Jungfraujoch: The Top of Europe (Although not really.)

I've been wanting to go to Jungfraujoch for a while now. It's said to be the "Top of Europe." It's not the tallest mountain by any means, but perhaps it's one of the tallest with a tourist trap on top?

It just so happened that Jen and Kat had the day off yesterday too, and Laura wanted to see Jungfraujoch before departing to the US, so we all went as a group to see the "Top of Europe" (you have to say it loud and pretend there's an echo).

We had 4 or 5 connections on the train ride there and it was a bit exhausting. Not to mention that we were all exhausted from the Juliette Low Seminar currently going on. 54 young ladies from 54 different countries with 3 meals, two breaks, and evening programs equals 13 nonstop hours per work day. Woo hoo!



We had a short wait in Spiez and this was the view. An absolutely beautiful day. Cold, but clear.


One train we caught had little compartments like the Harry Potter trains. So we played games and broke out in random British accents.



While we were at one of our stops this guy was standing on the side walk jumping. As in, he stood on the line, cigarette in mouth, took a deep breath, held his arms out, wiggled, then jumped as if he was attached to a parachute. He did it several times in a row. We were about to get off and jump with him because it seemed he was doing very important work and anything that important we should try, but the train started to leave. Oh well. I hope he makes whatever jump he was practicing for. Or maybe that was his jump and I personally think he was doing a stellar job.



Kat is very talented.


Atop Jungfraujoch, the view was phenomenal. However, the wind was howling. It was -9 degrees celsius, and bits of ice were flying through the air pelting us in the face. And it hurt. So we spent some time on the viewing platform, but not very long.





Here's me and Kat in the Ice Palace. It was this series of tunnels made of solid ice. And the best part is you can run and slide around on your belly. Much like a slip and slide except now you have parts that you didn't when you're 7 and it hurts a bit more. But we had a great time. This picture is a great representative of our kindergarten glee while we were in there.



There was also a lot of random ice sculptures. I took a picture of the fish to make Ed laugh. He'd appreciate that they had a sculpture of me, Sea Bass, in Switzerland.



Kat and Jen were obsessed with the cracks. Hmm....







This is what Kat refers to as glacier bacon. She insisted I take a photograph. Here Kat.



Swiss dogs are amazingly well behaved. This St. Bernard rode the train back with us. He apparently was as worn out as us. He spent the entire ride sprawled out on the floor. I had the urge to hug him, but didn't know the word for hug in German. And he might have bit my face off. He was a dog I did not know.

We had dinner in Spiez. It's along the Lake of Thun, and I finally had some fish from the area. It was very very good. We had dinner in Switzerland at an Italian restaurant and were waited on by a lovely Portuguese man. Gotta love it.

Over all it was a good day. I think I was too exhausted to completely enjoy it, but I'm glad I went. I liked my experience atop Niesen better, but now I can say I've been to the "TOP OF EUROPE."