Timeline: April, 2015
Stayed at Hotel Berghof Amaranth, Wilderswil, Switzerland (Personal rating of this hotel: 5 stars)
This write-up in the form of a blog entry is about our visit to Jungfraujoch from our hotel in Wilderswil.
Excited to start our first journey to the famed snow mountains at Switzerland. Full warm dressing for all four of us, with several layers of clothing, since we were afraid of our first daughter's miserable experience during our first sojourn with snow at Manali, India in 2007 where she almost froze with ice in her boots.
First, the breakfast at Berghof Amaranth – Great spread of breakfast. Awesome fresh croissants, variety of breads, yoghurt spread, dry fruits, fruit juices and fresh fruits. Wife loved the coffee machine vending awesome cappuccino – you could go unlimited times for a refill. Nice hospitality at the hotel
Left at 7.45am to the Wilderswil rail station. Jogged to the station downhill with our two kids, caught the train in the nick of time – trains are punctual to the second!
Wanted to go to Lauterbrunnen but instead train went to Grindelwald station which was OK. Took the cogwheel train to Junfraujoch through Kleine Scheidegg
Fast train, steep incline up to 11332 ft over 9.2 kms.
Train passed through scenic landscape, progressively started seeing snow on the houses, eventually train passed through snow on both sides, actually cut through snow, breathtaking scenery all around. Sparkling white on all sides, interspersed with greenery and houses
Reached Jungfraujoch rail station, the highest rail station in Europe at 10.30am. Freezing cold welcoming us
Skipped the Jungfrau panorama – a 360 degree movie of the Jungfrau region, since we were seeing the original!
Walking belt to Alpine Sensation – On the way, there were memoirs for the folks who died constructing the railway…it was impressive that JungFrau railway completed a century of operation in 2012…building a railway in icy mountains itself is impressive, keeping it running for a century is awe-inspiring!
Alpine sensation- nothing much to see
Sphinx Terrace – glass viewing observatory overlooking Germany, France and Italy…clear day…took nice selfies here
Ice Palace extremely cold maintained at -3 deg Celsius, nice ice sculptures of penguins, eagles etc
Glacier Plateau gave a nice panoramic view of the Jungfrau mountain range, also has live webcam that you can see on your computer. However this place was extremely slippery, my friend’s son had a nasty fall, didn't enjoy the experience much because it was a struggle to walk up and down the slope to the plateau. Very brief hands on with snow. Children not too happy, we took enough things to make a snowman but where was the snow?
Had self-cooked lunch at a landing area while my friend and family went to have lunch at a restaurant there.
Coin printing machine for Jungfrau souvenir for 2 francs and 20 cents
Lindt Swiss Chocolate Heaven - chocolate shopping for 70chf! Went twice for shopping after tasting the samples. This is the highest altitude chocolate shop in Europe.
My friend felt giddy with altitude sickness, stayed behind at the souvenir shop area…this shop sells watches, apparently the highest watch shop in the entire world!
After much enquiry, we finally went to Aletsch Glacier (longest glacier in Europe @22 kms) which was always displayed along with snow fun that was closed for winter. So we were confused if the glacier was open or not
But this was the most memorable experience for all of us at JungFrau! This glacier place was awesome fun, almost like our own private area, not much crowds like the plateau, only skiers and few other tourists…we had the snow and mountains all to ourselves
Blinding White all around (Remember to take sunglasses and sun screen with high SPF)
Fresh snow, made our first small snowman but without the carrot, played with snow to heart's content for a few hours, my friend finally joined us, took a small walk on the icy walking trail because we got late for our train, jumping photos taken by my friend with his high speed camera. Children very happy, even tasted fresh snow, ice at many places on the mountains looked greenish-blue
Another tourist couple played near our area – the lady’s white Cinderella-like wedding gown looked dull amidst the blinding white snow all around, the guy with the lady posed with bare body on snow everywhere
Couldn't board the train back since it was full with no sitting available, waited for the next/last train. Trains downhill mostly filled with tourists since most locals ski down the mountains. Apparently, the train generates electricity downhill since 1912!
No nausea downhill contrary to our fears. Children very tired after the exciting day. Now came back to Interlaken through Lauterbrunnen, the station we missed in the morning.
Had to cajole kids to walk uphill to the hotel after the long day. Excellent memories of white snow and ice as we hit the bed instantly!