July 22nd - Die Jungfrau

Despite a forecast of rain, we decided to wake up early this morning and see if it was worth heading up to the top of the Jungfrau, a nearby alp with the highest train station and post office in Europe known for its views. When we woke up at 5:45 there were a few breaks in the clouds so we decided to give it a try as there is no guarantee the weather will be better on Monday.

The train leaves at 6:30 and after showers we didn't leave the hotel until 6:10. So we had to double time the 1.5 miles to the station. That was pretty tough early in the morning with backpacks. We made it with about 4 minutes to spare so we were proud of ourselves (and sweaty).

The train took about 2.5 hours to make it to the top. Most of the lower ride was through misty fog and clouds and the upper portion was actually through the mountain. We had to change trains a few times, but that went smoothly. At one station we had 10 minutes so we quickly grabbed some food, but we were scared to bring it on because everything is so clean here and we figured they didn't allow food on the train. When we asked the conductor she said it was fine because we looked neat, not like the Indians who get soup all over the floor. She seemed pretty upset by it. Let me say here, that all the Indians I know are very neat, with the exception of Mandira who is famously messy but I don't think that is an Indian-thing. On a related note, on our way down the mountain the same conductor was facilitating the train deboarding and reboarding. As we were getting off, there was a huge Indian tour group waiting to get on our train and a couple were trying to get on the train before everyone got off. The same conductor looked very stressed out trying to ask them politely to wait as she was holding back about 50 others. It was quite funny to see her so uncomfortable.

Back to the mountain. When we arrived at the top, we were pleased to find mostly sunny skies with some clouds nestled around the adjoining mountain tops. We went outside to a clear view of the glacier and shocking temperatures of about 1 degree Celsius. Luckily we planned ahead and brought some extra layers. We then headed to the Ice Palace, a system of tunnels cut into the glacier complete with ice sculptures and mini tunnels. I got wedged pretty good into a mini tunnel and April had to push me out. The floor was also ice, but it wasn't very slippery.

On the way down we stopped in Grindewald and the skies began to clear. There were dramatic views of the valley and the mountains that were pretty awesome. We probably saw more waterfalls today then our whole Maui trip. The views were some of the best we've ever seen. We bet that if the day had been perfectly clear that the majestic views would have been unbelievable.

This area in Switzerland is amazingly clean. The whole train trip we could see neatly piled stacks of wood in preparation for next winter. These are a very organized and prepared people. All the houses had neat yards with blooming flower boxes and flourishing gardens. Our whole stay we've been trying to find trash or generally less than perfectly kept buildings and yards and have largely been unsuccessful. April has been rubbing her fingers over every corner and nook and cranny in search of dust but has yet to find any!

Tomorrow we are going to rent some bikes and just go around the town and lakes. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it ended up being today.