At the Top of Europe

I have just taken a magnificent train trip to what the locals call the Top of Europe! Yes, I went by train to an altitude of nearly 3500m starting maybe 40 km away in Interlaken at a height of perhaps 600m. So the train climbed something like 2900m in a short distance - some slope. In fact the line was fairly flat as far as Lauterbrunnen, making the trip even steeper over the last part.

The entire journey was stunning as the photos below show. Even the journey back which was via Grindelwald was stunning. I was planning to do this trip 50 years ago, but could not afford it then as I was only 17 and the ride is expensive! Still, if you've got any life left in you please bite the bullet and do it! The first photo shows the valley in which Lauterbrunnen resides with spectacular water-falls plunging over the cliff edge.

Wengen is a beautifully located resort high above the valley.

We're now looking up at the Jungfrau massif from above the snowline.

After changing trains at Kleine Scheidegg (c. 2000m), the line plunges into the mountain but stops twice to let passengers look out of windows cut in the north face of the Eiger (Ogre in English). Here is the view down to Grindelwald!

The railway climbs to the station at Jungfraujoch, the col between the Jungfrau (the Virgin) itself and the Monch (the Monk). There are several restaurants and outside walks to take as in the next photo, which shows the summit of the Jungfrau. The famous Aletsch glacier also starts just below the station complex.

Here's the Monch below. It and the Jungfrau are > 4000m. When I took these photos, I was wearing just shorts and T-shirt - to the amazement of everyone else, yet it was warm!

And here's the famous north face of the Eiger, which alas people fall off frequently attempting the hazardous climb!

And here's the train down - a steep fall.

Please take this trip!

AS