Jungfrau - The Top of Europe
A short video about our trip to the Jungfraujoch, a building set at over 3500 metres above sea-level in the Swiss Alps in between the Eiger and the Jungfrau. We left London by Eurostar at 7:22 am for Paris where we changed over to Gare de l'Est (about 5 minutes walk) to catch the 14:51 to Strasbourg. We grabbed some lunch at Strasbourg before getting on the 17:01 to Interlaken. At Interlaken we stayed at the excellent City Hotel Oberland, a three star hotel in the city centre, but before it was light the next morning we were already on the train to Lauterbrunnen to start our way up to the Jungfraujoch. By 08:30 we were at Lauterbrunnen to catch the 09:14 for Kleine Scheidegg where we would catch our last leg train to the top of Europe. Kleine Scheidegg is where mountain climbers would get off to climb the Eiger. Finally at 10:22 we arrived at the Jungfraujoch, the final part of a highly impressive engineering project begun over 100 years ago. Anyone attempting it today would be considered mad! We were especially fortunate from the weather point of view as there was little wind and no low clouds which enabled me to take some great views of the mountain range. Winds can reach 240 km / hour up here, but even on the relatively warm day we had it was -5 Celsius. Most shocking was the absence of snow. The ski fields below are clearly marked out by the white dots where the snow cannons are situated. No real snow was forecast either for at least a week. Choose your time to visit the Jungfraujoch carefully and book ahead as it can be very full at peak periods. You must book a ticket in advance to get up there, otherwise no go. The way back down was as impressive as the way up, we took a different route from Kleine Scheidegg on the way back to go via Grindelwald and then on along the lakes with the "Golden Pass" panoramic train which was, just as it implies, amazing. Luzern itself is set alongside the lake of the same name and equally beautiful. See the photos on the Flickr page and on the next video in the next few days. Music: "Orion" by Terry Devine-King Read my article about the whole journey at: www.eurodestination.com/2013/04/20/train-to-the-jungfrau-the-top-of-europe/ Photos at: www.flickr.com/photos/66816105@N03/sets/72157628248499331/ My special thanks to Stuart Alldis, Damien Gaffiot and Dev Sahni from Rail Europe. Also to Katja Walser of Swiss Tourism, Remo Kaser of Interlaken Tourism, Daniela Fuchs of Jungfraubahn, the Hotels Waldstatterhof of Luzerne and in Interlaken for their organising of this superb trip.
