Montbovon to Ackersand

What a rough night. Neither of us slept well at all. We spent way too many hours awake when we should have been sleeping. No idea why. Here's hoping we don't do that again!

The plan was that we were going to move on from the B&B but it seems we've lost a bit of our regular traveling rhythm.  This is probably mostly due to the language barrier which makes things more difficult. Once we got ourselves "functioning well", the decision was made to go Zermatt where the famous Matterhorn mountain is located. It's one of the highest mountains in the Alps/in Europe. While it's not that far from the B&B, travel in the mountains takes a long time. We drove about 50 miles in an hour and 40 minutes.

After packing up and a breaky of bread (fresh every day from the store - available even at gas station stores which are nothing like the ones back home), we headed out, We drove up the mountain to the small village of Allieres which has about 10 homes in it. These tiny villages are everywhere. On the side of the mountain were about 10 brown Swiss cows being tormented by flies. The bells around their necks were constantly clanging because they had to keep whipping their heads around to try to get the flies off of them - which was impossible.  We felt bad for them. The drive and the cows were the highlight of Dave's day.

Two interesting tidbits. Along the narrow roads you can see garden hoses running from the farmer's house to the water trough for their animals. And in the villages are signs noting the distance to many villages/towns - all with walking times. Some are as high as 5+ hours. 

We made our way back to the castle at Gruyeres. What a difference from last night. The parking lots were full - including seven or so buses full of tourists. We met people from Toronto and MN. Hearing English was delightful.

The castle was unlike any other we've visited - totally different architecture. The kitchen was "remodeled" in the 1400's. There were tapestries and graffiti on the walls from the 1500's. Two guys bought it in the 1850's as a summer house. They invited a lot of artist friends to stay which is why today the castle is hosting what I consider an "intrusive art exhibit." Very odd pictures significantly clashing with the décor - which we heard was the desired effect. I found it very annoying.

Things are pricey here. We sat in the village square and each had a hot chocolate (six ounces - if that) and an apple tart. It was really good but cost us $40 US. The cost of living here is very high. Hopefully people are paid well.

About 3 pm, we headed off in the direction of Zermatt. It was a nice drive with just a few rain drops. The forecast for the next seven days is rain which we're not excited about but we're really enjoying the sun while it's around. Today was another warm day in the mid 70's. Tomorrow is still supposed to be nice and then.....

The motorway was the quickest way to get to our destination. The terrain became more mountainous with farmers working any little bit of tillable land as far up the mountain as they could. How equipment can operate at such steep angles is a mystery. Some of that land is terraced with grape vines.  

The drive took us into the Alps - rather than seeing them in the distance. If you didn't know better, you'd think you were in the Canadian Rockies. Our hotel is in a valley of the Alps. The view out of the window is spectacular. Tomorrow could be our last day of sun for quite awhile so we're going to make the most of it by going up the Matterhorn - as far as we can.

Supper was pizza at the hotel restaurant followed by relaxing in our room. (The language has switched from French to German.)

One thing I learned today: If you don't have an account with a bank, they can't give you change for your bills. It took three different stops to get the coins we needed. 

One new thing I experienced today: Relief from the sun coming through the car roof. (Something I never thought was even a thing.) The map of Switzerland is between the glass and the screen in order to block out the sun. What relief!

Most powerful moment of the day: I'm finding these more difficult to come up with so far on this trip. Nothing for today I'm afraid.

One pleasurable experience today: We were struggling with a parking meter and a German speaking Swiss man, who also spoke English, helped us figure it out. We couldn't have done it without him!