Thursday 8 December 1983 – Grindelwald
Another
great day – we have certainly been lucky so far. We were all awake at 06.30 as
usual and lay chatting until about 07.00. there had been a light fall of snow
during the night so everything looke nice and clean for the start of a new day.
We had
decided to take the Jungfraujoch trip if the weather was good today so were
thrilled to see that the sky was cloudless and the morning star was shining
brightly. The first three trains of the day carry a 25% discount so we thought
we would try to get one of these – the second – at 08.27. but it was not to be
as breakfast was a little late. When we went down at 08.00 the place was in
disarray so we decided to catch the third train.
We had time
to walk up to the Co-op to see if they had any cheap moon boots for Matt as his
boots got soaked yesterday and were still not dry this morning. We got a nice
pair for f25 ($7.80) – not quite as cheap as Zurich where they were only f15! Even if we
throw them away at the end of the trip they will only have cost us about $1.50
a week. They are marvellous boots and kept his feet warm and dry today. (This concept of buying something for a
specific trip and then abandoning it was never applied in practice. We still
have a pair of coffee mugs bought in Hawaii
for 25c each in 1991 which were just for our use while we were there to avoid
the cardboard cups. Matt brought his boots home: Rab brought the coffe mugs home.) We also picked up some
yoghurt and cheese to supplement our breakfast – not really necessary as it
turned out – and then went off to the station.
The tickets
were quite pricey at f174 ($75) but not as expensive as we had expected, having
been told they were f120 ($52) each. It turned out that the normal price is f90
but the early trains are f75 and a further discount is available if you hold a
SwissRail pass, which we do.
Off we went,
rattling away downhill in marvellous weather conditions. Not a cloud to be seen.
Unfortunately the windows were very misted up which detracted a bit from the
views. We would have loved to open a window but that is not done as the Swiss
like to travel in snug warmth. One one leg today, having boarded the train at
-4°C we found that the temperature in the cabin was over 20°C. Like a sauna it
was – but we dared not to open the window next to us even a crack.
But back to
the trip. We got up to Klein Scheindegg at about 10.15 and changed trains there.
A whole bunch of skiers came up with us and I must say I envied a group of
beginners setting off with their instructor. I hope I can make a skiing holiday
sometime. We checked on the relevant prices f40 ($17.25) per hour for private
lessons and f130 ($57) per week for the hire of all the essential equipment.
Not too bad I thought. (I finally had the
chance to ski when we moved to Australia – and found just how difficult it was
to teach a man how to ski when he was approaching fifty and who had damaged knees.)
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| The Eiger |
The sun was
still shining as we left on the next leg and the snow was blowing off the crest
of the Eiger, as it should always do for maximum visual effect. One of the
couples in the compartment with us were from Johannesburg and Rab was soon chatting away
while Matt and I took photographs.
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| The view from Eigerwald - Grindelwald is on the left |
We made two stops in the long tunnel leading
to the top. The first, at Eigerwald, was too magnificent for words. The air was
crystal clear and we could see for miles, even making out our hotel in
Grindelwald in the valley far below. The view from the second stop Eismer was
spectacular in its own way but not so interesting.
 |
| Close up of Grindelwald from Eigerwald |
We were a
bit disappointed at the summit because they are rebuilding up there and we had
to clamber around work in progress to get anywhere guessing as to how to get to
our destination half the time. An interesting aspect of modern tourism which we
spotted was that many of the signs were in Japanese as well as English, French
and German. The much vaunted Ice Palace was very disappointing – just passages
cut into ice which smelled very strongly of tobacco (and other things said
Matt, who has a very well developed sense of smell) – with very crude ice
sculptures here and there.
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| Matt on Jungfrau |
The views
from the top of the mountain and the Sphinx Terrace were really outstanding but
we couldn’t stand outside too long as there was an icy wind blowing which cut
through even our substantial warm woollies. We learned about the chill factor,
which was said to reduce the temperature to about -11°C – and we realised there
was a downside to the snow blowing off the Eiger.
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| The glacier below Jungfrau |
Matt loved
the icy snow and had fun hurtling snowballs down the mountain face. We saw the
huskies in their pens on the way down and then, having decided to change our
return route to go back via Wengen, we missed the train. Really annoying and
inexcusable. To while away the time until the next train we had a couple of
beers and a wurstli at a pub in Klein Scheidigg and watched the skiers swooping
by. Matt went off to play in the snow and got into a bit of trouble by going
down the start of a ski run and then found he couldn’t get back up. Tricky
stuff this snow! He was panicking a little when we got to him. It certainly
wasn’t easy for him to climb up the thick snow bank.
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| Last view of the Jungfrau as we headed home to Grindelwald |
We made darn
sure we caught the next trains – this was the hot one I referred to earlier –
and once again the scenery was entrancing. We were so glad that we had got up
early thought because the sky clouded over and the uphill trains were very
full. We got to Interlaken
at about 15.20 instead of 14.30 as intended and so decided not to eat there
opting for an early meal here in the hotel after Matt and I had a romp in the
snow. Good food – a bit pricey at f76 ($33) and we had some free cabaret
provided by some South Africans a couple of tables away – we couldn’t quite
make out what happened but it was dramatic!
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