Gornergrat

August 4th--As we were leaving the apartment this morning, everyone was gathering up their sunglasses before heading out for our hike. Abby says "Wow! I can't believe Austin hasn't lost his sunglasses." Mike says "Don't jinx us." Abby says "Dear Jesus, Austin hasn't lost his sunglasses....." Mike interrupts with "No, Abby I said don't jinx us." She replies with "Oh, I thought you said tell Jesus." Oh, the funny things kids say! Anyway, today we rode the 30 minute train up the mountain to Gornergrat. This took us to up to 3089 meters and some unbelievable views of the area. Unlike yesterday, today the sun was shining with a few clouds in the sky. So, we found ourselves a spot on the top of rocks to have a picnic lunch and take in the view. After our lunch, we walked toward a patch of snow that was up on this peak. The kids were able to play around enough to get their snow fix for the day. As they were playing, we met a family from Austin, Texas so we chatted with them for a while about the area. It was here that we got a great look at the Gorner glacier. This is the 2nd largest glacier in Europe. The largest one we saw on our first trip to Switzerland. After a couple of hours on the top of Gornergrat, we decided to start making our way down the mountain, but first had to stop for a family pic with the Saint Bernard's. They were so cute and the kids just insisted that we get a picture. It will definitely be a moment to cherish with the beautiful mountains in the background. After the picture, we really did start our hike down the mountain. Unlike yesterday, today's hike was going to be much shorter. The main reason was we were all a little stiff from the long hike yesterday. It was a 30 minute hike to the next train stop down, but our hike took a little longer because of the many stops along the way for great photo opportunities. We managed to maneuver the many rocks along the path and make our way to the Rothenboden train stop. We hoped on the train back down to Zermatt. When we arrived in Zermatt, Mike took the kids to the playground while I went to the grocery store. The consensus was pasta for dinner so I picked that up along with some other stuff. I met them at the playground and we all headed back to the apartment. At this point, it was time for dinner, bath and bed. It's tiring being in the Swiss Alps! :-)