Zermatt 2.1 June 8

Drum roll please, strike up the band, march….Not quite what we expected to wake up to at 6:15 AM on a Friday morning. Luckily we all fell back asleep for a few more hours.

Once more awake I decided to head out to the grocery store and grab breakfast for our stay. We were staying in the oldest part of Zermatt. The structures of houses were eye catching. Building pillars shaped like mushrooms prevented mice from getting in the buildings. Once home I saw USA precious gifts adorned on heads and in mouths.

On my return home I came upon the start of a parade. Unfortunately, I left my phone at home. The band was playing again. People young and old were in procession walking through the Zermatt village streets dressed in traditional Swiss outfits, even the three year old boy with his suspenders and hat. Little girls wore white dresses with simple wreaths adorning their heads. Next came men in khaki suits with mountain climbing gear, ropes and ice picks. Bringing up the rear were people dressed in black with a look of mourning. Upon further research I discovered it was Corpus Christi Day. (A festival day designed to commemorate the Holy Eucharist – the body, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ. During the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, the father of Protestantism Martin Luther spoke out against the use and celebration of consecrated items and holy bodies like the Eucharist, calling it “only play-acting” and “vain idolatry.” Luther especially disliked the use of symbols and figures during Corpus Christi, instructing his followers to not observe the holiday. The Calvinists of Geneva also followed suit, along with most Protestant-dominant areas of Switzerland.)

Back to the title of this post, Climb Every Mountain. Eventually we headed out to the Gornergrat Railway.

This cog-wheeled train climbed us up from the village, through the forest, around glimpses of the Matterhorn, ascended to 3,089 meters, and finally stopped on Gornergrat Mountain. It was time to explore the views from the top. Randy held on to Cody during most of this excursion.

After we had our fill of the top we adventured on hoping to climb down the mountain, which is another post for sure.