WOW, what a day today !
We went to “The Top of Europe” today – the Jungfraujoch – way up at the top of the Alps at 11,333 feet above sea level. First we drove to a town about 15km away called Lauterbrunnen to catch the train up to the top.
The train goes in 2 stages – first to a spot at about 6,500 feet called Kleine Scheidegg where we had to change trains to go the final section to the top. The trip takes about 2 hours in total as there are a few other stops on the way. Our train left at 09:30 – these trains run on time ! As it was Saturday the train was full of local skiers heading to the snow at the top. They get on the train all ready to go straight off the train – complete with ski boots, helmuts and everything already on. The trains have racks for the skis as you get on and some of the trains even have an open carriage at the front specially for the skis.
The Lauterbrunnen Valley
The first part of the trip sweeps through the valley and slowly up the mountains occasionally through a small tunnel and not too far up you start to get sections of snow on the ground.
The Lauterbrunnen Valley is described in some guide books as “Yosemite on Steroids” due to the size of the mountains and it also has 17 waterfalls in the valley. (It was pretty impressive but we think Yosemite has better waterfalls – quality not quantity!)
More people join the train as we get to the larger stops on the way up so it is pretty full when we get to the stop to change. Some of the skiers head off in other directions here (and there are alternative locations to head to on other trains on other lower parts of the mountain) but it is a bit of a race to get a seat on the next train – we get 2. Most of the second part of the trip is through tunnels in the mountain and there are 2 stops where they have windows you can see out to the view below – there is a 5 minute stop at each of these so there is a rush of people to get off and take photos then get back on again.
We get to the top and the sky is perfect blue !
A view from the top – looking down on the clouds !
The outside temperature is about minus 8. They have various observation decks and tunnels where you can get out onto the mountain itself. Skiers and snowboarders headed off back down the mountain making their own way down or to lower stations to get the train again later. For the hardy – not us as we all felt short of breath and faint with the altitude a couple of times – there was a 45 min walk to another hut where they could get lunch.
Also in one area is an “ice palace” – tunnels of solid ice, even the floor – Liam had fun skating around on the floor – and in various sections they had ice carvings – penguins, an igloo with eskimos, swans etc.
At one point we even found a frozen Scrat – from the movie Ice Age – in one of the walls !
Views back down the mountain
We sat and had lunch at a window table overlooking the top of Europe – we certainly have had some meals with a view this holiday !
The view was a million dollars – and so was lunch ! Boy, Switzerland is an expensive place ! We had a plate of pork with noodles, an antipasto plate, a bread roll and 3 drinks – cost 60 francs – close enough to A$70 !
All of us on top of the mountain –
yes, that is Liam under all the layers !
After lunch we headed out onto another section of the snow for more photos. Liam says this is the most awesome place in the world so we think he must have enjoyed it – probably a bit of a change from castles and churches.
Jungfraujoch
We had decided to get the 13:30 train back down the mountain – and so did every tour group on the mountain ! We joined a small queue about 20 min before it was due to go then out of nowhere came hundreds more ! Luckily the train guards must have been aware of this as they had added specially reserved carriages for this lot so when it was our turn to get on we were able to get a seat okay.
The trip down was a little slower with the extra carriages – some sections are one lane only so the up and down trains need to be co-ordinated to let each other past at the stations. We arrived back at Lauterbrunnen about 15:30 or so.
Paragliders over the town
Nearby was a place called Trummelbach which was a waterfall coming down inside the mountain. A small carriage took you a short distance up and in the maountain to where water was rushing down caverns it had created from the continuously melting snow – probably over thousands of years. Quite an extraordinary sight ! After an exhausting day, we headed back to Interlaken. Throughout the valley we could see paragliders coming to earth from somewhere up the mountains.
We ended up having dinner at a pizza place next door but had walked a little around town – for souvenirs of course ! Liam was pleased as he got a swiss army knife for cadets – in camoflague colours and engraved with his name. Adrienne also found a charm so they are both contented – for now (but I bet there’s more !)