The long flight home

So I had a 7:15 flight from Geneva this morning.  All seemed to be going well because the City Hostel have me a free transport pass, the train station is a six min walk from the hostel and there were at least two possible trains that I could take. 

I got to the airport in plenty of time but I was really tired as I hadn't slept well. The room was pretty warm. 

I caught my flight. I arrived in Amsterdam. It was pretty far to where I needed to go. However I seemed to make it in a reasonable time. I even went through passport control pretty quickly. However I then needed to go through two addition screenings. I am not exactly sure what they were but they moved very slowly. Iade it on the plane with only a few minutes to spare. 

Once on the plane I realized that my sub port and my entertainment system were not working. The captain announced a 30 minute delay due to weather. After that he announced that we had a hydrolyic  problem.   He moved our plane off the run way. They checked to problem and determined that we had lost all the hydrolyic fluid in one system. They then said that they needed to locate the part and fix it but there would be a problem with crew time (they would exceed the limit) A Delta representative then came in the loud speaker to say that it would be a three or four hours delay. We could get off the plane but we couldn't get another flight because they are all booked. We couldn't wait in the terminal because we would all have to go through customs. I tracked her down to ask three or four hours from when she made the announcer or three or four hours from the original flight departure time. (By this time Inhad been sitting on the plane for over two hours l). She side that if we weren't in flight by 1:19 the flight would be cancelled. That was slightly more than an hour. I figured  I could tough that outbb

About an hour later they asked for volunteers to step off the plane so that a second crew could ride in the plane and take over from the crew that would be over their time limit. I volunteered. I received a 1st class seat the next day, a hotel room and food, and a choice of 600 euros or Delta credit for 800 euros I took the 800 euro credit to fund one of my next trips. I am hoping to have a better ride in the next flight. It was a hassle but I think that maybe the flight didn't even leave anyway. 

I caught a shuttle to the hotel when it finally came. The driver started putting luggage in the van and it started rolling away. He hadn't put on the parking brake   The funny thing is that the same exact thing happened at our hotel when unloading. 

On the way I asked about the strange road markings. The red lanes are bike lanes one for each direction. The middle lane is shared by cars going in opposite directions. I find this to be a very  unique system.   The driver said that when only one car is on the road it goes very fast down the center. Otherwise cars go very slowly and are part in the center and part in the bike lane. FYI in Amsterdam any accident between bike and car is blamed on the car even if the bike driver is drunk and driving the wrong way

Zermatt

With a day and a half to spare we hoped to do some of the great hikes in the Zermatt area. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating. 

We had hoped to hike up to the five lakes hike that begins at the top of the Sunegga funicular. Unfortunately we woke to rain. The rain slowed and stopped and we got a nice view of the Matterhorn from our hotel 

The weather forecast thunderstorms and rain at 11 so we (Leah Peta Arielle Ethan and my self) took the funicular up to the trailhead.  A funicular is a very steep train like device often enclosed in a tunnel to take you up the mountain. It was not my favorite transportation form for sure. We did the 9km hike around the lakes and got glimpses of the Matterhorn as we hiked. 

The weather was quite variable. Raining one minute and sunny the next. At one point a wall of low lying cloud moved in below us. It was really surreal.  We asked a kind gentleman to take this shit when that happened. 

We eventually made it to Stellasee. It is a famous lake where many photos of the Matterhiorn are taken. Just as we arrived the cloud rolled in and we were lucky to see ourselves. 

Hoping for it to clear we waiting but the cloud did not leave. We walked down to the funicular and hung out for a couple of hours. During this time clouds came and went in front of the Matterhorn. We tried to get a nice photo which entailed hopping up every so often and running over to the other side of the deck to get a photos. It was quite the sport. 

Eventually we took the funicular back down to town. I bought my train ticket to Geneva for the next day. We talked to the tourist info about what hike we could do the next day. We visited the mountaineering museum. There we learned about an early mountaineering accident and the controversy surrounding it. We also visited the mountaineering cemetery. 

The evening was quite fun as all the people we had met on the trail got together to have a drink and eat at our hotel. There were at least fifteen people swapping stories from the trail. It was good fun. I really hope to meet up with these people again. We took a group photo but it was on a camera so Incant post it yet.  Goodbye Haute Route and my trail friends. I hope to hike another day with you. 

Haute Route Final Day - Europaweg

It was a steep climb (but isn't it always in Switzerland) up to the viewpoint at Grat. On the way up I saw two groups of Chamois. I was lucky to see the first one because it was moving fast. In fact I actually heard them before seeing them.   There was also a nice view of the Reid glacier.  I could see the Matterhorn in the distance. 

After Grat the terrain became more challenging with immense drop offs, scree, falling rock/ ice hazards and boulders to deal with. These I knew about. What I didn't know about were the goats. Not only were they knocking rocks down in my general direction, they also made weird noises ate and got in my personal space. At one point they were leading me down the trail. Then they were following me down the trail until I got to a section that so eroded that there was not much trail left. There was a rope across it to make it feel more secure. 

The rest of the trail included a number of obstacles such as falling rocks to avoid, large boulders to clamber over, eroded trail, possibly rotten wooden walkways, very exposed trail, worn and broken ropes along the trail and a suspension bridge. 

The positives were great views of the Weisshorn, the Matterhorn in the distance and  the Hobarg glacier above me. 

I had a quick snack of berry apple cake and diet coke at the Europa Hut. I could see the very long unusable suspension bridge in the distance.  Then walked down into Randa and took the train to Zermatt because the next section of the Europaweg was closed.