Jungfraujoch

This was my second trip to Basel. Thankfully I had the weekend this time to roam around and explore the place. Planning for the weekend had started while we were in Pune. Everything appears good on paper and our plans were no exception. So, it was no surprise that the tickets to Jungfrau were booked on the evening of the penultimate day of travel. The lady at the ticket counter at SBB Bahnhof patiently worked out the cheapest possible fare for us. In German, Bahnhof means a train station. Public transport in Switzerland is a costly affair. Our round trip by train from Basel to Jungfrau costed 273 CHF (close to 20K Indian rupees). It was enough to coax one of our colleagues to change his mind. However, as it turned out later, the ride is worth every penny.

Swiss countryside

Early on Saturday morning, Rajesh and I took a bus from Dorint hotel to SBB Bahnhof. There were going to be many pit stops on our way to top of Europe, Jungfraujoch! Jungfraujoch, at an altitude of 3400 odd meters is the highest rail station of Europe. Jungfrau means "virgin" and joch means pass. Jungfraujoch is a pass between Mount Jungfrau and Mount Monch.

Our train departed at sharp 6:59 am. It would be only fair to say that the train was gliding on the rails much like the skiers on the snow. One could hardly feel anything. It was a bit dark when we departed from SBB, but after sometime the sun rays started peeking through the mountains. And what a sight it was!

Approaching Interlaken

The Swiss country side is amazingly beautiful and picturesque. Lush green meadows, surrounded by the mighty Alps, with streams meandering through the valley. It was almost like watching a movie in a moving train. All houses were made of wood and there were hardly any concrete footprints. I wondered what it would be like living in a place like this. And then my thoughts went back to the hustle and bustle of the life in Pune. I couldn't help avoid a sense of guilt to be in such a beautiful place without my two "As".

Grindelwald

It was around 9 am by the time we reached Interlaken Ost. Ost in German means East. Interlaken is surrounded by two lakes - Thun and Brienz. In local language, Interlaken means "between lakes". There are quite a few vantage points in Interlaken which we decided to cover on our way back. We had about 10 mins to catch our next train to Grindelwald. Grindelwald was pretty crowded and it was also little colder than Interlaken. We decided not to eat anything on our way to the top.

Klienne Schneidegg

Our next stop was Kliene Scheidegg. The platform was all covered with snow and one had to be a little careful in moving around. There were probably more skiiers around than there were tourists. Winter is not the best time to visit these places.

It is from Kliene Scheidegg, that the real fun beings, as the Jungfrau railways starts from here. The approx 10 kms rail ride takes you from 2000 odd mts to about 3400 mts in 30 mins. As the train departed from Klienne Schneidegg, we entered into the last leg of our ascent.




It was snow all the way to the top. The sun shone brilliantly on the ice clad peaks rendering different shades of white on the landscape. At some places, the shadow of the majestic Alps presented a different set of color gradients.

Adolf Zeller statue

When we finally arrived at Jungfraudoch, we were greeted by -10 degrees at the summit. The place is quite an engineering marvel in itself. To build such an advanced rail network in such difficult terrain, speaks volumes about the tenacity and courage of the people who made it. The mastermind behind this, Adolf Zeller is sculpted right after one crosses the Alpine sensation.

Science research center in Jungfraujoch

Following this, there is a passage which depicts the hardships that the engineers had to go through while building the rail network through the mountain. Apparently, construction on this had started as early as 1890s when the technology was not that advanced. The sheer grit of men who did this, bit by bit is really admirable.

There is also a science research station, where a lot of climatic studies are carried out.The entire area is all enclosed to protect visitors from the inclement weather outside.

Phoenix

Through the glass enclosure, one gets a magnificent view of the Aletsch glacier. This is the first time I saw a glacier. There is a small cordoned area called Phoenix, where one can venture out in the cold. With all our layered clothes, we could hardly survive for 5 mins. It was so chilly and breezy that it was difficult to even click a photo. However, it was an experience of a lifetime!

Christmas tree at Sphinx 

After receding to the glass enclosure, our hands were so numb, that I had to literally bite my fingers to get the blood circulation going. By this time, we were hungry too, so we went to the Jungfrau restaurant. We could not get the vantage seat, adjacent to the glass enclosure. Apparently, one has to reserve that in advance. 

There is no better time to have a piping hot soup. The leek soup that we had was heavenly. It helped us regain our senses. Thankfully, neither of us had any AMS (acute mountain sickness) issues. There is also an Indian restaurant in Jungfrau. It has gained in popularity after DDLJ. Papa had advised to try the wada pao in the restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed on the day we visited.

Return journey

The top most point in Jungfrau is the Sphinx. Its again a cordoned area from where one gets a bird's eye view. One has to take an elevator from the Phoenix to Sphinx. For some reason it felt a little less colder here as compared to Phoenix. As Christmas was nearing, there were some Christmas decorations right at the top. We were a bit lucky as the authorities were closing down Phoenix from the very next day.

Cable trolley

After spending about close to 3 hours at the top, we decided to descend. The return route was same until Kliene Schneidegg after which we came down via Lauterbrunnen instead of Grindelwald. We had about 30 mins in our hand for the train to Lauterbrunnen. So, we again treated ourselves to piping hot soup.

The landscape was a bit different, in the sense that there was denser alpine vegetation in this route. We also got a glimpse of the cable cars. The yellow colour of the cable car stood out in the vast expanse of snow. After reaching Interlaken at around  5 PM, we decided to head back to Basel. It was already pretty dark and there was not much scope to see anything quickly. Some things have to be left for some other time.