at Zermatt (~5 hrs where we started), which has views of the Matterhorn (on a clear day anyway). We had 6 seats together, and the seats were not only facing each other, but had tables as well. The train cars also had nice big beautiful windows, so we got better views than a regular train car! We had gotten up pretty early to make the 11:30 am train from SE Switzerland, so we traveled about 7 hours on the train that day. Carsten did pretty well, although I will admit that at times I was frustrated with him (like when he wouldn't go to sleep immediately like I wanted him to - silly me :) ). Here's a view of our train:

And here's some photos from the train ride of us and of the scenery:

It wasn't as cold as we were fearing in Zermatt, so that was quite nice. Also, our hotel was right next to the train station making it both easy to find and convenient. The hotel was quite nice and included a sweet basement with a large kitchen (for cooking your own food), dining area, lounge, and laundry. I'm not sure if this is standard with a lot of Swiss hotels, but if it is, I'm in! Once we got settled in, we walked around the quaint town and found a restaurant which was recommended for its fondue. The fondue was GREAT and we demolished 4 pots just fine :). We tried regular, gorgonzola, mushroom, and pear (regular fondue with pears to dip in) where the main thing to dip was bread and potatoes. We also tried raclette which is an appetizer dish containing a melted slab of cheese with pickles and potatoes to eat with the cheese. All in all, our experience with fondue was great, and what we found even more exciting is that living in Zurich makes all other places (even in Switzerland) seem cheap. As in, 'the fondue is only 24 CHF per pot?!'. Seriously, we're going to think everything is so cheap back in the US :).

We went back to the hotel and put Carsten to bed in his travel bed. My family graciously agreed to keep an eye on him while Andy and I had a date night. We got to walk around the town, take pictures, and just have some 'us' time, which was quite fun. We even managed to find a little shop with 2 pieces of backlava left, which we bought :). When we got back, we played cards! Here's some photos of Zermatt:

Most we saw of the Matterhorn :(

Our hotel and its balcony.

If you're wondering why this barn is on stilts with big flat rocks, it's to keep out mice. Spent a long time thinking about this before we found out what it was for.... :)

Date night!

Corrie, is this the Alpen Rose you're having your reception at in October? :) Sign me up!

fondue!