Zermatt: In the last two days we've spent significant time on cog or "rack" railways, engines laboring to the top of tall peaks from which to enjoy views of other tall peaks, vertiginous valleys, and glaciers. Yesterday we steam trained up the Rothorn, had lunch on top, and trained down.
Today we climbed to 10,132 ft. at Gornergrat. Again we ate lunch and descended. From there the view includes the Matterhorn and scores of less-well-known peaks, plus many glaciers the size of small towns. It is substantially above timberline and the ground cover is tundra.
These two cog railways prove the Swiss will build a rail line to anyplace that will draw tourists, regardless of difficulty. Both lines include tunnels, trestles, snow sheds, and lots of engineering work.
Zermatt town, from which the Gornergrat train departs, is totally a tourist trap, worse than Jackson, WY, by an order of magnitude. It's full of hotels and restaurants, shops and bars, places selling watches and multi bladed knives of questionable utility and inconvenient bulk.
Tomorrow we're off to Davos, and along the way for part of the journey we take a steam train over one of the country's many passes.
