Kleine Matterhorn

August 6th--Today, we took 3 different gondola rides to make our way up to Kleine Matterhorn. After the 2nd gondola, we stopped for a picnic lunch while looking right at the Matterhorn. We picniced in an area that looked like a construction zone though. It is the first area we've seen that would definitely look better covered in snow. Also, since it is off-season, there was a lot of maintenance work going on around this area. After lunch, we headed up the last gondola ride. This was one intense gondola that made a huge climb up to the top of Kleine Matterhorn. Kleine Matterhorn is at 3883 meters high. The air was definitely thin up there, but the weather was wonderful. I'm sure the temperature was probably in the low 50's, but being so close to the sun, made it feel a lot warmer. After getting off the gondola, we took an elevator up to the panoramic view area. It was absolutely magnificent because we could see all the peaks in the area and also see into Italy. This area is where summer skiing takes place so there was a lot of snow. The kids played around in it for a little while, but were being effected by the altitude. We went inside to get some water and let the kids rest a little bit. After that, we took a elevator down a floor into the Matterhorn glacier paradise. Now, it was cold inside the glacier, but absolutely beautiful. After having enouch of the cold, we decided to take the gondolas back down to Zermatt. Abby was having a little bit of hard time with the altitude, but once we made it back down to Zermatt she was much better. So, we walked from the gondola station back through the town of Zermatt. It was so nice to see the whole town in it's entirety by walking from one end to the other. Close to the end of the town is the grocery store so Mike ran in to get some essentials while I took the kids to the playground. But, first, we had to stop off and get Abby's paragliding certificate. She was so proud of herself! After Mike got to the playground, the kids played for a while longer before heading back to the apartment. We had found out earlier that there was no washateria in the town only a dry cleaners. Well, we had planned to do our laundry tomorrow, but we are certainly not going to take our clothes to the dry cleaners. So, tonight was a big multitasking night. When we got back to the apartment, the kids were taking a bath, dinner was being cooked and laundry was being done "old school" style. Yes, we were washing our clothes in the sink and hanging them up to dry. Now the hanging up to dry part is normal for us. We have had to do that our entire time in Europe. Mike did a great job of finishing up the clothes and has earned the name "wringer". I was not strong enough to wring out all the water. We finished the night off with some future travel planning and watching Big Brother. We've got to get some reality TV somewhere.