The BIG one - Jungfrau

The sun is shining - and so it should! We deserve it for our final day here in Switzerland. Can’t come to this region without going to the ultimate tourist destination - the Top of Europe!

We though it was a long trip, but my goodness, people were coming from much greater distances than us. Took us nearly 2 hours to get there, but many tourist groups were coming from another half or one hour further afield than us. Interlaken (half an hour) and even Berne (one and a half hours). The trains were packed - thank goodness we booked ahead so we at least got priority seating - some of the people who travelled without couldn’t be fitted on the train from Kleine Scheidegg (a change station). To think, this isn’t even peak holiday season!

But it was worth it - to be up there, on the top of the mountain, looking down on clouds. We were up there for nearly 3 hours, soaking in the views, experiencing the snow, and we even went INSIDE the Glacier - a large cavern with a warren of niches and passageways. Oh, boy! It was frigid in there, the temperature is kept to -3 deg. Funnily enough it wasn’t too cold on the snow, because the sun was shining and there was very little wind.

Julie Terry and Alan went on a bit of a snow walk - but I was a good girl - gave that one a miss - didn’t want to risk falling.

What we found amazing about this place, is that it is a huge tourist attraction now, but it was built at the end of the 19th Century. The peak is accessed by rail. From Kleine Scheidegg its a steep railway line of about 11km, with nearly 8 km under rock. It took 16 years to complete!

This is the Aletsoh Glacier, under which the Ice Palace was built/hewn. It was created in the 1930s unbelievably.

A breathtaking day - but all is not done yet - Julie and Terry told us we couldn’t come to this are and miss out on Harder Klum.

What the?... ...

Its a viewpoint, cum function centre, cum restaurant, cum cafe. A must experience tourist attraction about 1300 metres above Interlaken, reachable by an 8 minute funicular ride.

And it was here that I had my first real cheese fondue. Delectable. The mixture is more fluid than I expected, and certainly a strong cheese taste with a hint of blue cheese about it. We had it served with chunks of bread and potatoes.