John Edward Cooper’s Notes

Illustration from the Flipbook


Illustration from Riviera Travel “My account”

Journey into the Swiss Alps to Zermatt and see the Matterhorn’s mighty peak on a cog railway to the summit of the Gornergrat.

Flipbook:

After breakfast, your coach will take you on a stunning journey through the Swiss Alps. Enjoy breathtaking views of wildflower-filled meadows, charming villages, and snow-capped peaks on your way to the village of Zermatt.

Once there, you may choose to take the Gornergrat Railway for spectacular panoramic views. This is chargeable locally from 96 CHF (November to April) and 132 CHF (May to October) for a return journey, with payment possibly required in cash.

Please note, the Gornergrat Railway reaches a height of 3,090m. Whilst this altitude should pose no problems for people with good general health, we recommend that if you are planning a trip on the railway and suffer from breathing difficulties or a heart condition, you consult your GP before travel.

A group of young people outside, conversing loudly below, woke me up (00:26).…
 Janet wrote in her journal, “I was up at 05:28 after a good sleep — then that ruddy cock started! It was still dark. By the time I’d got ready it was light.”
 Her “OK, my Croc!” (05:55) was the signal that the bathroom was free for my use. Shaved, showered, etc.
 We left the room to go down for breakfast (06:35), and joined others of the Riviera Travel party waiting in the corridor leading to the dining hall and the nearer room assigned to us. I think Kate had told us that she’d arranged with the management for breakfast to start at 7am, though the range of food available would be limited; but in fact the man who appeared to be in charge removed the stanchions-and-rope barrier that was before us and let us in at 6.50am.
 Janet and I went back up to our room (ca.07:20) to make final preparations. I took my morning medications. Because of the altitude we’d been advised to take a jacket or coat. Kate’s posted itinerary said “Depart 07:45” for today, and we left the room a few minutes before that (07:41). We boarded the coach, and found the double seat with our name card on it. Our route took us through Domodossola, where the journey on the Centovalli Railway had terminated on Thursday 24 July 2025.


Our route, plotted using Google Maps
[Click on the image for an enlarged view.]


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:03:29
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:30:20
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach

The appearance of the entrance of the Simplon Railway Tunnel, as we passed it, seemed familiar, so I must have seen a photo of it somewhere. The railway line going through the tunnel is represented by a straight pale grey line on the Google Maps image, from Trasquera to Ried Brig. Our journey took us by a much more convoluted route over the Simplon Pass, from which the Simplon Tunnel derives its name.


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:34:16
En route to Zermatt: south portal of the Simplon Tunnel, Iselle di Trasquera, Piedmont, Italy

Not long after that, heading west, we passed the yellow Italian Customs House on the border with Switzerland,—


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:35:30
En route to Zermatt: passing the “Dogana Italiana” (“Italian Customs”)

—but we seemed to go a long way after that,—


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:40:36
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach

—before we passed the Swiss equivalent at Gondo. Also there, as Kate pointed out, was the Stockalper Tower, built by local silk merchant and entrepreneur Kaspar Stockalper in the 17th century as a shelter for travellers and as a warehouse. There was also another similar building, she told us, at— I thought she said, “at the other end of the Simplon Pass”; but the building I saw was near the summit of the pass (see “16:33:52”).


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:41:22
En route to Zermatt: passing the “Schweitzerzoll” (“Swiss Customs”) and the 17th century Stockalper Tower, Gondo, Switzerland


Sunday 27 July 2025 08:54:04
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach: glacier

 Janet wrote: “It was hottish here [in Stresa] but as we headed towards Switzerland it gradually got colder and by the time we had a ‘pit stop’ on the Simplon Pass it was around 4℃! Cold!” The “pit stop” was at the Hotel Monte Leone, situated close to the summit of the pass at an altitude of ca. 2,005 metres (6,578 feet). Before entering,—


Sunday 27 July 2025 09:10:24
En route to Zermatt: stop for refreshments at Hotel Monte Leone on the Simplon Pass: Hotel Monte Leone itself

—I had a look back the way we’d come,—


Sunday 27 July 2025 09:10:46
En route to Zermatt: stop for refreshments at Hotel Monte Leone on the Simplon Pass

—and a look ahead.


Sunday 27 July 2025 09:11:04
En route to Zermatt: stop for refreshments at Hotel Monte Leone on the Simplon Pass: Simplon Hospice

Later researches found that the building in the photo, above, is the “Simplon Hospiz”, originally commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801 and completed in 1831, as a shelter offering food and lodging for up to 130 travellers and merchants crossing the pass, and managed by the ancient religious order, the Augustinian Canons of St. Bernard. (This is the same order that bred the big dogs for rescuing stranded travellers on the Great St. Bernard Pass, also in the canton of Valais, Switzerland.




Sunday 27 July 2025 09:24:34
En route to Zermatt: stop for refreshments at Hotel Monte Leone on the Simplon Pass

We crossed the reinforced concrete, backwards “S”-shaped bridge over the valley of the Ganter River, with a hybrid cable-stayed (cables encased in concrete) and cantilever design around its two main towers. It was opened in 1980.


Sunday 27 July 2025 09:42:26
En route to Zermatt: the Ganter Bridge


Sunday 27 July 2025 09:49:34
En route to Zermatt: view of the Rotten (Rhône) valley towards Brig

I wasn’t aware at the time that we were travelling along the upper reaches of the Rhône (called the Rotten here). We were at the other end on Tuesday 16 May 2023.


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:02:20
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:04:30
En route to Zermatt: St. Michael’s Church, Stalden


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:05:44
En route to Zermatt: Killerhof Bridge, Stalden


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:07:26
En route to Zermatt: view over Stalden

The blurb for the Centovalli Railway trip on Thursday 24 July 2025 had promised that we’d go “past cascading waterfalls”, but we’d failed to see any. Now, today, at last, we passed one!


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:22:10
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:22:32
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:27:28
En route to Zermatt: views from the coach

The mountaineering and ski resort Zermatt is car-free, apart from a fleet of electric taxis, so we left the coach at the coach park adjacent to the railway station at Täsch, and boarded the metre-gauge shuttle train to Zermatt. At one point along the route, I saw a toothed rack rail between the running rails, though this was absent in the photo I took at 11:02:16. So this was a train combining rack-and-pinion operation with adhesion traction. I later told this to “The Geek”. When he asked me, “Do you have an interest in railways?”, though, I gave a vague and somewhat negative answer. (We first encountered such a hybrid system of operation on the train from Interlaken to Luzern on Wednesday 17 July 2019.)





Kate told the party, and I wrote it down, before we all went our separate ways, that we were to meet back at the station “No later than 3.05pm”.


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:53:42
En route to Zermatt: boarding the “Zermatt Shuttle” at Täsch


Sunday 27 July 2025 10:58:30
En route to Zermatt: aboard the “Zermatt Shuttle”


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:02:16
En route to Zermatt: aboard the “Zermatt Shuttle”


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:10:00
Alighting from the “Zermatt Shuttle” at Zermatt

Janet commented in her journal that, on our arrival at Zermatt, “It was still cold.”


Detail from the map on the “Zermatt Shuttle” ticket, showing Täsch, Zermatt and Sunnegga






SwissTopo map, showing Zermatt and Sunnegga
[Click on an image for an enlarged view.]

Leaving the station, we crossed Bahnhofplatz and continued in the same direction along Getwingstrasse to its end at the River Vispa. Looking to the right, along Matterstrasse, we got our first sight of the Matterhorn. I walked a few yards into Matterstrasse to get the best view.


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:20:24
First sight of the Matterhorn from the corner of Getwingstrasse and Matterstrasse, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:20:34
The Matterhorn, seen from Matterstrasse, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:21:35
The Matterhorn, seen from Matterstrasse, Zermatt

It was across the river, and in the opposite direction, though, along Vispastrasse, that we had to go to find the entrance to the Sunnegga funicular. Or, I should say, to the ticket office of the Sunnegga funicular. The station itself was along a tunnel some 200 yards long.


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:03:08
Entrance to the Sunnegga funicular, Vispastrasse, Zermatt








Sunday 27 July 2025 11:31:46
Tunnel to the Sunnegga funicular station, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:35:40
Waiting to board the Sunnegga funicular train, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:37:26
Aboard the Sunnegga funicular train


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:46:18
Alighting from the funicular train at Sunnegga

“We took the funicular,” Janet wrote, “and when I emerged I was frozen to the bone. However, it was quite warm and sunny up there. We again were treated to a nearer, clear view of the Matterhorn — worth paying 62 Swiss Francs for — absolutely.”


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:58:34
What we came for: an unrestricted view of the Matterhorn from Sunnegga


Sunday 27 July 2025 11:59:38
Buffet Bar, Sunnegga

“We had drinks in the café. I had two black coffees to warm me up, and [John] had a coffee, and [followed that with a] grappa.”




Sunday 27 July 2025 12:11:08
Refreshments at Buffet Bar, Sunnegga


Sunday 27 July 2025 12:19:36
Further refreshments at Buffet Bar, Sunnegga




Sunday 27 July 2025 12:48:02
Another view of the Matterhorn from Sunnegga


Sunday 27 July 2025 12:51:44
Returning from Sunnegga to Zermatt on the funicular


Sunday 27 July 2025 12:55:42
Returning from Sunnegga to Zermatt on the funicular


Sunday 27 July 2025 12:56:46
Alighting from the Sunnegga funicular train at Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 12:59:18
Tunnel from the Sunnegga funicular station, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:03:08
Entrance to the Sunnegga funicular, Vispastrasse, Zermatt


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:12:26
In Vispastrasse, Zermatt, looking north, back towards the entrance to the Sunnegga funicular


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:13:20
In Vispastrasse, Zermatt, looking south-west, with another view of the Matterhorn


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:14:26
In Vispastrasse, Zermatt, looking west, about to turn right to cross the Vispa River, with the Gornergrat train passing above


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:20:42
Paragliding over Zermatt

We retraced our route back to the main railway station. We didn’t look around much for a lunch venue; we decided to go in the station buffet. I had a large Kalbsbratwurst, a white veal sausage, which was tasty and juicy, with onion gravy and Rösti, which is the Swiss national dish (almost). Janet had had Rösti in Interlaken, one evening when I didn’t go down for dinner; but for me, this was the first time. I had an almost ruby-coloured Weissbier. Janet had Vitello Tonnato, thinly sliced veal with tuna and caper sauce, with a salad of leaves, peppers, tomato, cucumber, sweet-corn, and diced beetroot (not pickled). She had a Coke Zero. Her verdict: “Delicious!… Excellent meal!”


Sunday 27 July 2025 13:30:04
“Bahnhofbuffet”, Zermatt




Sunday 27 July 2025 13:58:26
Lunch at the “Bahnhofbuffet”, Zermatt

We’d been paying in Euros but getting change in Swiss Francs, and because this was our last visit to Switzerland of our holiday, we went to the nearby shopping centre to try to spend the 7.90 CHF that we had left. “We went to a Coop…,” Janet wrote, “and bought some chocolate-covered almonds for 7.50 CHF. Only 40 centimes left!”
 I can’t remember: if we left the Coop by the Bahnhofplatz exit, we just had to cross the road to get to the station. Anyway, we arrived there (14:40), and saw Kate in the open forecourt of the station. There were sparrows hopping around there, and we noticed that their heads were not quite as brown as their Italian counterparts; they were, I supposed, a hybrid between Italian sparrows and house sparrows like those back home. Kate seemed to find that information a bit “geekish”, though she didn’t say. She’d told us all that we were to meet back at the station “No later than 3.05pm”; but everyone returned before that, so we boarded the train departing at 15:00 instead of the 15:15.


Sunday 27 July 2025 14:51:16
About to board the “Zermatt Shuttle” back to Täsch


Sunday 27 July 2025 15:09:56
The “Zermatt Shuttle” just after its arrival at Täsch


Sunday 27 July 2025 15:10:36
Going from the “Zermatt Shuttle” at Täsch, back to the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 15:12:50
Boarding the coach at Täsch, to return to Stresa


Sunday 27 July 2025 15:49:58
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:12:14
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:14:52
En route to Stresa: views from the coach

There’s a car/coach park with toilets on the Simplon Pass ca.750 yards to the north-east of where we had refreshments on the outward journey, and we stopped for a comfort break. Just to the west of there, is the “Simplon Adler”, a prominent stone eagle monument, vigilantly facing south towards the Italian border, built from roughly hewn granite blocks during World War II in 1994 by members of Switzerland’s Mountain Brigade 11, which was tasked with guarding the pass.


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:28:46
En route to Stresa: the “Simplon Adler” (“Simplon Eagle”)


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:30:22
En route to Stresa: the “Simplon Adler” (“Simplon Eagle”)


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:30:22 (detail)
En route to Stresa: the “Simplon Adler” (“Simplon Eagle”)

A little over a mile on from there, I noticed below two buildings, one tall with a tower, the other low (relative to the tall building) and long. The tall building, according to later researches, was the “Altes Spittel” (“Old Spittel”). “Spittel” in German, as well as meaning “hospital” or “infirmary”, can also denote a lodging house. It was presumably what Kate had referred to when we passed the “Stockalper Tower” on the outward journey, for it was indeed built by Kaspar Stockalper as a shelter for people, goods and pack animals. The long building was the “Barralhaus” (“Barral House”) built by clergyman Pierre Barral. He was the founder of a missionary society, and had the house built as a holiday facility for his students. Construction began in 1902 (so it was far more recent than the 17th century “Altes Spittel”), but Barral went bankrupt and the building wasn’t completed till 1924 by the Bethlehem Mission House Society. Today it is owned by the Swiss Army and used as accommodation for troops.


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:33:52
En route to Stresa: Old Spittel and Barral House, Simplon Pass


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:33:52 (detail)
En route to Stresa: Old Spittel and Barral House, Simplon Pass


Sunday 27 July 2025 16:48:44
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 17:02:10
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 17:03:14
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 17:03:42
En route to Stresa: views from the coach


Sunday 27 July 2025 17:08:00
En route to Stresa: views from the coach

Janet wrote: “It was ca.6.15pm before we arrived back at the Regina Palace. It was hot and sunny.… I was very tired and couldn’t face the trial of going out to eat. Also, [John] was still full after his enormous lunch (and also was tired), so we legged it to the Carrefour and bought: a Limonata for [John] and a chicken curry buttie, and for me a non-cold zero-sugar Orangato and a crusty bun, a banana, some black grapes, and two peaches. Only 9 euros for that lot: amazing! Back in the hotel, I had a shower, had my meal (good: delicious peaches and grapes), cleaned my teeth, sorted my bag for tomorrow (9.30am pickup), and updated this [journal entry]. I was in bed — finally — at ca.9.15pm. Fantastic day. Marvellous!”


The 50-cent “Supplemento Frigor” is a refrigeration surcharge. “Frigor” is short for “frigorifero” (“refrigerator”).

 We returned from the supermarket to our hotel room (to 18:54).


Sunday 27 July 2025 19:04:32
Supper in our hotel room, Stresa

I copied 65 photos from the camera’s SD card (18:28–18:29 BST),[i] but this included 9 from 25 July 2025, so I deleted these, leaving 56 from today. I connected the phone to the computer with a USB cable, and copied 7 photos (18:37–18:38 BST). I edited one of the photos using Photoshop, saving it in a different location from the original (18:58 BST), intending to send it to Andrew as an e-mail attachment; but I couldn’t get the computer to connect to the internet. So I used the phone, and managed eventually to attach the original, unedited photo.

[i] 18:28–18:29: Those were the times shown in File Explorer on the computer. As I’ve mentioned before, I was unable to change the time zone on it.

 …This is the e-mail I sent to Andrew:

From: Джон Едуард Купер
To: Andrew K—
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2025 at 19:18 [ii]
Subject: Greetings from Stresa

Hi Andrew

We visited Zermatt in Switzerland today, and here’s a view from the town.
We’re scheduled to return, Tuesday; but by now the school holidays will have begun, so I suppose meeting on Wednesday will be very doubtful.
See you soon, hopefully, anyway.

John


[ii] BST

 I looked at today’s photos on the computer as Janet was doing this and that. Solitaire (20:35–21:09): lost 7; won 1; lost 1. Deleted the edited photo (21:12 CEST). Shut down the computer (21:12–21:13); took medications (21:15–21:17); cleaned teeth; went to bed (21:28). Peed (23:52).
 The occupants of the next room had their TV on very loud. Janet had more to say about this, and indeed about the hours that followed: “What a night! I just could not sleep, couldn’t switch off. Furthermore, people next door were slamming cupboard drawers and doors and talking very loudly, and then they turned the f—ing TV on. I got my pyjamas on, just before midnight, and was about to go and tell them to “Shut the f— up”, when it stopped. I still couldn’t sleep, and it was a long night.”

[Monday 28 July 2025]