Sadly, for the last two days, it has been pouring rain. This inclement weather has totally “washed away” all our fabulous Swiss hiking plans. However. . . . we woke up today (Friday) to brilliant sunshine. It is the only day until we leave on Monday that is not supposed to be raining. We decided to make the famous sojourn to the “Joch” which is Europe’s highest railway station at an altitude of 11,333 ft. The Jungfrau region, which is located in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland, is absolutely one of the most alluring places on the planet. The glistening mountain landscape is home to the Alps’ highest concentration of glaciers along with hundreds of dazzling waterfalls. Words cannot describe the jaw-dropping, exquisite scenery we experienced from the top of the Jungfrajoch to the bottom of the lush-green Lauterbrunnen Valley.
We took the beautifully scenic drive to Interlocken Ost and boarded the cogwheel train for the initial ride up this famous landmark. As we slowly chugged up the steep mountain with snow covered peaks, the dramatic mountain landscape took our breath away. Our first destination was the quaint Swiss town of Lauterbrunnen. The town, located high in the Alps is another quintessential Swiss beauty or maybe a Swiss Shangri-la?
After changing to another cogwheel train at Lauterbrunnen, we plodded up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg where we boarded our final cog-driven machine to the Jungfraujoch. This 5.8 miles section of the trip produced very few views as most of the trip was in tunnels leading to the 11,000+ ft. summit. During our long “tunnel” trip of 4.35 miles, the train stopped twice to allow us a 5-minute photo shoot of the spectacular views from large pane windows that were placed in the mountain face. The train crossed through two mountains, the Eiger and the Monch, climbing nearly 4,600 feet to the top station. These trains are always crowded but on a beautiful clear day like Friday (particularly after days of rain), it was PACKED. It was interesting that the two primary groups of visitors were Chinese and Indians. Our “research” indicates that the Chinese absolutely adore Switzerland. They do indeed because they are everywhere-bus loads of them. Seeing the Indians at the top of Jungfraujoch was perplexing to us because their numbers were large and you don’t see them in many other Swiss locations. We subsequently found out that part of the movie “Bollywood” was filmed in this location (hence they do have a buffet restaurant at Jungfraujoch, so named).
Once you arrive to the top of the Joch, there are various activities available including exorbitantly-priced lunches, zip lining, sledding, and hiking in addition to the various venues that you can visit (round cinema, ice cave, etc.). Inside the Jungfraujoch, there were a labyrinth of tunnels, the Spinx Observatory (which measures atmospheric pollution and weather conditions), the plateau and the exit to the Aletsch Glacier. We took the super-fast elevator that wisks you up 1,000 feet in a matter of seconds to the terrace of the observatory. W e decided to take the 1 1/2 hr. round-trip trek in the snow (with our hiking poles and boots) to a small hut-restaurant on the glacier. At that altitude, you really feel it in your heart. Also, the sun was bright and sunburns were quick to form. After a few hours on the top with the great scenery, we were off to ride the 3 trains down the mountain through a couple of different towns to get another “view” perspective. It was a day of fantastic vistas, tired legs and burning skin as we didn’t bath ourselves with enough suntan lotion with the high altitude sun. While the train ride to the top was insanely expensive at close to $500, this alpine sensation should be on everyones “top 100” bucket list. Unfortunately, more rain is on the way tomorrow.
