The Matterhorn teased us all day... and left us feeling frustrated. We have been remarkably lucky with the weather. On numerous occasions, Mr. Google has said, "Don't bother going out... it's going to rain all day"... but we have ignored his advice... and ended up enjoying a day of full sunshine. Today, Mr. Google said," You won't get a photo showing a clear shot of the Matterhorn "... we said," We'll take our chances." So we commenced driving to Tasch... where we had to take a train to the next village of Zermatt... to connect with the mountain train that lifts you up 1,500 metres to Gornergrat... the most popular viewing platform for Queen Matterhorn.
Gornergrat sits at 3,100 meters... not so high as to inflict altitude sickness on anyone other than the most vulnerable. We noticed on our trip last week to the Jungfrau that nearly all the returning passengers in the train, were asleep... probably a result of encountering a mild dose of altitude sickness... today, returning passengers were awake... indicating that the slightly lower altitude of Gornergrat better suited the human condition. But the Gornergrat is spectacular in its own right... it is surrounded by 29 mountains with heights exceeding 4,000 metres. There would not be many places on earth where you can see such an assortment of high mountains. But ask any of the 500 travellers to name some of the 29... and they could name only one... the Matterhorn... the towering queen of the range.
But the Matterhorn did not have the decorum of a queen... her behaviour today was more akin to a harlot... a temptress... a tease. She was well aware of her importance... she knew that the 500 travellers were there for one reason only... to pay homage to her by the ritual of taking a snapshot of the mighty mountain... tick the box... and move on. So the 500 waited and watched. The queen indulged in a dance with the cloud covering... flicking her skirt periodically to reveal her feet then her knees... the 500 would rise up from their chairs... get their cameras at the ready... only to have the skirt lowered once more. I'm sorry to report that it indulged in a variation of the 'dance of the seven veils'... lightening the cloud cover until you thought you could see through the cloud... the 500 would become quite perky... expecting all to be revealed... only to have their imaginations dashed with heavy cloud descending once more.
Joye and I are much too mature to be taken in by such titillation... we decided to walk back down the track for half an hour or so... and catch the train at a lower station. This part of the track was above the tree line... above the grass line... the only ground coverings were lichens and mosses. But the behaviour of Queen Matterhorn still worried us. Each corner of the track that gave a view of the queen, we would compare her state of undress with what we had seen previously... speculating if the continued swirling of the cloud would reveal some midriff... or shoulder... and always hoping for the miracle of seeing the face. On our recent run of good fortune with the weather... we assumed that the dancer would loose her grip of the garment... and in an unplanned calamity... reveal all.
But good luck deserted us today... we put away our cameras climbed on board the train... and tried to think of other things. As you would expect with a miserable tease... Queen Matterhorn waited until our train was back in the village... just before we lost sight of it behind houses... it showed half of its face...what a terrible tease!
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