The Matterhorn
When I was about 5 years old, I took a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. I remember being in the parking lot and seeing this majestic shape, "look Danny, there's the Matterhorn!"
That was my first experience in observing majestic sights. A few years later, my dad and I would go to a barber, Phil, who displayed travel posters from around the world, one of which was the real Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border. The photo was shot from a village in the springtime with the Matterhorn in the background. I would stare and stare at that poster, amazed at the sight of this incredible and magical looking mountain. I became somewhat obsessed with the Matterhorn and read encyclopedia entries about it....It seems the first guy to conquor its summit was an Englishman, Edward Whymper, with a party of seven men, they reached the summit in 1869....but on the way down four of them slipped and fell to their deaths.
Whymper survived, but on the way down the survivors swore they saw four crosses in the clouds....
These stories fascinate me. I have hiked to the summit of Mt. Whitney in California which is actually higher, but that was a hike on a ridge, not a climb up a real mountain like this one....
So when I actually went to Europe I wanted to go to Zermatt, Switzerland...
When I got there, I had already been amazed to find that this quaint village that I had seen in the barber's poster was not something out of some archaic scene, but I realized as I had before that Europe was just as modern, just as up to date as we Americans are, in my ignorance at the time.
Even more modern perhaps here in Zermatt, NO automobiles were allowed there, only a train from down the mountain, but yet it there was, a wonderful tourist town with a wonderful 'vibe' maybe from the mountain itself...and there IT was...it was about 6 PM when I got there but when I walked up the road and saw the Matterhorn, all could say was "Wow.... here I am, and there it is"
That was my first experience in observing majestic sights. A few years later, my dad and I would go to a barber, Phil, who displayed travel posters from around the world, one of which was the real Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border. The photo was shot from a village in the springtime with the Matterhorn in the background. I would stare and stare at that poster, amazed at the sight of this incredible and magical looking mountain. I became somewhat obsessed with the Matterhorn and read encyclopedia entries about it....It seems the first guy to conquor its summit was an Englishman, Edward Whymper, with a party of seven men, they reached the summit in 1869....but on the way down four of them slipped and fell to their deaths.
Whymper survived, but on the way down the survivors swore they saw four crosses in the clouds....
These stories fascinate me. I have hiked to the summit of Mt. Whitney in California which is actually higher, but that was a hike on a ridge, not a climb up a real mountain like this one....
So when I actually went to Europe I wanted to go to Zermatt, Switzerland...
When I got there, I had already been amazed to find that this quaint village that I had seen in the barber's poster was not something out of some archaic scene, but I realized as I had before that Europe was just as modern, just as up to date as we Americans are, in my ignorance at the time.
Even more modern perhaps here in Zermatt, NO automobiles were allowed there, only a train from down the mountain, but yet it there was, a wonderful tourist town with a wonderful 'vibe' maybe from the mountain itself...and there IT was...it was about 6 PM when I got there but when I walked up the road and saw the Matterhorn, all could say was "Wow.... here I am, and there it is"
posted by Olias at 2:25 AM
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