Interlaken and Jungfrau

Interlaken and Jungfrau

We breakfasted early as we had a big day planned and wanted to catch an early train to Jungfrau, the ‘Top of Europe’, at the same time hopefully avoiding the crowds of tourists who pour into the region.  Jungfrau has Europe’s highest-altitude railway station at 11,333 feet, or 3454 metres. The three high mountains of the Alps line up side-by-side: Eiger (3,970 m), Mőnch (4,107 m) and Jungfrau (4158 m).

Last section of covered track before entering main tunnel to top

Typical view on the way up - at Kleine Scheidegg Station

 Our journey began at Interlaken Railway Station where we took the train for Lauterbrunnen. From there we changed to a rack or cogwheel railway which took us slowly through an alpine scenic valley to Kleine Scheidegg, where we again changed trains, to another rack railway.  The track was very steep. We climbed slowly through a mountain tunnel to the top.  This train stopped twice for five minutes to allow passengers to observe the glacier through observation windows.

The glacier from the window at Eismeer Stop (3160m)

Construction for the railway tunnel began in 1896 following a vision by Swiss Industrialist Adolph Gayer-Zeller, to build a cogwheel railway to Jungfrau by blasting a tunnel through Eiger and Mőnch. Despite several setbacks, the railway was opened in February 1912, and last year celebrated its Centenary.  The railway is an amazing engineering feat.

The station at the top of the mountain had several levels.  The first thing we did was to catch a lift from the station to the top of peak, the Sphinx viewing platform (terrace), where we were able to go outside on the platform at 3,571 metres.  A weather station has been established here since 1922, but the public viewing area was only established in 1996. The lift took only 27 seconds to climb the 105 metres to the terrace. We had a full view down the Aletsch Glacier, and also of the tree peaks, Eiger, Jongfrau and Mőnch. On a clear day you can see the Vosges in France and the Black Forest in Germany.

Proof we were there

Looking over the 'glacier plateau' to the distance - dots are people

We descended again to the Tour level, which had a series of activities to keep the patrons occupied.  A 360° panoramic video of the mountains was playing as you walked through to the Alpine Sensation, a walk-through museum of the history of the railway, then to the Ice Palace.  

Walking through the ice cave

Sherlock Holmes in ice

This was a maze of tunnels carved into the glacier.  It was freezing inside with ice underfoot.  At various places, ice carvings were displayed featuring eagles, polar bears, seals and penguins and there was also a large carving of Sherlock Holmes.  Don’t ask me why?

We followed the Tour signs out to the ‘Glacier Plateau’ which was lower down from the Sphinx Platform. The ice underfoot was slushy and a little slippery in places and the glare of the ice was blinding so unless you were wearing sunglasses, you had to go inside quickly.  The lenses on our glasses turned almost black.  When we went inside later, I had to take my glasses off because they were too dark to see anything.  From here we had views of the three peaks and of the valleys below.  As the day was so clear, the view extended for miles. However, in the distance there was a dirty smog layer between the clouds and blue sky above (this is obviously where some of our pollution disappears to).

Looking from the glacier plateau towards entrance, restaurant levels, and at the top is the  Sphinx Terrace

The plateau was roped off, with warning signs about the danger of going beyond the ropes.  I watched as one bloke with a huge backpack climbed through the ropes and out onto the saddle platform of the peak.  I thought, “There always has to be one idiot who disobeys the rules”.  Next thing, he started to unpack his backpack, and he pulled out a paraglider chute.  He donned a crash helmet which had a camera attached to the top, taking his time as he carefully untangled the strings.  Once this was done, he attached the cords and strings to his frame harness, unfurled the chute, and very quickly launched himself off the cliff and into the air. We watched the process in awe.  Doug managed to get some good photos of him.

Ready

Set

Go!

We had lunch in the self-serve café.  The food was high fat, low nutrition but was all that was available.  Doug ate his longed for sausage and was very disappointed with the outcome.  The plates were loaded with French fries, but I at least had some vegetables on mine. Both plates had plenty of fries left on them.  
We wanted to catch the next train back so we hurried to the station.  Our companions on this leg of the journey was a friendly young couple, he from Perth, she from Brisbane.  You have to go around the world to meet your neighbours.  The journey each way totalled two and a half hours. 

At Kleine Scheidegg Station for next train to Grindelwald

Once more at Kleine Scheidegg, we were able to take an alternate train to Grindelwald where we got off and looked around the town for half an hour.  We then caught the next train back to Interlaken. This took us through a very pretty valley.  The fields, meadows and hillsides were absolutely abloom with wildflowers.  It would be a great place to walk and is very popular for walkers.

Grindelwald

If we went back to this area we would want more time to enjoy the large number of walks and see the other parts of the alps. They are immense and as you stand on the platforms you are immersed into it, and the frustrating part is that no matter how many photos you take, you can’t represent the dimensions. Viewing these photos back home with the projector on a large screen might help with this. For instance, it is only when you see some specks on the glacier floor (these are people) you get some idea of the scale.