Wikipedia Destinations: Zermatt, Switzerland

I had the fortune as a kid to grow up in Europe, where tons of interesting sights are within driving distance, and I'm thankful that my parents took the time to lug the family around to as many as they were able!  Still, just about every day, I find a new place I'd like to find myself visiting one day, and I'll probably highlight a few from time to time here.  Wikipedia is always a big help to me in picking my future destinations, always giving me a few alluring photos to pique my interest, and get an idea of whether I'd be facing flesh-eating piranhas or water-induced indigestion (thanks, Mexico).  With that said, there are plenty of places with neither one of those two hindrances to contend with, and I'll share a few of my favorites.

Zermatt, Switzerland is the location of the legendary peak Matterhorn, which you can't miss in the background of the title photo, but in case you did, here it is again at the right.  I'll admit, I'm a bit of a landscape enthusiast, you can always find some sweeping nature scene on my computer's desktop background, but no scene is more interesting to me than one with a gigantic mountain rising out of nowhere.  Matterhorn is the perfect example of this: not only is it probably the most well-known among the peaks of the Swiss Alps, but it has that classic pyramid shape and because of its topographic prominence, it appears all the more imposing and menacing.  I've had a recent interest in mountain climbing, and though I'll probably never have the training nor resources to climb a peak like Matterhorn or Mt. Everest, I can still dream, right?

For some reason, the Fam never made it down to the Alps while we were living in France, and it's a dream of mine to spend some time there.  Thankfully, for those of us who may never experience extreme mountaineering, Zermatt is equipped with a huge system of cable cars, which, while they would scare my wife half to death, would be an amazing way to get around the area, as they carry tourists up to some of the lesser peaks in the area for some great views!  The area is primarily a tourist region, and an interesting tidbit I found, thanks to a newly accessible Wikipedia, was the fact that over half of the jobs in Zermatt come from hotels and restaurants.

Enjoy a few more shots of the Zermatt/Matterhorn area: