Saturday, Oct. 23-- Jungfrau

Awake but immobile at 6.  Decision to make:  Should we lie here snuggling and toasty under the down quilt, or should we leap out of bed onto the cold floor, quickly pull on chilly undies, and power walk down the hill in the freeeezing morning air to catch the 6:59--and you can be sure that when the Swiss train schedule says 6:59 it does not mean 7:00---Jungfraubahn, the cog train up the Eiger.  We chose the latter, albeit with some difficulty. 

Bustling Lauterbrunnen train station at 6:58 am

Very few fellow travelers at this time of the morning, but had an interesting conversation with three young guys who had driven all night from East Germany, and were bracing themselves for the train ride by downing bottles of beer on the platform.  Most of the other riders were workers headed up the mountains to restaurants and other tourist facilities.  Easy to spot, they were the ones sleeping and reading while the rest of us gawked out the windows into the darkness hoping to catch a glimpse of something that might be seen in complete darkness.  This turned out not to be as absurd as it sounds, because we got to see the moon set over the Bernese alps. 

From sunset on the Aegean to moon-set in the Bernese Alps .  What a life!

After an hour's climb towards the sunrise, we stopped in Kleine Scheidegg and switched to a different, smaller train.  Another hour and we arrived at the top of Jungfrau,  13,640 feet (4158 metres for those of you who are  Imperially challenged), billed as The Top of Europe.  For those of you perhaps unfamiliar with 13,640 feet, be advised that jumping from a train and hurrying up a steep slope at such an altitude is, in a word, unwise.  Unless, of course, you happen to enjoy losing your balance and your breath at the same time.  

Our cog train with the north face of the Eiger in background

Tunnel from train to North Face observation point

Photo of North Face taken by sticking one arm out the observation window whilst clinging for dear life to a railing with the other.  Incidentally, this is an extremely rare photo taken thanks to the ingenuity of our beer breakfasting East German friends who had jimmied it open.  They obviously know a thing or two about gaining access to walls

  

After a short rest we resumed our tour of the top of Europe.  Several observations:
1. This is a great place to learn about the Theory of Relativity.  There is a wonderfully succinct and lucid explanation of how Einstein used measurements taken on the Jungfrau to confirm his theory.  I'd pass along the explanation here, only that would make me sound superior.  Besides, as clear as the explantion was a short time ago, it's begun to blur.
2. It's damn cold up there, especially when you insist on standing on an icy knob in 80km winds to have your photo taken.

This worker is raising a Thai flag in celebration of the Thai national holiday.  Doing this in recognition of various national holidays is a regular event on the Jungfrau.  It should be  noted, however, that there is no such celebration of Canada Day.  Guess Canadians don't buy enough watches.  Also not the crow cruising past in the lower right of the photo.

3. Crows are not as smart as they're made out to be.  We saw two scrounging for food on the observation deck when they could have easily ridden the currents to the valley below where food and more importantly warmth are readily available.
4. This is not a good place to buy a watch.  Not because of limited selection--the watch counter had a vast display of models and makes ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars--but rather because the clerk only speaks Japanese and Mandarin.

It's incredible to think that less than 24 hours ago we were in Istanbul

V posing with a flag.  Remember the one with the Turkish flag on the boat on the Bosphorus less than 48 hours ago?

Train back down to Kleine Sheidegg for lunch.  Imagine my delight, and V's horror, at finding a Swiss sausage barbque available at the restaurant.  Didn't even ask for a menu, after two weeks of yogurt and honey and seafood in Turkey, this was manna. Und, lieber leser, there was German beer to boot!

 Moi enjoying a post-barbeque sausage snooze on the train

Afraid the rest of the day was anti-climatic.  Do it yourself laundry in the back of a coffee house where the privilege of using the machines cost twice as much as having a nice Turkish lady do it all for you plus provide a cup of chai.  But, as previously mentioned, Switzerland does have its advantages over Turkey.  For instance, as we discovered later in the evening, one can get a gourmet meal and a bottle of fine wine at a campground.