meg-made it to Zermatt (Switzerland)

I can't believe it has taken me 6 months to get some of my travel photos together from our weekend away in Switzerland! 

It was 6 months ago now that we went to Zermatt to celebrate my 30th Birthday (which means now I'm closer to 31 than I am to 30, gulp, I need to stop being obnoxiously 30 now I think). 

Maybe its taken me this long  to write about because we had too many photos to look through, but if I'm really honest, its because if I extended the time it took me to post about it, it would in a little way extend the trip too. 

It was the most magical 5 days and was such a special place to celebrate my 30th Birthday.  

Zermatt is nestled in the Swiss Alps in a relatively inaccessible valley watched over by the grand Matterhorn. 

It ended up being a flight from London to Zurich, a train from Zurich to Visp, and then the Glacier Express from Visp to Zermatt. You always hear the saying that "its not always about the destination but about the journey itself".... well I believe the person who first said that was travelling in Switzerland.

It was incredibly beautiful climbing up higher into the mountains, getting deeper and deeper into the thick powdery snow and further away from the hustle and bustle.

When we arrived in Zermatt we were blown away by how beautiful and how peaceful it all was. Zermatt is a car-free town (with the exception of little taxi carts and horse-drawn carriages, but of course). We were staying up in a little town called Winklematten, which is on the Northern end of town, out of the tourist hub. 

We had a little chalet to ourselves for the 5 days and just had an incredible amount of fun. 

We went and hired a little toboggan for Madeleine and went exploring. It is amazing the amount of fun we had just sledding up and down the little roads. We hired skis one of the days and went up the chair lift with Maddie and skiied/tabogganed down some blue runs together.  

(being pulled up and down hills can be very tiring for a 20 month old!)

We'd been talking about my 30th Birthday for years and years, and I had always pictured myself up in the Alps, in front of the Matterhorn. So, on the 9th of February, even through the heavy-set cloud,  we boarded the cog-railway up to 3100feet, up to The Gornergrat. Nestled way up in the peaks is Europe's highest altitude hotel, where we had some classic fondue and rosti for lunch. 

 The sun even started to come out for me after we finished lunch, although poor Pete was cold to the bone and started getting a little bit of altitidue sickness, so we took a few quick photos and huddled back onto the train. It was all worth it. These photos are the stuff that dreams are made from. 

We spent each night drinking gin chilled with snow and playing cards, and loved that we could open the doors, get some fresh (very fresh) air and not hear another soul. Living in London means we often get cabin-fever and just want to stretch out a little and not be around another 8.3 million people!!! 

Zermatt has to one of the most beautiful places in the world. I feel so incredibly lucky that I was able to spend my Birthday feeling like I was on top of the world, and sharing it with the two most special people in my world. 

Psst!! If you are looking for a little more meg-made, I'd LOVE for you to follow along!