Friday, May 1, 2009

The Top of Europe Wasn't but Was Snowy

Wednesday - 29 April 2009 - Jungfrau

The brochures in Interlaken say that the Jungfrau train goes to the "Top of Europe". Actually Jungfrau is a very high mountain and may be the highest one in the Swiss Alps, but the neat meter gauge train that goes from Kleine Sheldegg to the "Top of Europe" observation station well below the summit spends its entire 1 1/2 hours in a tunnel and costs a $100 supplement even with a Swiss Pass rail card. Also it was snowing and the expensive train isn't even inside the Jungfrau but runs through a spiral tunnel through the Eiger, but I suppose it's THE EIGER, for heaven's sake. Me and the other three of us "break outs" didn't take our tour leaders advice to go back to Interlaken when the snow started and take lake cruises at lower elevation but instead went on a series of trams, narrow gauge trains, really narrower gauge trains, gigantic and small cable cars, and various other means (hard to remember but I do seem to remember the the vertical cable car which we latter found out is the "back-up" maintenance car since most tourists have nightmares when they take it) first to the high mountain town of Murren to see the inside of a blizzard, then on a really nifty train with a big snow plow on its front as the weather began to improve. We then went back to Murren to find the Jungfrau and Eiger now visible, met a local "giver of mercy" to find out that this legend is real (it was drooling), took lots of pictures of the Eiger and Jungrau, had a nice lunch of French fries with a local beer and then went on a remarkably modern narrow gauge to Gimmelsnerd (maybe not quite the correct name) to price out souvenir cow bells. A thoroughly glorious day!

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