After chugging up the Jungfrau mountain from Interlaken in several cog trains, we arrived at the summit. And promptly realised that we were not very well prepared for the cold conditions. We really hadn’t thought much about what we could expect at the top of the mountain, and were actually not expecting to see snow in great quantities. That attitude seems quite ridiculous now, considering the mountain is about 12,000 feet above sea level, and well and truly snow capped, but we hadn't done our research.
We assessed our options, and of course, went for Snow Fun first!
We walked through a very very cold tunnel, where I put on every item of clothing we had brought…
And then we emerged into this incredible winter wonderland.
This was Tom’s first time in the snow. Can you tell?
He’s throwing a snowball at me here, in case you’re wondering about the strange hand gesture. You can spot it just above the mountain there to the left of him.
Just going back to this photo again, you will notice Tom’s shoes. They are the boots that Tom has spent most of this holiday in, and they’re fantastic. Except they are NOT fantastic in the snow.
As you can see, they don’t have much in the way of grip on the soles. Which meant that Tom’s antics in the snow were hilarious. He almost fell over about sixty times that day. Very good for my morale, I needed a good laugh! If only because it kept me warm!
My shoes weren’t much better. Good old running shoes. They at least weren’t slippery, but they certainly weren’t warm (or dry)!
Moving on from our clothing dilemmas though (for a little while at least), we spent a great deal of time admiring the scenery. Magnificent. Only word for it.
And perhaps a bit less magnificent…
And back to magnificent again.
This is where I have to start talking about clothing again. Because Tom started losing his.
Meanwhile, this was what I looked like for most of the day.
But back to Tom and his clothes… I’m not even going to bother trying to explain what might have been going through his head...
Don’t worry, I’ve blurred out the naughty bits.
Even without his slippery shoes he couldn't stay on his feet!
Fortunately he didn’t spend the rest of the day like that, and we returned to the main path fully clothed.
We then (much to my cold, wet horror) decided to see where the walking path went.
And we climbed and climbed and climbed.
And finally (seriously, it was not fun and it took forever) reached the little rest stop at the peak. It was spectacular. And freezing… surprise surprise.
So we had lunch. Tom tried his first ever European warm beer.
I opted for soup.
And then we made our way back down again. Much faster on the downward journey!
Even with many photo stops.
I’d love to claim that I was brave enough to create this snow angel. But there was no way I was getting down in that snow with my inappropriate (for the snow) clothing. So we can all pretend that this was me, ok?
Snow crystals are so pretty.
Tom was very keen to pay the 45 francs (on top of the 230 we’d already paid just for the privilege of making it to the top) to be able to try everything (snowboarding, skiing, etc) but our little hiking adventure meant that we ran out of time to make the investment worthwhile. So we’ll save that for another time when we have more than one day at the snow!
I wanted to try the flying fox.
Instead, I just reclined on a snow beanbag and enjoyed the view.
Next we went up to the little observatory, called the Sphinx because of the way it’s perched on the mountain.
Beware of falling icicles! A new concept for us.
Even at the top of a mountain in Switzerland, Florence’spadlocks make an appearance.
Tom attempted to imitate my little statue shootout from Itea in Greece. Mine was better.
An example of the cogs that help the train climb the mountain.
Next on the agenda was a hot chocolate. Again I ask, does it get better than this? A hot chocolate atop a snow-covered mountain?
In this restaurant.
We then went to explore the ice palace. It was pretty incredible, but when someone calls something a ‘palace’, I expect a few more turrets. Perhaps I’m spoilt. In fact, I know I’m spoilt.
Here’s Tom negotiating the icy floor in his shoes… not terribly successfully.
One of the beautiful ice sculptures…
And some of the less beautiful ones…
We so wish we could have seen the mountain like this, but the last train down leaves at 5:30pm, about three hours before sunset, so no chance. A photo of a poster will have to do.
And it’s not like the view we actually got is so bad!
Tom wanted to pose with the Swiss flag at the plateau.
A dog decided to join him. Absolutely hilarious.
Have I mentioned that it was very cold?
We checked out the souvenir shop before leaving, and test drove a giant pen… possibly the highlight of our day.
And then we began the gradual descent.
They have these very helpful maps in all of the trains.
Once we were back in balmy Interlaken shedding our layers again, we went in search of dinner. This is just a little inside joke for Daniel at home.
Tom started dreaming of all the fancy things included in a Swiss knife...
While I was dreaming of cheese. More specifically, a local specialty, the cheese fondue. I think this particular meal may win the most-fattening-meal-on-the-entire-holiday award. A giant pot of melted cheese and bread. Ahh the calories.
While we were busy fattening ourselves up, a storm was brewing outside.
A quick pause in our dash for cover to admire the local fine restaurants…
And then we decided to continue our calorific journey and sample another type of fondue.
I warned everyone that I was coming home fat, right?
Speaking of fat, look at these prices! We practically fainted at the sight of every menu, and so we decided to pop in to see what a Big Mac was worth. If you can’t read it, 11.50 Swiss Francs. That’s the equivalent of about $14.20 AUD. Just for the burger. Insanity! Everyone told us Switzerland would be expensive, but honestly, $14 AUD for a Big Mac???
Anyway, once we got over our McDonalds shock, we stayed our second night, and then left for Munich the next morning. This is our last view of one of the lakes near Interlaken. The weather wasn’t so kind, but that didn’t really bother us, since thankfully we’d had our snow adventure the previous day.
So! Our view on Switzerland? The food might be expensive, but the scenery is second to none. Picture postcard perfect, even when overcast.
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