J&J's European Adventure

14 July

Interlaken, Switzerland

We left our bags at the hostel and took a train to Grindelwald where we transferred to a cog train to Kleine Scheidegg. From there, we hiked 8 miles in 5.5 hours down to Wengen. I say down, because that is the general direction, but there was plenty of "up" involved as we traveled across alpine meadows, along gorges, and eventually through dense woods. The last several miles were a pretty steep descent, which is almost as tiring to me as ascending.

It was a picture perfect day and we had a picnic lunch on the side of a hill. The mountain views are indescribable, and we know our pictures don't do them justice. The mountains were less snow-capped than we had expected, and not as tall, but outstanding nevertheless, with several impressive glaciers. As we started the final descent, we were treated to some truly gut-wrenching views from the cliff edges while being serenaded by herds of bell-ringing cows. I'm pretty sure they were Brown Swiss cows. I know for a fact that they were brown and in Switzerland.

We took the cog train to Lauterbrunnen and the regular train back to Interlaken. It was 93 degrees in Interlaken, and we were thoroughly beat, so we hopped the first train out of town. We got off in Spiez, but it was still hot and rooms were still expensive, so we got on the next train and moved on. Our next stop was a small town called Frutigen. The lady in the station directed us to the Hotel Simplon, where we got a small, cool suite with breakfast for $140. Still expensive, but at least I didn't feel tempted to make a police report.

Daily miles: 11.98

Expenses:
  130€ (Interlaken hostel)
  10.80€ (train tickets, food)
  140€ (Hotel Simplon)

Interlaken hostel

Grindelwald, Switzerland

entering Grindelwald

approaching final stop

looking east

Grindelwald transit station

cog train ticket

leaving Grindelwald

Jungfrau cog train to Kleine Scheidegg

9:24 am	9:25 am	9:30 am
9:47 am	9:53 am	9:54 am	embracing the myth

Hike to Wengen

area map
(larger map)

hiking trails

our hike
(larger map)

Jungfrau trail

Hiker Joe

Hiker Janene

Joe on trail

Alpine meadow

cog train bridge

hikers

Alpine flowers

purple orchids

glacier

Joe by rock cairns

Janene by a trail marker	snow-capped peaks	snow-capped peaks	waterfall
waterfalls	Alpine cabin	mountains	and trail
erosion	Cowbell Serenade video (17s, 5MB)	breathtaking view	distant village (Gimmelwald)
snow-capped peaks	cliff viewpoint	cliff viewpoint	Long Way Down
mountain stream	heading down	steep switchbacks	steep switchbacks