We finished Mon arriving at a campground call Talacker in Ringgenberg another wonderful day in the books. We awake Tue to the first day that has had a cloud in the sky. Nothing threatening but not the crystal clear blue skies we have seen. The day involves a shorter ride than normal as we head for Grindelwald where we get the first look at the north face of the EIGER. Those of you that have seen the movie Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy will have seen this famous mountain.
A man named Adolf Guyer-Zeller began planning for a cogwheel railway to Jungfrau by boring a hole through the mountain in 1893. The first construction began in 1896 with picks and shovels and in 1898 the first section of the railway was opened. The final station at Jungfraujoch opened in Aug, 1912 so we are celebrating the centennial during this journey. This is Europe's highest altitude railway at 3454 meters or 11,333 feet.
We boarded the train in Grindelwald and at Kleine Scheidegg changed to the train that would take us to the top riding through the tunnel created in the EIGER. They call this the "Top of Europe".
There is a terrific walking tour that shows some of the history of the construction, a time travel into the history of tourism in the early days, an incredible Ice Palace with a large number of ice sculptures of animals and people and the Sphinx.
The Sphinx was originally an environmental research facility, one of the world foremost such facilities. The original focus was high-altitude medicine and astronomy. Today the focus is on meteorology, glaciology and atmospheric measurements.
Standing on the walkway that surrounds the Sphinx you get spectacular views over the Aletsch Glacier and on a clear day you can see the Vosges in France and Germany's Black Forest.
Anyone that has ever been in the mountains knows the weather can change quickly and it did so today. During our descent we passed through significant cloud cover and found it had rained in Grindelwald while we were on the mountain. The short ride back to the campground found us riding in the rain and it has not stopped but for a few minutes since and I am writing this nearly 22 hours later. This is the first rain we have encountered since leaving England and has caused us to stay here one extra day. The forecast is for clearing tonight so we may once again be on the road, tomorrow Thur Sept 13.
A man named Adolf Guyer-Zeller began planning for a cogwheel railway to Jungfrau by boring a hole through the mountain in 1893. The first construction began in 1896 with picks and shovels and in 1898 the first section of the railway was opened. The final station at Jungfraujoch opened in Aug, 1912 so we are celebrating the centennial during this journey. This is Europe's highest altitude railway at 3454 meters or 11,333 feet.
We boarded the train in Grindelwald and at Kleine Scheidegg changed to the train that would take us to the top riding through the tunnel created in the EIGER. They call this the "Top of Europe".
The Sphinx was originally an environmental research facility, one of the world foremost such facilities. The original focus was high-altitude medicine and astronomy. Today the focus is on meteorology, glaciology and atmospheric measurements.
Anyone that has ever been in the mountains knows the weather can change quickly and it did so today. During our descent we passed through significant cloud cover and found it had rained in Grindelwald while we were on the mountain. The short ride back to the campground found us riding in the rain and it has not stopped but for a few minutes since and I am writing this nearly 22 hours later. This is the first rain we have encountered since leaving England and has caused us to stay here one extra day. The forecast is for clearing tonight so we may once again be on the road, tomorrow Thur Sept 13.
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