[🏔️ yodel ⛰️] Day 9 & 10: Jungfrau and First
Hello from Grindelwald, where going downhill is treacherous and going uphill is equally dangerous when you're as unfit as I am. I'm typing this from my balcony where I'm surrounded by what seems to be the perfect writing conditions: cool alpine air swirling around me, the view of the Eiger, Monch and Schrekhorn just in front the me, and the harsh mountain sun bearing down.
(This is not the exact view but a very good approximate.)
Now should I put on more sunscreen?
I think I should.
Now that I'm back from prepping myself against skin cancer, we continue!
I've got a bit more energy to write today, because we ended the day much earlier. Around 2pm to be exact — definitely earlier than I had planned, because of a whooooole lotta things happened in just a couple of hours. Such is the mountain life.
But let's begin with yesterday.
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We started the day bright and early around 8am at Grindelwald station, where I spied on a group of Japanese tourists. They were mostly tiny obaachan (and a couple of ojiichan) all decked out in technical climbing gear and very warm hats. I was pretty surprised to learn that Grindelwald is a popular destination for Japanese tourists. There's a Japanese tourism office here, and a Mont Bell store (kind of like Japan's REI Co-Op?). These grannies really seem to be the kind of old person I wanna be: able to travel and trek around, and spend ludicrous amounts of money on technical gear.
I overheard their guide (the slightly younger, middled aged man without a hat) talk about their plans for the day and they were going to go all around the Jungfrau region. Visits to alpine dairy farms, yogurt factories ("You probably can't bring back any cheese, but you can sample their yogurt there!"), and how Interlaken Ost is the "Shinagawa Station of this area". Brilliant.
We boarded our first train, a form of cog railway, up to Kleine Scheidegg, a mountain pass. Since we're in the German part of Switzerland, there are an inordinate amount of mascots, gothic animal logos and general animal heraldry around. They usually look equal parts imposing and comedic.
The train we boarded was one of the old historical ones, and had these slightly uncomfortable but very quaint wooden benches with odd upholstery. I really like the green, red and yellow colour combination.
As we slowly ascended up the mountain, we were greeted with very dramatic alpine scenery like this:
Being in a place like this makes me wish that I could just spend a couple of months in a cool and quiet place surrounded by mountains and fields, preferably in Japan because I know the language and the customs, recuperating from consumption. I jest. I mean, writing or just being. I feel so small and my worries feel so insignificant, when I look up at these very tall and very majestic mountains. Each of them are a billion times larger than me, a million times older than me, and even though they erode and melt under the universe's will (and mankind's wilfulness), they are still standing here now and for many more years to come. If these mountains can exist and evolve with time, then so can I.
It really is quite humbling to be in the presence of nature.
At Kleine Scheidegg we had to switch to the Jungfraubahn. To think this was the train that kickstarted our dream of visiting the Jungfraujoch! It was maybe around six or more months ago when SD shared this video with me, and I had jokingly said "I wish we could visit this place and take this train one day." Well look where we are now!
The train itself is an engineering marvel. Please watch the video to learn more about it. It passes through and up the mountain, over 9km of tracks built into the Eiger and Monch mountains. Even its starting point at Kleine Scheidegg is the highest railway station in Europe.
Along the way, the train makes a stop at Eismeer ("sea of ice") where you get about 5 minutes to look right at the eastern face of the Eiger and the glacier Ischmeer.
Isn't it amazing how human ingenuity has allowed us to view such things from behind glass and concrete safely?
Then it was back into the warm confines of the Jungfraubahn which took us to the terminus: Jungfraujoch a.k.a "The Top of Europe".
This place is like an experience/branding director's dream. The entire facility? theme park? place? has been engineered to such a high degree. Your route is marked out, weaving you inside high-budget 360-degree multimedia panoramas, overly built ice rooms, and a very windy and cold viewing platform where you brave the weather for amazing views that stretch all the way to Germany and Italy. My fingers nearly froze off trying to take shots of everything but I swear it's worth it.
And here's what I meant by the strange theme-park quality. There are many of these macabre carvings of different sizes. Also, humanity thought it was a good idea to age whisky and wine in a glacier because i) profit and ii) narrative.
We had lunch at the Top of Europe! I had Ghackets mit Hörnli, basically meat-sauce and pasta. It was supposed to come with apple sauce!
Sufficiently warmed up inside and out, we headed back into the cold for some expensive but very fun times in the snow. I mostly people watched and gasped in jealousy as much fitter people climbed to the Mountain Hut and did cooler and more serious glacier treks.
I also paid 15 francs to play in the snow.
We took a different route down, on Europe's(?) first and possibly only tri-cable mountain cable car: the Eiger Express. Each gondola can carry around 20 people and is massive. Look at how thick the arm is.
We got to see another side of the mountain range.
Upon returning to Grindelwald, it really hit me that this place is for rich people. Or people who rent homes/chalets and cook. There is only 1 place for casual dining and takeaway (aptly called "Tea and Takeaway"), and all the other eating places are generally cafes that close at 7pm, or hotel restaurants and pubs. Which are mostly full! We wandered the town for around 30 minutes before giving up and going to the aforementioned takeaway place. To be honest, I really like their curries (especially their red curry) because it's DELICIOUS and cheaper than most of the other proper meals here. But I kind of feel bad eating just Thai curry and rice every day. Even though it's good. I mean, look at it! The noodle is pretty trashy though, don't get it.
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Today was another early day.
Here's the original plan: Take a gondola all the way up to First ➼ Do the Tissot Cliff Walk ➼ Hike 1 hour to Bachalpsee ➼ Chill ➼ Hike back to first ➼ Get aboard the First Glider ➼ Mountain cart down ➼ Trottibike down to Grindelwald
We didn't do half of the things hahahahahahaha...
Mostly because I was too afraid (of heights and speed and had no balance) or was incredibly unfit.
We did do the Cliff Walk, where I basically clung to the railings and refused to look down.
We warmed up in a cafe and I met a charming fellow.
Then I tried to hike to Bachalpsee. I tried. I really did. All the guides online said it was an easy 50 minute walk that even families with young children or with strollers could attempt. Many people said it was one of the easiest hikes they did in Switzerland with mostly flatland, and other said that the initial 15 minutes of uphill climbing was worth it.
Friends, I barely lasted 1km up hill. The total hike is 3km to the lake and another 3km back. After huffing and puffing uphill for clearly more than 15 minutes and realising I was barely 20% of the way through... I gave up.
The hike already had an ominous start, with Silent Hill-eqsue fog rolling about.
We rested on this rocky outcrop that SD found where I caught my breath and licked my wounds. I will never underestimate Swiss levels of vigour. I am clearly unsuited for alpine walking in any way.
Am I upset that I couldn't get to see Bachalpsee? Yes. More so that I was so ill-equipped to walk there, less that I missed out. I'm still proud of myself for walking whatever way I managed to, because I am that unfit especially after COVID. I will try again at least once more in my life. Most of you are probably fitter than I am, and would probably do OK on a 6km mountain walk.
Feeling very abashed, we headed down to Schrekfeld station where we did my favourite activity of the trip! Mountain carting!!!!!!!!! (Look at all the exclamation marks.) I was a Very Good Person and did not take any photos or videos of my ride down as per the rules, unlike many of the other Asian tourists who were a menace. They kept stopping or slowing down and made it very hard for me to swerve around them. The mountain cart roads down are narrow and steep, so half the time I was trying to avoid all these Instagrammers. I did take a photo of a Swiss cow at the end though, because everyone in front of me had stopped for the same reason.
At Bort, we were supposed to ride the Trottibike down to Grindelwald town. Suffice to say, my lack of balance (even on my own two feet) made me extremely afraid to take the Trottibike. The facility people also did mention that it's very steep in some parts and many people have accidents because they over-estimated their control.
I was not overestimating myself. I tried to go a few rounds around the station but I could keep myself on and very ashamedly asked for a refund. SD, who had pretty good control, went down by himself while I agreed to meet him downhill at the Grindelwald gondola station. Honestly, I planned a lot of this trip for him because he's a very active guy and I'm not. I try to initiate walks and outdoorsy stuff back in Singapore but I'm not very consistent about it. This time, I really wanted to plan a trip where he could go all out.
Unfortunately he met with an accident and had to return to Grindelwald on a gondola instead. We've been resting and recuperating from the shock ever since and will only head out to dinner soon because we've got a reservation for calf's liver.
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Tomorrow's our 'free' day — originally laundry day, but the nearest laundromat is in Lauterbrunnen which is an hour away by train. Ain't nobody got time for that! I've been washing my socks and undies in the sink and thankfully, the air is dry enough here that they dry pretty quickly. Instead, we'll be chilling on our balcony and recuperating from a taxing Day 10.
Our days in Grindelwald and Switzerland are dwindling and I'll be sad to not see the mountains when I wake up in the morning.
I'm not sure what we will be doing tomorrow, other than just resting up from our tumble, but I can't wait to catch up.