After breakfast, we packed for a day in the snow: Annie packed four layers of tops, then wore three pair of my socks to fit in my narrowest pair of shoes. I packed a couple layers too, but if the weather up there turned nasty, we were ill-equipped.
Above: 3 pairs of my socks, and she's still got clown feet!
The first leg of our ascent was on a train from Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg, which serves as the base camp for train jaunts to the Jungfraujoch, and for mountain/ice climbers aspiring to scale the Eiger North Face--yes, as in "The North Face."
Above: The base of the North Face is visible in the background.
Annie's East Face is fully visible in foreground.
In Kleine Scheidegg, we had a 1.5 hour layover until our "Good Afternoon Ticket" departure to Jungfrauloch. We scored a 30€ reduction for the minor inconvenience of having to wait until mid-afternoon.
Above: Annie helps an obstinate goat off the tracks...unsuccessfully.
No matter! We filled the time by taking in the vistas, watching goats escape their shepherds (one particular rascal faced down an oncoming train, then peed on the tracks), and standing astonished at a real live Swiss mountain dog with its whiskey cask collar.
For snack, we ate breadsticks and watched clouds passing over the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau mountains...as well as a random Indian tepee restaurant.
Above: The north face of the Eiger, with teepee.
When our time arrived, we boarded our cogwheel train on the Jungfraubahn Railway through three stops--Eigergletscher, Eigerwand, and Eismeer--before stopping at the "Top of the World."
Above: View from our brief stop at the Eismeer viewing window.
It felt cold at the top! We had roughly 1.25 hours before having to catch the last train back, so we set out exploring. We stepped out onto the Aletsch Glacier, our first glacier experience, to watch the tubers and sledders and zip-liners. Snow! Ice! Amazing views!
When we'd seen our fill from this vantage point, we took an elevator to the Sphinx viewing platform, which offered 360-degree views of the Alps. The mountains seemed to trail off forever.
There were a couple flocks of birds at that altitude that looked completely comfortable despite what seemed like a lack of food up there. Otherwise, there was no wildlife except for us. Did I mention it was beautiful up there?
Before our time concluded, we hunted out the Ice Palace, which seemed like it'd be just a popular kids' attraction. It was still pretty cool to us old kids, too. From floor to ceiling, walls and all, the entire thing was made from blocks of ice. It was just one level with several passageways, all lined with ice sculptures like penguins and stuff.
And numbskulls.
We were briefly amused to discover a reference to the Disney movie "Ice Age": that prehistoric squirrel character frozen in a block of ice, with the acorn he incessantly chases frozen just within reach.
When we left the Ice Palace, we had just enough time to find the small station to catch the last train back. You'd think it'd be a healthy mix of various cultures and ethnicities, but the entire train was full of Asians and Indians. Annie and I couldn't believe how such large groups of tourists could travel like that to such small, relatively obscure destinations!
We arrived in Wengen at 6:50pm, (finally) early enough for a relaxing meal. We returned to Pasta & More, our dinner selection from two nights previously, then returned home to Skype with the Hales before getting to bed. This was our last night in Wengen, and Switzerland, and we felt we'd made the most of our time here. Tomorrow would bring new adventure, in the Black Forest of Germany.
Wengen July 11 Album:
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| Jungfraujoch: July 11, 2011 |
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Jungfraujoch, Switzerland
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