Saturday and Sunday, August 9 and 10--Interlaken and the Jungfrau

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

We arrived in Interlaken around noon and walked with our load about a 1/2 mile to our hotel, only to find that check in wasn't till 3:00.  We stored our bags and strolled out to the main avenue.  Interlaken is a small city bursting at the seams with a major influx of tourists with too much money and not enough sense, manners or awareness that they share this world with other folks, like us.

The scenery on the train trip from Lucerne to Interlaken was amazing

Kat enjoys the view

One truly amazing feature is a large, grassy field in the middle of the city where para gliders come to land after drifting down from the mountain to the North.  They are framed by the Alps to the South and a sky that seems bigger than most.  I check into doing a duel trip, (a desire I've had for a long time) but find that the fee of $184.00 for a 15 minute ride is a bit too steep for my fantasy.

Soaring through the sky

Coming in for a landing.

If they are waiting for folks who are getting bored with the scenery, business must be real bad

We hop, skip and jump around tourists from the four corners of the globe and decide to part ways - Kat to view the town church and me to try my luck at the local casino.  We agree to meet in a garden in one hour.  Kat comes back with pictures of the Church and me, well I have the Casino begging me to stay after relieving them of $35.00 of their money.  Yes!  I am a winner, we are rolling in Francs and frankly, I'm doing a internal happy dance.  Woo hoo!

The garden in front of the casino

One of the churches Kat saw

It wasn't the Hooters that got my attention......it was the prices!

We check in and do our afternoon routine of siesta, showers and then have dinner at a local bistro followed by ice cream and watching the para gliders float past a golden sunset.

Sunset on the foothills

Still para sailing at dusk

The Yahrzieit candle for my Dad

The next day, Sunday, was supposed to be the crown jewel of our journey, the acme, the epoch....and yet, there are days when you should just never get out of bed and unfortunately, this was one of them.

The first sign of trouble was getting off the local bus that took us back to the train station and realizing that we had left our eurorail pass back safely in the hotel room.  Choices, 1) walk back, 2) wait for a bus back or 3) take a taxi back.  We went with door #3.  Twenty-two francs later (about $28.60) I am back, Eurorail pass in hand and let's get this party started.

The train station where Kat waited while I went to get the Euorail passes

Smiles before we knew what we were in for......

We jump on the train and we find that we need to make 2 transfers before we get to the top of the Jungfrau, the top of Europe, 11,333 feet above sea level.  Signage is iffy as everyone is expected to speak German, so everyone is watching everyone else as to when to stay and/or when to grab your gear and scramble to the next line going up.  We are amazed as the scenery goes from good to better to best, to Momma drop my shorts and hold onto my butt!!!

Melting glacier water plunges over cliffs

We get closer to the alps

The train to the top

Glacier at the foot of the mountain

The face of the Eiger and best of all, no sanctions

Map of our route to the Jungfrau and the nearby mountains, Eiger and Monch

The train is dwarfed by the mountains

We get to the top after traveling through a sheer rock tunnel for 25 minutes.  We are immediately faced with two issues.  The first is hordes of tourists that move herky-jerky, in large groups, through tunnels stretching out in every direction.  The 2nd issue is a lack of oxygen.  Breathing is an issue, as it feels like there is a 50 pound weight on my chest. In order to protect ourselves from the insanity that seems to run rampant about us, we opt to have lunch and marshal our resources.

The view from the window in the observatory

We have a wonderful lunch at the top of the world which has a view of which spectacular is an understatement.  Our dinner neighbors are from California and we have a delightful conversation with Pasquale and Dora with whom we seem to have much in common.  Maybe it was just nice to talk to folks where language was not an issue.  Lunch was a cool $100.00 but you've got to figure that it has to cost big bucks to haul that lettuce up the hill.

Pasquale and Dora

We part ways with our new friends, and join the crazy's.  Folks who lack manners are only surpassed by folks with the ability to just piss me off.  Like the Japanese man who stands 6 inches from me and yells directly into my face as loud as he can AAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! in a attempt to clear his ears.  The 2nd attempt of ear clearing was met by me giving him my Clint Eastwood, "Are you feeling lucky punk" look and telling him bluntly, "Knock it off"  AAAYY interruptus!

We go outside and walk around on the observatory.

Panorama of the observation platform

View from the top

Brrrr it's windy and cold

Some of the hordes taking tons of pictures

We gingerly walk through glacier caves on sheer ice where the "minions of evil" duck, dodge, and push their way forward, oblivious that there are other people who have feelings, needs or desires - like walking upright. We manage to make it through the glacier tunnel without falling on our asses.

Entering the tunnel through the glacier

Ice sculpture

In the middle of freezing my arse off

Photo opportunity

No matter what we see, and much is truly amazing, it is tempered by the crazies who run rampant everywhere. They travel in packs and seem to need to yell at each other loudly at every viewpoint. The best part is when we go outside and the warm clothes we have carried for 3 weeks finally pay dividends.  The folks in t-shirts and flip-flops are short timers and leave the top of the world rather quickly.  There are still too many people, but it is a improvement over what lies within the confines of the mountain.  Kat is also feeling the oppressiveness of the multitudes and after enjoying the icy air and relative lack of people, we decide to head back.

Panorama of the top, note the short sleeve T shirts...what were they thinking?  This ain't Maui!

Arab women in their burkas join the crowd playing in the snow

Rally round the flag boys

We make our way to the train depot where chaos reigns supreme.  There is a line waiting for the return train and it is evident that cutting the line is an art form that we failed to master.  I confront a woman and point out that she and her family of 10 can't just push in front of the rest of us.  She insists that she can, and we get into a discussion of who knows the most four letter words.

We board a train which is grossly overloaded. Sitting room is in short supply and air, even shorter.  We hurtle down the mountain, standing elbow to elbow wondering when this will end and when was the last time our neighbor brushed their teeth or took a shower.  It takes us 35 minutes to descend in darkness through the tunnel till we get to the first stop, where we exit, count fingers and toes and find we are still basically intact except for our sanity which is teetering on the edge.

Kat goes for a walk to look at cows and glaciers, and I just sit practicing breathing.  We catch the train to Grindelwald hoping for a better experience.  The train is still jammed so when we hit Grindelwald, we get off and have dinner at a local chalet.  We board our final train, frayed but grateful that we are approaching sea level where the air is plentiful and we actually have a seat to rest our body and psyche's.  The train is still crowded and my opinion of Swiss efficiency has taken a major downturn.

Cow pasture with a view

Kat's picture looking down to where I waited.

Cross section of glacier

No need to Moove over

Lovely wild flowers

We get off at Interlaken and get on the bus, only to have one last insult to our fragile ego's.  We are on a bus heading away from our destination!!  Dreams of our warm bed grow dim and fears of disaster mount.  We ride to the end of the line, wait the seven minutes for the turn around and head back into town.  Kat is not amused, and rather than wait 40 minutes for the correct bus, I opt to spend the twelve Francs (cheap mental health) to get us back to the warmth and safety of our hotel room.  Kat retreats for a shower and I go off for two ice cream bars to sooth our nerves.

We have learned a valuable lesson the hard way - where ever the hordes are headed - you will find us taking a 180!!!!!!