Jungfraujoch, the Eiger, and Bern

Our last day in Switzerland isn't bittersweet - it's just bitter. Do I love my home, my pets, my job? Sure! Would I leave fountains of flowing cheese, smooth, sweet chocolates, towering mountains and crazy town-folk in masks or carrying giant cowbells for it all? Um, not gladly, after less than a week, no.

Today isn't overcast, so we're going to take a swing at seeing the famous Eiger, and its lovely, massive neighbors, Jungfrau and Mönch. Once again stuffing ourselves with a delightful European breakfast overseen by a charming red-headed Kiwi, we worked through our train plan while we still had wifi access and stashed our things at the front desk. It was cold, but we were wide awake and ready to make our way to the so-called 'Top of Europe.'

We caught a bus to connect to the train headed for Lauterbrunnen, and transferred there to the train headed for Kleine Scheidegg, right at the base of the Eiger. The ride up is quite slow, but very beautiful as it climbs through the high hills past skiers and cottages, with beautiful views of the valley and waterfalls coming off of nearby rock faces, which are everywhere. This is where you might realize, like we did, that your train ticket for everywhere in Switzerland doesn't apply here, and you might vomit at the price (see the tip below), but have to pay it anyway.

At Kleine Scheidegg, after taking a few breathtaking photos of the Eiger, you transfer to the cog-wheel Jungfrau train on tracks that run almost entirely through the mountains of Mönch and the Eiger, bound for Europe's highest train station at Jungfraujoch. The train stops twice along the way, with a 5 minute interlude at the Eismeer station, where a glass window opens up your view to the mountains and ragged ice outside.

The tunnel itself is an incredibly impressive feat of human ingenuity and sheer will. Conceived and executed by industrialist Adolf Guyer-Zeller, his hand-written drawings of the plans from 1894 are carved into the station in their Alpine Sensation section. The work concluded in 1912, and all the workers are celebrated for their contribution to this amazing feat of engineering, using their pick axes and wheeled carts. It's really unbelievable to think about.

Travel Tip: The whole trip takes just under 2.5 hours each way from Interlaken, so plan accordingly. You should buy your train ticket in Lauterbrunnen - even with the Swiss Travel Pass, you only get a 25% discount on the ticket, and you do need a separate ticket. No one is more thorough at checking tickets than the Swiss, and rightly so - this pass on the train costs a whopping $180 francs per person before the discount. And if that's too rich for your blood, there's no other way up, so find another activity to do. Once you're on the train, like we were, you're stuck - just hand over your credit card and remember that this is vacation, and you hate your money or you wouldn't be in this expensive country.

And then we stopped, finally at Europe's highest rail station at 11,332 feet up. Jungfraujoch is situated on a glacier between Mönch and Jungfrau, and the visitor's center that is part of the station is substantial. Derek and I did manage to find two doors leading outside, though the winds were very strong and terribly cold, and we couldn't stay out for long. Another section was closed off entirely due to massive falling icicles. Poles have slivers of ice in rows that have formed from any precipitation that has flown by.

Inside, we enjoyed a trip though the Alpine Sensation, where a moving walkway showed photos and exhibits about the railroad and its formation, and was introduced by some very unique, and somewhat odd, Swiss art pieces, including a massive snow globe with animated inner workings. Then we visited the Ice Palace, carved out of the glacier itself, where exhibits were carved showing various animals,  like bears, penguins and eagles, and an ice tunnel connecting them managed to make me claustrophobic, if only for a moment. Then we popped into the Lindt Swiss Chocolate Heaven shop, where they had little props set up like a chocolate kitchen, and creepy full sized mannequins that looked a little too real for comfort directing you around each corner. They gave out free samples - I'll tolerate a lot of creepy things for free chocolate.

We ate at Crystal restaurant (finally! A real restaurant that's not closed off to us at the top of a mountain!) where I finally got to try the last Swiss dish on my list - Rösti! It was originally a breakfast dish eaten by farmers, but this shredded potato pancake held together only by lots of butter and its own starch was covered in cheese, ham, green onion and an over easy egg. I shared, don't worry. My heart couldn't take all that butter on in one sitting so I shared the burden with Derek. We had hot chocolates and pretzel bread rolls and just loved every minute of sitting at that table, looking out on the overly bright landscape and wiping our lips with their bright orange napkins.

And so ended our time at the peak. We caught the train down (there is a line, so make sure you account for that if there are many people up there with you) and Derek rushed off to get pictures of the Eiger during our 10 minute wait (it was delayed even longer, so we had some time), and on the train down, we realized the windows open, so we opened it up to finally get pictures without glare, reflection or dirt in the way of the lens. The heaters are under the seats, so we stripped off most of our warm clothes on the way down. At Lauterbrunnen again, we stopped in the same little shop from the other day to get some chocolates before heading back.

We did a bit of shopping in Interlaken, picking up our country's one souvenir (we decided on a big cow bell, given we had seen them in use with our own eyes, and couldn't afford a watch) and a snowflake ornament carved from wood. We picked up our things and headed to the train station for Bern, where we decided we'd stop for dinner - one last hurrah before giving in to the inevitability of our airport hotel.

In Bern, we struggled to navigate their train station, but eventually found a very helpful SBB agent (her English was excellent - she'd randomly spent a year in Iowa) to help us store our luggage, then grabbed the bus to Barenpark, a literal bear enclosure next to Nydeggbrucke. Bears are the city's symbol and have lived here since 1513. Unfortunately, since it was late, they were all tucked in for the night, so we popped in the restaurant next to the enclosure for ice cream and beer. We caught the bus back to the Zytglogge, a stunning astronomical clock tower that has also served as a guard tower and prison since it was erected in the 15th century. It's beautiful colors and shapes are very eye catching, even in the dark, and below its archway are a few really interesting paintings.

We walked back along the medieval arcades (6 km in all!) to shop, but all of the shops were closed. Of course they are! Who would want to buy anything on a Friday night at 8 pm?! We stumbled on city hall and an ice rink, lit up with multicolored lights. Unfortunately, it was too dark to really explore Old Town or see the river, but the city was very easy to navigate, and we grabbed dinner at the train station before grabbing our things and disembarking for our Interlaken hotel.

Pretty exhausted from our day, when we arrived at the station and worked out our bus route, our bus disappeared without a trace, causing great frustration (it never arrived, or if it did, it was an invisible bus, which, although very cool, did not work out for us) and we grabbed a taxi to our hotel.

Travel tip: There are no such things in Switzerland as reasonably priced taxis. It's the fastest way to light your money on fire. That, and apparently ordering water in Zurich.

Thus concludes our journey through this fabulous country! We loved it, and can't wait to visit in the spring or summer to experience it in a whole new way. Yes, it's worth visiting, so pack your bags and just go for it!