The Crouch's European Vacation: Loving Zermatt, Switzerland

Have just managed to get ourselves another power adapter and get everything charged up. So far, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland all have different plugs !!

This place is something out of a movie set. We have all said so many times "it just doesn't look real". The Alps are just stunning with peaks popping up wherever you look. The little village is amazing with no cars and only horse drawn carriages and electric taxis. We can walk to the ski lifts from our apartment which is awesome.

The boys and I were in a chairlift at 8.30 this morning and we popped up through he clouds and there in front of us was the majestic Matterhorn mountain bathed in sunlight. This was a magic morning as we then pretty much had the slopes to ourselves for an hour or so. As it's not peak season, we have not waited for a single ski lift the whole time and there are very few people on the slopes so we are being very spoilt.

Blake and Hamilton have taken to skiing like ducks to water. Having never skied before (or seen snow), they had a lesson with Franz from the Swiss Ski school. They really picked it up quickly and he took them on a run within a couple of hours. They have not looked back and I have loved skiing with them all over the mountains (except not the Black runs !). They have already asked when can we go skiing in Melb ?

Alex has had a turn as well and starting to get the concept of the snow plough. He is so light that he glides across the snow and finds it hard to stop ! This is definitely a work in progress but he has had a taste.

Carolyn on the other hand has not been so lucky. She was skiing with Franz (Swiss ski instructor) on the first morning and had a spill and twisted her knee half way down a run. I had no idea it had happened as I was waiting with Alex at the nursery slope. Then I see a stretcher fly passed with someone lying in it and my mind started to whirl ! As I found out later, it was Carolyn receiving the full treatment in the snow stretcher getting towed back to base by a powered ski mobile. She is OK now, but the knee is not up to any more skiing. Carolyn is not convinced skiing is her thing, but is enjoying the scenery. We can laugh now but ...

With the legs really aching as I write this, we will be ready to get on the train on Thursday for our train trip through the Swiss Alps to Chur, St Moritz, etc... then on to Vienna, Austria.

cheers
Phil

The boys at Riffelberg