Zermatt

An attempt to get the Matterhorn in the background. Zermatt.
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There is this very nice hotel across the street from our campground in Zermatt that has a Wi-Fi LAN for their guests.   Nice of them to not have any security on it, so I can mooch off of them.

This will frankly be the first e-mail I have written where I haven't felt rushed, because there is a clock ticking, and I have to feed the machine another Euro (or Franc) lest I loose my work.

We are in Zermatt.  We rode up the Rhone river from Lake Geneva, and it was frankly the best riding of the trip so far.  For the most part, we were on the banks of the Rhone, and even though we were going up stream, I never saw more than a 1% grade on my handlebar mounted inclination meter the entire trip.

The kids liked to climb this rock, which had ropes attached to it to help you climb up. Katrina would break her leg here a couple of days after this was taken.
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The Rhone river valley is very narrow.  At one point, I thought someone with a good arm could get a football from one side of the valley to the next.

When we got to Visp, we took a train to Zermatt for the last 30 or so KM and 1000 meters of elevation gain.

We have been in Zermatt for just over a day.  They built this giant version of the Disneyland Matterhorn at the end of the valley.   Too bad it is shy and keeps itself shrouded in clouds most of the time.

We took a tram to the top and hiked down!
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Today we took a tram up the mountain another 2000 or so matters and then hiked down.  It took 6 hours, and the kids did not complain once.  They are both getting very strong with good endurance.

But I sure did complain.  We should have hiked up the dang hill, not down.  My feet are killing me and I think I left my knees somewhere above the treeline.

A couple of thoughts that many people on distribution won't care about, but, here goes:

Jordan I have noticed a definite change in Jordan the last 6 weeks.  First of all, when we started in England, and I asked him to help pedal up a hill, I couldn't tell he was helping at all.  He is now a very good stoker.  Not quite as good as Katrina, but, he is pulling his weight now.  At least when I ask for it.

This was the morning of our (supposed) last day in Zermatt.
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But mostly he is really thriving in this environment.  I never observed him in school the last few weeks have been a huge education for myself.  We have been working on the times tables (which he mastered as of today) but while we go through it, he just can't do it sitting still.  So, we go on walks.  While reciting the times tables, he will run up and down the road or trail, or stairs, or if that is not available, swing from the branch of a tree.  It is the weirdest thing, but he can't sit still while doing homework.

I don't think they would let him do this at Almond school.

My mother tells me I used to eat a bit of my dinner, and then run around the kitchen before I sat down and had another bit, so I think I know where he gets it.

But, we have gotten him to get through his times tables, which is a big accomplishment.  He still needs to be able to rattle it off faster, but that will come.

Another big quantum jump recently has been in his reading level.  We have a shipment of books that come to us once a month.  Unfortunately, the July shipment still hasn't arrived (in Paris) and so Jordan ran out of reading material.  I saw a English version of Harry Potter (1) in Paris and bought it for him, knowing full well it was above his ability, but thought a challenge would do him well.  He surprised me and finished the book in two days, and after quizzing him, it is clear that he understood it.  Of course, he has seen the movie a gazillion times, but I was quizzing him on the difference between the book and the movie, so, he understood the book.

Last, but not least, when we got started on this trip, Jordan was sullen all the time.  I was a bot worried that this trip may not be a good thing for him.  But, he has even snapped out of that.  For example, we went on a 5 hour hike today, and not only didn't he didn't complain once, he had fun.

Katrina Katrina has been a big help to us, what else can we say?  I haven't noticed any big changes in Katrina like I have in Jordan.  She is helpful around camp and does her share.

Camping

We are camping almost all the time now.  Camping in Europe is a bit different than it is in the states.  Once we got to France (and now Switzerland) finding a campground has been very straightforward as they are everywhere.  We had to "wild camp" in England once, but that was the only time.  We still stay at the occasional hostel, but we are camping about 6 days a week.

The campground vary greatly.  Some are like little resorts with golf, tennis and swimming on site.  Most have a store with the basics.  People come and stay for weeks in their campers.  Of course, we are in a tent and stay for a day or sometimes up to three days.

The campgrounds are rated from one to five stars, but the ratings system has it all wrong.  We stayed at a five star campground in Versailles (near Paris) and it was the worst.  I call it the campground of pain.  Every night we were there, there was a concert in the nearby park.  Oh sure, one night it was the Live8 with the Kinks, but it went on until 2:00 am.  The next night it was some Polka queen who couldn't sing to save her life.

But what really sets the campgrounds apart are the showers, and the one in Versailles was the worst.  The water pressure changed from almost a shower to a dribble and the temperature wen t from freezing to burning in nothing flat.

Most campgrounds have showers that you cannot adjust the temperature of the water, and must keep hitting the button every 30 seconds or so to keep the water flowing.  By far, most campgrounds have showers that are too cold.  It is the worst part of camping.  Apart from setting up or breaking camp in the rain.