Another incredible day in Switzerland. Today we woke up to fog in the area so we relaxed for a while in the room. I posted the journal from the 6^th. At about 11:00 we saw the fog lifting so off we went.

We took the cable car up to Mannlichen on the Wengen-Mannlichen Areal Cableway. There were so many people in each car so we were a bit squished. When we arrived at the top the fog was intermittently lifting and dropping.

We did the Royal Walk up to the area with 360 panoramic views.

The viewing platform was in the shape of a crown.  It was only a 380 foot uphill walk – easy-peasy.  I took the photos through the fog.

 

I tried to take a video of the 360 degrees of views.

Shirley and I took photos of each other

There were 2 helicopters flying around and landing at Mannlichen. I only got one of them in the air.

They both landed at Mannlichen. We think the pilots just were going to lunch.

Mannlichen was really set up well for children. This cow slide looked like a lot of fun.

Shirley and I stopped to eat the lunch we packed from breakfast. Seeing this little girl in diapers with her own sized walking poles was a treat.

Shirley had done her excellent planning last night and off we went walking to Kleine Schneideggn in the Bernese Oberland Region. It was a relatively flat walk that was supposed to take about 90 minutes. It really was wide, mostly flat and relatively easy. We did great and made it in less than the designated time.

On the way we took photos with Grindelwald in the valley below.

It was fun to see the cows that were at the top of the hill at Klein Scheidegg.  We were at 2,061 m (6,762 ft),

They were so cute that I took another photo of them.

We took the Jungfrau Railway up to Jungfraujoch. It runs 9 km from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe. The railway climbs steeply and runs almost entirely within the Jungfrau Tunnel, built into the Eiger and Monch mountains and containing two stations in the middle of the tunnel.  The Jungfraujoch is  highest point reachable by rail in Europe. We got out at one of the stations for about 5 minutes.

Here are just a few of the facts about the Jungfrau Railway:

• It is called, “The Top of Europe.”
• Breakthrough to the final station on the Jungfraujoch was in 1912
• Has its own fire brigade
• Has its own hydroelectric power station
• Has generated electricity with trains traveling downhill since 1912
• Every week a railway employee checks the 9.2 km track between Jungfraujock and Klein Scheldegg on foot.
• The average temperature on the Jungfraujoch is minus 7.9 Celcius.

When we reached the top, it was amazing looking down at the snow and the crevasses below us.

The snow fields were amazing.

We took photos of each other.

 

The views from the top were spectacular

 

We also took photos with the Jungfrau in the background.

We took a tour through the ice-cave which is called Ice Palace

The Ice Palace was created in the 1930s and has to be constantly recut. The warmth created by thousands of visitors means that the labyrinth has to be cooled to minus 3 degrees Celsius. There were Crystal-like sculptures throughout the cave, but the photographs just didn’t do them justice.

We took more photos in the cave with the Jungfrau sign.

After the cave, we went out in the snow which is called the plateau nd took photos of each other in front of Eiger.

Being out in the snow and looking back at the building that is called the Sphinx which is the tallest part of the viewpoint..  It is where we began the tour of the area.

Shirley found a picture of the Sphinx to photograph so I can show what the whole complex looked like from the outside.

We stayed at the top for over 90 minutes before taking the Jungfrau Train back to Kleine Scheidegg. Then we took another train back to Wengen.

 

There was even a very small lake that had a reflection of the mountain in it.

We were pretty hungry when we arrived in Wengen. I asked a woman from here which restaurant was her favorite and she said the Barron. We shared a great lamb dinner. I personally think it was one of the best meals we have had so far.

Then we went to the grocery to buy food for breakfast.

I have been working on this journal post for a very long time tonight and Shirley has again been reading the maps and info to plan our day for tomorrow. I am very lucky that she does that.

I am still overwhelmed with the luck we have been having with weather. It has been so fantastic. This was a pretty easy day as far as hiking goes. It was really spectacular.