Day #72 - Jungfraujoch, Switzerland

Ice Palace

Wow

Swiss Flag with the mountains in the background

Spectacular

Tuesday, May 25th

Today I got to see what Switzerland looks like in the wintertime. The best of both worlds!

I didn't make it up as early as I had planned, but I knew my destination for today had trains departing every hour. So, a little more sleep did my body good. I got up around 9am and got over to the train station. Today I was headed for the "Top of Europe" - Jungfraujoch.

You may not have heard of this destination (I had not) - but it's a must-see if you're travelling in Switzerland. At 11,400 ft, the Jungfraujoch rail station is the highest in the world - it has been for over a century. I took a 2.5 hour train from Interlaken to my destination. The train ride took you from lush forest and wild flowers, up to the snowy peaks of some of the tallest mountains in all of Europe. It was an amazing transition.

A big reason I did this journey today was to: A) see the great sites, and B) to give my body a chance to feel a 12,000 ft elevation. It's definitely a change when you enter the light air. Depending upon my activity, sometimes it hits me harder than others. I've been to 19,340 ft - but elevation is all about acclimatizing. I felt pretty good today. I think the past week has helped me out quite a bit - I'll need it in Peru.

When arriving at the train station, I first decided to take this glacial walk over to the Top of Europe Restaurant. It was a 45 minute walk each direction, an incline going over -- on a snowy path. It was a great test. The scenery was spectacular. I don't know how I keep getting perfect blue skies with puffy white clouds - but I was lucky again today. There is no better picture taking (in my opinion) then this scenario. Even a perfect clear blue sky pales to one with puffy white clouds.

They had an area where you could sleigh ride or ski. It was focused on the smaller kids - it was the equivalent of a bunny hill. I past this as I started out on my trek. About 3/4 of the way over on the glacial walk, I found myself walking along with this young kid - I'd put him in 1st grade. His parents were 100 yards back or so. This kid and I walked along - he keeping my pace. We get to this area where there was a very narrow path with a steep drop to the right. He couldn't speak English but I was trying to look out for him. I couldn't believe the parents would let this kid go in front like they did. It was obvious they either had been here before or were major hikers, but still, you don't let a 1st grader walk along the edge of a cliff by himself? This kid was as happy as anyone could possibly be. He got up to the restaurant, sat on the bench outside, he couldn't have been more proud of himself. The parents followed along shortly. This just shows my inexperience with not growing up in the mountains. I see little kids all the time on ski slopes racing by me with nobody around -- it's justs the way it goes.

I walked back over to the train station and went to this incredible Ice Palace. I've included a photo. What a cool area. You walked through these tunnels made of ice and then you came to these ice sculptures. It was identical to walking through the zoo and coming upon different animals. The sculptures mimicked the penguins or seals you would see in the zoo. Unreal.

Next, I took this elevator up to a viewing destination called the Sphinx Terrace. The elevation here was nearly 12,000 ft. You could see everywhere. The scenery was very dramatic from all angles. Short of snow-skiing or mountain climbing - these sites, at this elevation, are very rare. This being the highest elevation for a train station in the world - this allows people to see sites they may not otherwise ever see. There were a ton of people. It's obvious that this area is one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Switzerland.

I took the 2.5 hour train back down the mountain. There's the scenery again. We hit the tree line, then the green valleys and lakes, down through the rolling streams coming from the melted snow. into the small villages and towns. The Swiss are spoiled. Every day they get to see things others travel half a world away to see.

I had a great outdoor dinner and then called it a night. Tomorrow I'll be entering Italy for the first time ever.