"The hills are alive..." (13th August)

There's nothing better about staying in a camp ground than getting up at 5am to wander over to the communal showers to get going for the day. The reason for this insanity is that we have the 'early bird' tickets up the mountain that means we take the 6:59am train (and you know that it leaves at 6:59... because the Swiss are famous for their timing!) that gets to the top at around 9am... under the proviso that we leave by 12:30pm at the latest. This ticket is significantly cheaper -and is made even more accessible to budget travellers if they also walk the last sector on the way back down. We make it there on time and enjoy the funicular as it winds it's way up the countryside... panicking to try to take as many photos as we can of the amazing views (der -they are only going to get better!) We change trains at Kleine Scheidegg and applaud ourselves for going up today -it's absolutely stunning weather with barely a cloud to be found. The second funicular is much steeper and spends most of the time going very steeply up along a tunnel in the mountain. The great thing is that they stop the train at two different viewing stations (Eigerwand and Eismeer) where they have bored holes out to the surface to see stunning views in either direction. Fair enough to stop the train for 5mins at each place... we're all tourists here after all! It seems crazy that the early bird deal is cheaper, because our two train loads also get the run of the place for the first hour or so before the rush really starts! If you're also smart like us -you can be the first people up the hallway to the elevator -and then the first people up to the insanely placed Sphinx viewing platform. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the views. I'm not even going to pretend that the photos can do the views justice -cause they can't. But suffice to say this is one of the most remarkable places either of us have ever been. On a clear day like we had -you basically get 360 degree views of amazingland... one side is down the valley and across the country, one side is down a spectacular glacier and they are separated by the peaks of Monch and Jungfrau. The views are actually more than 360 degrees really... cause part of the platform is cantilevered over a massive cliff -much to Mike's amusement! The fact that ice cold air rushed up this side of the mountain (even though there was no wind noticeable anywhere else) and up your shorts -made the whole experience a real rush. We told you to go to the archipelago -well book this one in as part of the same must do trip! Other's started appearing at this point onto our magical cloud in the sky -but not everyone from the train because there is SO much to explore on Jungfraujoch. There's the ice palace (tunnels and sculptures of ice), the outside plateau, ski and snowboard park, sledge dogs, shops and Bollywood Restaurant. Yes that's right, at around 3500m above sea level, in the summer snow of Switzerland -you can get a curry at the Indian Restaurant. There are other restaurants as well (noodle boxes were a big big hit at one) but for some reason that one seemed particularly interesting! Anyway -photos were taken, a postcard was sent (although plokers that we are we forgot to put the "Jungfraujoch" ink stamp beside the postage stamp) and Shona had a ride with the huskies. Awesome awesome time in general and the time just flew by... Shona with the Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat line "and if we have the time we can see the Sphinx" stuck in her head while Mike had the pleasure of "We're on the, top of the world looking, down on creation" (Carpenters) in his! Neither was by choice. BCL was advertised at various points by Shona wearing the trusty BCL beanie to keep her ears warm. Given she had short shorts on, it helped a lot. Surely we had had enough incredible incredible views for the day... but we still had the walk down from the Kleine Scheigdegg to go! We were told it would take about 3 hours... and everyone knows that those times are for the slow walkers. Turns out we took 4 hours because we stopped so so often to be amazed, to take photos, to watch avalanches, to admire and basically to experience DSL (this time the deep love was Swiss -not Scottish). Oh -and did I mention that the hills are alive with the sound of cow bells? We finally get an appreciation for all the little cow decorations at the shops (and one in our bag) because the cows and the bells around their collars are SO apparent! The walk down might be long -but it is stunning and again we can't believe we pay LESS to take this option. We'd have been ripped off to have taken the train back down and to have missed this scenery. Also, importantly, the clouds really do roll in from about the second that we get off the train... probably meaning that the full paying customers get rubbish views from the top, while it does nothing to hinder our views down the valley floor. All in all things couldn't have gone much better today...