It was a clear day and I could see forever

BEFORE

AFTER

I think today I will start out with a before picture and an after picture. 

It was that kind of day.  

Today I went up to the Top of Europe.

Let me sat that again. I went to the Top of Europe today.  And I had a blast wearing myself out. 



Or, in other words, I rode the train to Jungfraujoch.  Or was it I rode the Jungfraujoch train?  It seemed everything was called Jungfraujoch, so it could be either.  :)

Tracey and Emily

Once I got there, I did a bunch of exciting things which I'll tell you about. Mate and Howler look out the window of the train and stare at a rock wall.  The train's compartment lights are on because we are in a tunnel.  Inside the Alps.

I'd like to tell you about the ride there for it is fascinating, but there wasn't much to see.  Don't get me wrong, there was a cute couple of gals, Tracey from New Zealand, and Emily from Australia.  They had been skydiving earlier that morning and then joined the train for the Alps experience.  We got a little goofy in the train.

The ingenious Swiss, used to dealing with the unique landscape which some would call a barrier of gigantic mountains, embraced their altitude issues and turned them into an asset.  Instead of being a country that was divided by the huge and forbidding Alps which blocked access to all parts, the Swiss bored a hole inside the mountain range and made a tunnel through which trains could pass and move goods and/or people.  This particular tunnel took approx. 50 minutes to travel through.

And when it opened at the other end, you were at the top of the Alps.  The Top of Europe. I actually stood about 50 yards from the top of the mountain.  (Maybe it was farther, but it looked so close!)

Practically everything I saw today took place within the Alps.  I climbed all over the Alps until my feet hurt, and it was mostly all inside, in underground tunnels.

I did emerge and stand on several observation decks. That's where I filmed this portion.  It was incredible to stand right there.  Right at the top of the Alps.  What a feeling.  What an incredible high.  (Pardon the pun.)

The day was crystal clear, not a cloud in the sky.  Blue sky and white snow.  And I thank Costco, for having a fleece jacket on sale in Arizona in August.  I must have been a looney tunes trying on this jacket inside Costco with 114 degree temps outside.  But it kept me so warm on the Alps!  I could see clear to Bern or even France.  Sheer magnificence.

There were a myriad of items to do and I did them all (mostly)

This year is the centennial celebration of the opening of the Jungfraujoch tunnel.  They even gave out really cool Swiss passport booklets commemorating the event.

There was also this elaborate presentation about the Alps, the Swiss, and the construction of the tunnel.  I saw it all.

Then, there was also this really cool ice cave.  Carved right out of the glacier, there was a tunnel, slippery since it was an ice floor, which tourists could walk through.  

Some eagles ice sculptured

Along the way, there were numerous ice carvings depicting various animals of the area and some of the famous persons--like Heidi, Grandfather, and the man who envisioned the tunnel, Adolf Guyer-Zeller.  

It was really cold and really cool.  :)

Then I headed out to the Snow Fun area.  Yes, that is what it is called.

This is a place in the snow (yes even in summer, lots of snow) where one can snowboard, ski, sledge down a hill--with escalator return to top to do again, ride an inner tube down, or take a zip line down.  Guess which event I couldn't wait to do?

OK.  So I don't have a video of ME on the zip line--no one was there to take one of me.  But...when I got to the bottom, I filmed someone coming after me so you could see the event.  And my bottom was a little chilly since snow went down my pants.  

I zip lined at the Top of Europe.  Way cool!!!

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

 And all good things do come to an end.  We boarded the train to head home for the day.

But, I stopped halfway down and decided to leave the train and have lunch at this restaurant perched on the edge of a cliff.

Here is a skillet dinner, CH style.  The lovely yellow around the edge is melted, toasted yummy cheese.  I was in heaven. Yum!  I could only finish about a third of it, but I ate all the cheese around the edge.  :)

Now why didn't I think to get a picture of these two really cute guys I talked to while waiting for the train to come and pick us up?  

They were from the UK and were going to base jump from one of the peaks after they climb it tomorrow.  They were checking things out today.

The train didn't pull into the station so we had to walk about 50 yards down the tracks to pick it up.  That left a huge gap to climb up into the train with no platform steps to help.  

I'm sorry to say that after walking all over the Alps and all through the snow, my tired old lady legs didn't have the oomph to get up into the train.  So the very handsome and strong men behind me, put their hands on my bum and gave me a little extra altitude.  Nice!

And, now that I've embarrassed myself, I think I'll say goodnight.  Goodnight!