The trip up...
Chief among our sightseeing goals while in the vicinity of Grindelwald was to get to "the Top of Europe", as the promo material says, "An unforgettable one-day excursion to the Jungfraujoch - at 3454 metres (11,333 ft.) the highest railway station in Europe!" It's accessible only by the Jungfraubahnen, trains set up by the Swiss to give people an enjoyable and tourist-y way to reach these unbelievably beautiful panoramas. However, tickets were a bit spendy. I took immediate interest when I read,
"Why not take advantage of an early-morning trip to the Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe? Enjoy the dawn delights of an untouched Alpine wonderworld. Our special 'Good Morning Ticket' offers early risers 30% off the regular fare between Kleine Scheidegg and the Jungfraujoch."
The weather pattern seemed to favor a morning excursion, and we could fit it all in before Ben's afternoon nap, since the ticket required us to be on the first train at 7am and off the mountain by noon. So we decided to go for it on the morning of our second day, Sunday morning. To maximize on our sleep we chose to feed Ben breakfast on the train...Great views first thing in the morning, looking down on the valley...
up at the Eiger...
This gentlemen seemed to be an art teacher - Austrian, we guessed. He was sketching people around him and giving the sketches away.
Here's a scan of the picture he drew of K and B.
After Kleine Scheidegg there were three brief stops on the way to the top: Eigergletscher (not much to show there),
Eigerwand,
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and Eismeer
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Here's B on the train as we approach the last stop...
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At the top...
There's actually quite a visitor's complex at the top. There are of course the requisite cafeteria, top class restaurant, and souvenir shops. In addition there are several terraces to walk out on. We visited the ice sculpture palace first.
The next logical stop was to step out onto the snow and take in the vista.
The visitor center and other tourist attractions are clustered around a horn of rock which is itself nestled on a shoulder between the two peaks Monch and Jungfrau. Perched on the top of the horn is the Sphinx Observatory.
From this vantage point, if one had the time and the inclination, one could launch out into mountain climbing and glacier hiking routes. Zooming in to the Monch:
Something about being out there B didn't like; perhaps the cold (he's been too long from the home state perhaps), or something else.
Obviously, I'm having a blast, but him...not so much. Peering from behind me as he was, he provided a sort of alter-ego; a mini-not-me; a second head seemingly grafted surgically to my shoulder;
not a whole Greek chorus, but one chorister volunteering a divergent, dire, and doleful didactic on the events transpiring in our lives...speaking truth to power...sticking it to the MAN!!
After all, as we've been told many times, dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
So K took him back inside and I soldiered on alone for the time being. This next video is a collection of individual clips pieced together; the last clip from my smaller camera has obviously poorer video quality. I think one of the settings got messed up.
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A spot of lunch for us, and then, while B happily occupied himself crawling up to people's shoes and giving them a good stare, I had to participate in at least one Alpine challenge - the hole in one contest. The prize would have been a 100,000CHF Swiss watch.
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It occurred to me later that one has to hit the hole on the fly (!), or else it will just augur into the 20' snow. And even then, what's the chance of it staying in the hole? Oh, well. I gave them my name and phone number back in France so that if they found my ball in the hole at the end of the day they could contact me. No word yet, and my Coleman digital watch with the velcro band is still running...
The trip down...
We took the noon-ish train leaving the Jungfraujoch in order to get B home for his nap. Yep, he was lookin' pretty tired already (compare to the sketch above).
Here's a snap out the window at Kleine Sheidegg station where we changed trains.
The views from the train coming down were even more spectacular (click on this one!).
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But, ultimately, what became of the Monch, the Monch, you ask? It's still there, waiting for you to climb it.
Take care,
-PKBD
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