Zermatt

Zermatt is accessible only by train and there are no gasoline-powered vehicles in the city, so electric vehicles serve transportation needs. Overall, the city reminded Ted and me of Banff–a high-end ski and hiking resort.

Here are taxis and a delivery truck. Look what’s peeking over the closer mountainside.

We had some time to walk around the town. It’s a small town, so it didn’t take long.

These houses on winding streets in the old part of town were very picturesque.
Notice the slate roofs on the old-style houses. Quite a few houses in Switzerland have slate roofs. Rock is heavy, so the roofs can weigh over 10,000 pounds. I couldn’t believe that, so I asked twice and was told it’s true. In comparison, Google says a shingle roof weighs 180-240 pounds per 100 square feet.
As usual, there were fountains with spouts to fill water bottles. This is not a sculpture of the man featured on the plaque, but the spout can be seen as suggestive in spite of that fact. Was that the artist/designer’s intent? P.S. The water was clear.
This is our Zermatt hotel. Our room was the second from the right on the third floor in the left wing. We could see the Matterhorn from our balcony.

The main street (above) was so packed with people, it was difficult to get through after 5:00 p.m. (Note: I took this picture in mid-afternoon. The evening crowd had not yet begun to gather.) Why was the crowd so big? Because it’s August 1, Swiss National Day. This is the day that commemorates the Swiss Federal Charter of 1291, the founding document of Switzerland. It’s like our Fourth of July celebration. Sidewalk food vendors lined both sides of the main street from end to end (about a half mile) and there were varieties of live music all along the way. The crowds thinned after 10:00 p.m., but those remaining were rowdier. You know what I mean.

Official acts of celebration included a goat parade in mid-afternoon, complete with bells on the goats and goatherders. (How Heidi-like!) The alpine descent of cows and goats is one of the most iconic traditions in Switzerland, so it’s part of Swiss National Day. We were still coming down from the Gornergrat at that time, so we missed the goat parade. At 10:00 p.m., all the church bells in the city rang for 15 minutes. That was really beautiful. I wish we’d do that in the U.S. on the Fourth of July. Following the bell-ringing, bonfires were lit on the mountainside above the city. They burned for about ten minutes and then were extinguished. The bonfires are lit on elevated spots, to commemorate the expulsion of foreign bailiffs in the 14th century, the news of which was spread by bonfires in those days.

And then it was time for fireworks, also launched from the mountainside. There were a lot and they lasted a long time–at least a half hour. Zermatt put on a good show. Now Ted and I have celebrated Bastille Day in Paris and National Day in Switzerland. The fun never ends!