The day began grey and miserable. We couldn't even see the Matterhorn such was the thick cloud. We were secretly pleased it wasn't a stunning day because it meant we could repeat yesterday's pattern. 

First we had breakfast in the company of the owner and his family before returning back to our balcony for a wonderful lazy morning of knitting and scribbling in my journal.  

Then, at midday, we left the hotel to start our day.

 We walked straight to Pfarrkirche St. Mauritius, this time popping inside the church to have a good look around. It was mostly a simple whitewashed interior but it did have a few ornate golden altars at the end.

It was renovated in 1980 to celebrate the 700 year anniversary. There were a few modern quirks from this time that you wouldn't expect to see in a traditional church.

There was a fresco of Noah's Ark with all kinds of animals, including Elephants and Kangaroos. Below it there was a shark but more unusually there was a man on his back wearing a pair skiis, and a person with their head, as a skull, in a box, like a television. Most peculiar. I'm not too sure what artist Paolo Parente was getting at?

There was also this really interesting Art Nouveau communion table. It wouldn't have looked out of place on a Star Wars film set. 

It was soon time for lunch so we stopped at Wilde Hilde, a popular chicken shack opposite the church, for Julie to pick up half a rotisserie chicken to take back to our room.

I was on the lookout for a take-out lunch and popped inside Fuch's Bakery. There was so many delicious choices but the one that caught my was called Cholera!

Sharing its name with a disease was really unfortunate but it looked great and more importantly it looked meat free, so I got myself a slice. I also picked up a spinach and ricotta quiche as back up.

We walked down the main street stopping for a moment to take a photo of this random shoe left on a windowsill. I thought it was a shoe someone had found and placed there but I realised it was intentionally ornamental, painted in a brighter colour and artistically filled with fir cones.  

Back on our balcony I wolfed down the quiche first. It tasted incredible.

I then had a closer look at the slice of Cholera. I was checking for flecks of wafer thin ham or something but after searching the internet I learned Cholera was a traditional pie of the Valais region, a pastry filled with thin layers of potatoes, leeks, cheese and either apple or pear.

It was a thing of beauty. The ultimate comfort food. Some believe it was a pie borne out of neccessity during a cholera epidemic in 1836 where food was scarce and they had to rely on local produce alone.

Post-lunch it began to snow, thick feathery flakes of snow. We looked out, from our balcony and noticed the hot tub was free. Minutes later we were in our robes and swimming costumes heading down in the elevator.

It was the strangest feeling walking outside in the snow dressed in our dressing gowns but once we sat in the hot tub it felt so right. The water was lovely and warm as the snowflakes melted on our faces.

I popped to the sauna, very carefully. I didn't want to slip again. The rapid change in temperature from cold to hot felt wonderful. I didn't want to leave but after five minutes I rejoined Julie in the hot tub.

There was one place we wanted to visit before we left and that was the Matterhorn Museum. So, shortly after 5pm we headed back out.

It had stopped snowing now.

The museum was opposite the church. It surprisingly didn't look that big from the outside. Hardly larger than a common greenhouse but, like the Louvre's glass pyramid, this was just the entrance to a huge subterenean museum. Perhaps the Zermatlantis sub-title offered a clue.

On display was the rope that broke when four of the climbing expedition for the first ascent of the Matterhorn fell to their death.

An inquiry into the accident was held to establish the facts. During the descent Douglas Hadow slipped and fell into Michel Croz. They both tumbled pulling down with them Charles Hudson and Lord Francis Douglas.

Rumours were circulating that mountain guide Peter Taugwalder (senior) cut the rope to save himself, his son (also called Peter), and Edward Whymper who were both above him.  However, the inquiry acquited him, coming to the conclusion that the rope was weak and snapped under the shock of the weight.

Another tragic accident that I had not even heard about before today was the ascent of Dent Blanche in 1899 where Welsh man Owen Glynne Jones fell to his death with three of his fellow climbers. Looking at his photogrph he looked strangely familiar.

His family was from Barmouth, although he was born in London. He became a highly regarded pioneer of mountain climbing as a sport. He even wrote a book "Rock Climbing in the English Lake District".

Sadly he died aged 31, falling 1500 feet from Ferpècle arête, a ridge leading up to the summit of Dent Blanche.

They had on display his ice pick, which for me personally brought the story to life. His hands held this implement on that fateful day. 

We continued through the museum which incorporated original houses and mountain refuge huts. They were fascinating and quite remarkable. 

We left the museum and slowly made our way back towards our hotel. It was now getting dark and the outdoor area of the Zermatterhof Hotel had been kept away for the evening, which was a shame.  

We continued down the main street, coming cross the first reference to Toblerone we had seen in the actual shadow of the Matterhorn, when we saw a small kiosk selling souvenirs, lottery tickets, tobacco and, I assume, the triangular chocolate.  

We ended up inside a shopping centre, shopping for some essetials in a Co-Op supermarket, when we came across a bar called Grizzly's.  It was tiny inside and very busy. It had such a lively vibe.

Two seats at the bar became available, so we perched on our stools and had a few drink whilst watching golf on the TV. I really enjoyed my beer. It was from a Swiss company, Haarige Kuh Brauerei, the Hairy Cow Brewery, from Interlakken, which had a Highland Cow as it's mascot.

A little hungry, we thought about grabbing a snack at Grizzly's, but all they had was a small griddle pan at the bar, so we moved on.

Not wanting to go too far we decided to give the restaurant at Hotel Pollux a try.

The smell of melting Alpine cheese filled out noses as soon as we walked in. I will always think of Zermatt whenever I catch a whiff of this distinctive cheesey smell.

We checked out the menu, and there was one cheesy dish I hadn't eaten during this trip, and that was Raclette, a specific unpasturised cheese melted over potatoes and pickles, like gherkins and silverskin onions. 

Julie ordered the lamb, which came accompanied by a very cheesy potato side. She declared it her tasiest meal of the trip.

For my main I didn't have much to choose from and ended up with a plate of griddled veg with plenty more melted cheese.

It wasn't a big portion so I still had room for dessert. I decided on a twist on a tiramisu, with gingerbread and apricots. It was so good!

On the way back to our hotel we stopped outisde the Sportsarena ice rink where a proper competitve match was taking place between EHC Zermatt and Balmertigers, from Saas-Balen, a local Upper Valais classic by all accounts, in the Swiss Regional Ice Hockey Championship.

The visitors were winning 4-1 and had the encouragement of their cheerleaders pushing them on to victory.

We didn't spectate for too long. Whilst it was a bonafide competitive game it was at an amaeteur level. This was glaringly obvious when we noticed several of the players could harldy skate let alone play hockey!

Back in our room we switched on the TV and the little butane gas fire to unwind in front of some random Swiss television programme before switching them all back off again, and falling asleep.