How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : DAY 5, Switzerland Trip: Jungfraujoch

Sep 2, 2014, DAY 5

Jungfraujoch

Sep 2nd was our Jungfraujoch day---GREAT weather and an awesome experience altogether.

Took the direct train from Lauterbrunnen—it did not touch Mannlichen but went thru Wengen, Zweilutchinnen to reach Kleine Scheidegg.

This was Wengen thru the train window

you can see the sun beating down…

Snowy peaks were glistening…we slathered on sunscreen…

The train stopped at 2 intermediate stations.

Nice views thru the glass--The Schreckhorn dominates the view at Eigerwand, 2,864 m (9,396 ft). Wand means wall in German.

The KS-Jungfraujoch train of course is a tech marvel. It’s 9 km long, 7 km of which runs thru the Eiger and Monch mountains, had taken 16 years to build… AWESOME

Since most of the railway is inside a tunnel, it was designed to run with electricity. The motors operate in a regenerative mode which allows the trains to generate electricity during the descent, which is fed back into the power distribution system. Approximately 50% of the energy required for an ascent is recovered during the descent… Interesting…

In 50 min, we arrived at Top of Europe!

Went straight to Sphinx observatory, got on to the open terraces…

This is the bust of Adolf Guyer-Zeller (1 May 1839 – 3 April 1899), the founder of Jungfrau Railway, (JB). He was the son of an owner of spinning mill and creator of a textile export trade in Zürich

Right out of the Sphinx observatory ... with the Jungfrau behind....

On the observation platform, with the Mönch behind us ...As can be seen, we are on Jungfraujoch which is a col between Jungfrau and Mönch (col=lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks)

The Aletsch glacier, the longest in Europe at 22km, sprawled below our platform.

Jungfrau towered in the far right, Monch glistened in the left…. The entire Bernese Alps wall with several other 4000m peaks rose all around us… SURREAL!

Though temp was -1*C, we felt great with the warm bright sun caressing us.

There were some people on the terrace… we would of course come back here after 3 pm and have the whole place almost to ourselves.

After scores of pics, we left to go inside.

Sat on a bench inside surrounded by panaromic glass windows all round as well as on the roof and had our packed picnic lunch.

Can’t think of a more picturesque dining experience…

We visited the Alpine sensation next...

Loved the snow globes with scenic Swiss panaroma.

Then we went to the Ice Palace—20 m under the viewing platform.

This is the Memorial wall with the name plaques of the workers who lost their lives making the Jungfraujoch rail track

Sombre moment...contemplatiing the lives lost

Ice Palace is 1000 sq.m, started by 2 guides carving out in 1930s.

It’s kept at -3*C, quite cold… there are no rubber matting as in Zermatt Matterhorn, but our shoes have good grip, so we did not slip on the icy floor…

Ice Tunnel

Framed in Ice!

OOOh...COOL bench!

With Sherlock Holmes!

We then went to the Plateau… the place we had observed below us from the viewing terrace.

People with inappropriate footwear were grabbing these ropes and poles for support

A man fell down with a thud as we entered—the entrance was all slushy and many others were sliding. Earlier, we had planned to hike up to Mönchsjoch Hut

After seeing people fall, we reluctantly decided to skip the trek.

Anyways, it was GREAT being surrounded by the lofty peaks on the plateau and we walked to each direction capturing the views. Sunglasses are vital to prevent being dazzled by the snow.

After having our fill, we decided to move toward the Snow fun park. There was another guy who fell down near us as we returned. We walked thru the long tunnel inside… believe it or not, it was cold inside the tunnel—we had not felt cold at all out surrounded by the mountains.

We should have taken the fork from the alpine sensation... but went in the direction of the restaurant, souvenir shop by mistake.

Lindt Choco heaven

The Lindt chocolate heaven was not interesting as our Cailler chocolate factory visit…

Bought a small cow pendant from the souvenir shop and managed to reach the snowfun park

Unlimited rides on all the activities with one ziplining is 45CHF… we did not have too much time.

Decided to do just the ziplining for 20 CHF. Paid at the desk, got harnessed, went up the stairs in this pic

In Zip Lining Harness

After learning how to unharness, we sat at the small gate at the top and as the operator opened it, slid down the rope…

Not that fast but with towering peaks all around looking down on us, it was FUN… not a rush of adrenaline as our previous ziplining experiences, but hey, it was good to do that on top of Europe!

Up the steps...

Whizzing away...

Back on Terra firma...

When you are taking pics, do stand midway to catch the action well…

The landing has not been made user friendly. We just came down the sloping rope, lifted the feet up to avoid being dragged and landed on our bottom on the snow with a thud. A little sore for a couple of days!! The guy who ziplined after me got dragged all the way as he put his feet down trying to slow the descent--- he looked to be in pain. In contrast the zipline from First is much better---it stops at a height letting people dangle safely instead of landing on the ground!

The time was getting to 3.30 and we decided to start our move back. We had heard horror stories of the huge crowds and near stampedes in the station for the last trains and we definitely did not want to jostle and stand all the way down.

On our way back, we did step on the viewing terraces again, hardly anyone around and we had a soul stirring look once more at the 40 odd peaks…