Cervinia: Part 1

the view out the window

When we first started planning this trip, and making our wish list, we decided we really wanted to ski in the Alps and we wanted to become better skiers. So we rented an apartment in Cervinia, at the base of the Matterhorn for two weeks. Cervinia is much cheaper than the Alps on the Swiss side. It also is full of Italian food which is always a good thing. Alas, it is not easy to get to. Zermatt has a train station. Cervinia has the occasional bus from Milan. It is only a two and a half hour drive, if you have a car, but on public transit it is a bit more daunting. Tuesday was spent lugging all our stuff through multiple subway stations to get to the bus station. We have been lugging ski stuff with us since Vienna and Andrew is getting really sick of it. Our bags got caught in the turnstiles, which is always annoying. I kept reminding him: only one more trip, we will have less stuff soon, only one more trip. I caught him doing his deep breathing, calm yourself exercises. 2 subways, 2 buses and many hours later we arrived in Cervinia. Our land-lady said she would meet us at the bus stop with her car and help us get our bags to the apartment. The place we stayed in Milan was odd, with a communal bathroom out of the 1950s. It wasn’t a place to be high maintenance. It also wasn’t the best bed, although compared to many beds in Italy it was pretty darn comfy. The bottom line is that I arrived in Cervinia with dirty hair, chapped lips, dry skin, exhausted and slightly nauseous. From the window of the bus we saw our landlady waiting for us. She was a young unbelievably beautiful woman. She had on snow clothes that still managed to be sexy and hip (I am not sure how she did this) her lips were not chapped, her hair was not dirty and her skin was dewy and glowing. Sigh.

This flat we rented was one of the cheapest we could find. I did not expect it to be much, but when we arrived I was still disappointed. The oven was broken, so they had set out a hot plate. One refrigerator was broken, so they used it to store food, and added another refrigerator awkwardly behind the door. The hot plate and the laundry machine (which really is older than I am) share a single plug socket. The hot water heater is tiny. There are 3 different kinds of tile in the bathroom, all looking a little worse for wear.

Sigh again. This experience was going to be much more like camping than I had hoped.

Andrew and the Matterhorn

Still, there is a view of the Matterhorn from the bedroom and living room. The ski run ends almost at the door of the apartment. It is very warm and cozy.