Snow balls in July? Sure!
We had a brief stop in Zurich as a landing spot to see the Swiss Alps. We were all pretty excited about this excursion. Not to just get out of the city scape but to actually be in the mountains for a day. We left Zurich at 8:30 am. I booked this trip online and made a point to read the reviews. I found out that if we had a guide by the name of Kid we were in for a great tour and that we should get there early to get the front top seats on the bus. Jackpot! We checked in at 7:50 am and found Kid to be our guide. He then shared with us that we were the second group to check in but no one was on the bus yet! Well that means we snagged those front row seats on the top of the bus and they were the best seats on the bus for sure!
On the way up to the Alps we stopped in a small village called Interleken to drop off some people who were spending the day there. We had some time to briefly stop and Maclaren decided she wanted a Swiss Army knife. I thought this was a fun souvenir until I saw the size of knife she wanted. We adjusted what was acceptable and ran out of time. I on the other hand bought a potato peeler because I need a new one and why not by a Swiss made one that you CAN by in the states. Except I bought it for 4.40 euros, not a bad deal. Yes, I have to get it home but hey I’ll find room. Kid had us rounded up and back on the bus headed to the mountains. “My team, my team, hurry!!”
Side note here – there are A LOT of Asians and Indians in Europe and 90% are rude as hell. We have encountered them at every stop. Nowhere have they been ruder then Switzerland. Thankfully a large percentage of them got off in Interleken to shop from our bus but there are a lot of other buses going to the top of the mountain. As a person who lived in Japan for an extended period I find this interesting. I am thankful for the exception. We had a Japanese couple on our bus, the wife was just as concerned about where Dec & Mac were as I was. She would see us and wave so we knew to come that way or we were in the right place. In one of the elevators she even said to me that she was glad to see us. These are the people who make the world a better place. My point is that people can say what they want about Americans, but we are kind thoughtful people for the most part. We have only encountered one American family that were rude, all others have been very nice and happy to ask where you are from, where you are going, what great things you’ve seen and wish you save travels when you depart. I find this refreshing.
Okay, off the soap box and back on the train going to The Top of Europe! We took two different co-wheel trains to go to the top of the mountain, and well worth the ride. After being in city after city this affirms that I love space with access to the city. The more we see of the mountains the more excited I am getting to get to the top. The first train we take we start to get some awesome views. We can see the farms where the sheep and cattle come to graze for the summer months, the chair lifts, and homes of people who live on the mountain. There is a man-made lake, really more like a pond that I can’t seem to find out why it was made. There really isn’t anything around it but it was more of the beautiful blue/green water. We arrive in village of Kleine Scheidegg where we switched trains to the Jungfrau Railway to get to the Top of Europe. The views on the way up were amazing when we weren’t in the 9K tunnel to get to the top. We arrived at the station on the top and took an elevator to see be at 11,332 feet above sea level. At this point were scurried about by Kid to see different sites. This part was a little too rushed for me but we did get to see some amazing views. From different platforms, visit the Ice Palace and make it to the Fun Spot. The kids and I did get into a small ball fight which was pretty fun. Unfortunately, we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked there. It would have been nice to sit in a chair for a couple of hours and just take it all in. The kids would have loved to have gone tubing because after all who wouldn’t want to go snow tubing in July. The Alps are amazing. I would love to visit again but I will admit my skiing skills will never be good enough for that mountain.
On our way to the top of the mountain.
