What goes up must come down (14th August)

So there was no crazy early morning start today thank goodness, the trip we'd booked was very flexible regarding timing as it's not the tourist merry-go-round that Top of Europe is (by the way - it was funny to see on a map that there is actually a peak slightly higher... but that one isn't supplied by a Bollywood so doesn't get the official recognition!). We catch a lunchtime cable car up the hill to Grutschalp and notice with interest that there's only one car running up and down on the same line. You might think that this is detrimental to the capacity, but the car holds HEAPS of people and the ride is pretty fast - so even in mid winter they can presumably get a lot of skiers up the hill each morning. There's nothing much at Grutschalpe other than the end of the cable car - so we transfer onto the waiting train that takes us to Murren. This is a picture perfect ride parallel to the valley floor... except at the top of the massive massive cliff that the cable car took us to the top of. It's pretty cool because it's the other side of the valley than where we were yesterday -and from here we can basically see where we walked down. Murren is a much more substantial but still quaint mountain village (except of course for the tourist aspect of it). The views are once again ridiculous and we spend a couple hours looking around the place, checking out the sports centre (where over the summer the ice skating rink has portable mini golf holes on it), the little shops, having an icecream and basically just soaking it in. The next leg of the trip is another cable car at around 4pm for a short distance to Gimmelwald... which again doesn't seem to have anything much too it other than what appears to be the world's most insane swing bridge. We see it from the cable car - but it doesn't seem to be a public access (rather just for some nutty locals) so instead we connect straight away for one of the world's most insane cable cars. Mike refers to it as a "cable elevator" because it goes so ridiculously steeply down the cliff face. There is really no poles supporting it up, except for the one a the top of the hill and the bottom. Fiona & John - you both would have HATED it!! There's a bit of a wait at the bottom before our bus comes (bang on time -don't forget the Swiss timing) and the only reason for the delay was because the cable ride was unscheduled... otherwise the Swiss transport is beautifully set up so that you arrive at a destination just in time to make any reasonable connection. Anyway -the bus takes us to the Trummelbach Falls which just might be the best CHF 11 you could ever spend. There is a series of 10 cascades for this waterfall which drains 3 glaciers we saw from Jungfraujoch. An elevator inside the mountain takes us (and a tour group of about 40 Indians) about half the way up - from where we walk up through a series of tunnels to see the highest of the internal cascades. We can't get our head around the fact that the admission is so reasonable - considering the about of work that must have gone into digging the tunnels, constructing the viewing platforms and running the elevator. The waterfalls are incredible -and just as much so when the cascades continue into the more open air. It's hard to imagine just how much water must come down here when there's also been heavy rain in the last couple of days! The ticket we'd purchased for the day included a bus back to Lauterbrunnen -however we opt to walk the 30 mins we were told it would take. This turns out to be a wonderful option because although Shona is hurting from the day before, the views up the valley are amazing and we have a pleasant surprise along the way. Shona spots a man above us with a parachute that seems to have appeared out out nowhere, when we go past his landing spot we talk to him (and a guy taking photos who speaks better English) who informs us that he'd just base jumped from one side of the valley. Base jumping is parachuting but instead of out of a helicopter you jump off a cliff or building. We're told 3 more guys are about to jump from the other side at a jump spot called the nose!! We can't make them out at the top of the cliff but when they jump we see 3 little black star shapes plummet downwards... one falling slightly slower because he has a drag device attached to his suit. Can you spot him in the photo Shona took?? (click on the photo to enlarge). Apparently it was their forth jump of the day - crazy! Dinner tonight is at the campground restaurant because Shona wants to try the rosti - which is a traditional Swiss potato dish. It's grated potato, fried with bacon, onion and melted cheese, topped with a fried egg. It's very similar to the one Mike had on the archipelago except the potato is grated not cubed and there is a generous helping of Swiss cheese mixed through. Because everything is better with cheese -the Swiss version wins. It's quieter tonight because there isn't a Contiki fluro party happening... we're already glad we have chosen Busabout and we go to sleep excited to be starting the next chapter of our travels tomorrow.