We woke up at 0600hrs to go up to Jungfraujoch via Wengen. The weather at Jungfraujoch was not fantastic but we still made our way up. We had to top up SF214 for the entry to Jungfraujoch even though we have the Swiss Pass.
The route up to Jungfraujoch was very pretty and nice. Jungfraujoch is the highest point in the whole of Europe, the name means “young woman mountain” directly translated from Mandarin. The train went up very steep terrain because Jungfraujoch was really very high up. At one point, the train had to use cogwheel to travel the last leg of the journey up to the top as it was very steep.
When we reached the top of Europe, it was extremely cold even though we were inside shelter. The temperature was at -17°C. We heard from one of the employees that they used to experience a temperature of -30°C and a wind speed of about 350km/hr.
We went up to the Plateau first. We saw that it was snowing pretty heavily outside. We reached a huge metal door. I tried to open the metal door to see what is outside. The wind was gushing outside. We came back in immediately. I got Dac to stand outside for a while so that I can take a picture of him and the heavy snow. We met a Singaporean couple and we decided to venture further out despite the heavy snow. We helped each other to take pictures. The snow was knee deep and it was extremely cold outside. The snow was like “slicing” into our faces. The wind was blowing at 285km/hr. We could not stay outside for too long because it was freezing. My hands and feet were freezing. It seems that my shoes and soaks were soaked. We went to the toilet to dry ourselves. I had to use the dryer to dry and warm my feet, shoes and socks.
We went to the Ice Palace next. The air pressure seemed very low. I experience difficulties in breathing and felt giddy. I did not feel good. Felt really breathless. Dac saw that I was feeling faint and brought me out of Ice Palace.
We went to the Sphinx (viewing point). We went out the the snow again. What a coincidence, we met the Singaporean couple again. We chatted for a while and that chat cost us to miss the train at 1145hrs. We took “live” picture at the Sphinx.
We had to wait for another hour for the next train at 1245hrs. We bought a Jungfraujoch pin for SF6.00. I slept at the lobby on Dac’s legs and felt better. It was real cold even in the lobby. Felt much better after taking the nap.
We took the train back to Lauterbrunnen and changed to the funicular at Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp. When we reached Grutschalp, we waited for the funicular to continue its journey to Murren. To out HORROR, it went back down to Lauterbrunnen. It was a extremely long trip. We came down and had to wait for the next funicular up to Grutschalp again. In total, we sat on the funicular for 3 trips. We ate a kiwi on the trip down. The funicular was similar to the tram that we took up to the peak in Hong Kong.
At Grutschalp, we changed to another train to continue our journey to Murren. From Murren, we had to walk about 10mins through a small town to get to Murren gondola station to get to Gimmelwald. Murren is a nice town. I liked a picture that I took at Murren very much. I was standing under a tree which is full of snow. It's a pity that we did not have much time at Murren cos we need to rush to Gimmelwald before it gets dark.
Gimmelwald is also a small little village. It a traditional Mountain Swiss community. We spend about 50mins there. Its like the village featured in Heidi. We saw people getting around with sleighs. Took a picture with one of the sleighs. Saw the phonebooth which has a shower inside. Gimmelwald has strict building codes, the shutters can only be natural green or white.
It was getting dark and we took the gondola down to Stechelberg to take a bus back to Lauterbrunnen.
We stopped at the Butcher and bought a piece of cordon bleu and a sausage. It cost us SF6.80. We also stopped by the dairy store to get some yogurt and cheese (SF4.30). The yogurt tasted very nice. I still have the glass bottle that contain the yogurt. Lastly, we went to the Co-op to buy groceries and chocolates (SF23.60)
We went back to the hostel and took our bath and we cooked a big feast for the last night at Lauterbrunnen. We had spaghetti and minestrone soup, fish fillets (similar to Captain’s Eye standard) and Cordon Bleu with sausage. It has been awhile on out trip since we had such a full meal.
We then packed our stuff and slept at 2130hrs.
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