Day 48 - Jungfraujoch

After another leisurely sleep in, followed by a relaxing breakfast, we decided we had better head out and explore Grindelwald and surrounds a little better.  The town itself is absolutely beautiful, situated at the bottom of the Eiger (Ogre) mountain, and surrounded by mountains and hills, and it's too beautiful to just stay inside our chalet.
We decided that today we would lash out and take a train to the the Jungfraujoch train station.  This is the highest railway station in Europe, (and maybe the world!) at 3454m (11,333ft) above sea level.  (In comparison, Mt Kosciziousko is 2229m!).  The train ticket was not cheap (over $150 per adult), but the views were absolutely fantastic.  The train is driven by a rack and pinion system as normal wheels would slip on the steep slope.  As we started off, there were meadows with flowers, lakes and cows with bells.

As we got higher, you could see glaciers and snow.  We changed trains at Kleine Scheidegg, and began the final ascent.  The views of the mountains, and the valley below were magnificent.  As we went higher, the train went into a tunnel, and finally came out on top of the mountain.  The total trip took about 1:30, and the temperature at the top of the mountain was about 3 degrees.

The first thing we did was to have a look at the "Ice Palace"-  this is a gallery with lots of ice statues in it.  Because of the temperature, the statues don't melt.  There were eagles, and penguins, seals and polar bears.  After this, we headed out to the observation platform.  Unfortunately there was cloud covering the mountain, so we could not see much.  We waited around for a while to see if the weather would clear, but unfortunately it didn't so we headed down.  It's interesting that Mazz and Josh both had headaches. - Not sure, but it might be due to the altitude.

After this we decide to head out to the snow play area. We stepped outside, and there was snow everywhere!  Mazz decided to try the zip line ride first.  Its just like a flying fox, but you have to sit in a harness.  The ride goes for about 100m, from the mountain, across a small valley and into the snow.  While we were waiting for her, Paul, Josh and Daniel headed towards the toboggan area, and spent some time sliding down on toboggans.  Fortunately they have an escalator to bring the toboggan and rider back up!  Mazz soon joined us, and we played about in the snow for a while, on toboggans, snow tubes and even a snow bike.  After about two hours we were exhausted, cold and very wet.

Everyone was starting to lose feeling in their hands and feet, so we decided it was time to head back down the mountain.  Before we left, we stopped by the souvenir shop and Josh bought a Swiss Army pocket knife. (Is there a better place to buy one!) We boarded the train, which thankfully was heated, and headed back down the mountain, once again enjoying the spectacular views of the Eiger (Ogre), Monch (Monk) and Jungfrau (Young lady) mountains!