We had a mainly uneventful journey to Paris via Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken and Basel.

The only eventful part was ending up in the 1st Class carriage and having to walk down the train just as it was leaving!

Paris is hot, but the traffic was quiet enough that we had enough time for a beer before our train.

We were up at 5am this morning for an early breakfast and the walk down to the station for the first of six trains we’ll use to get home.

A nice day was forecast, so we decided to do a fairly long trip to the top of Rothorn, the other end of the lake.

We used three different trains to get to Brienze, the last running along side the lake:

We then transferred to a steam rack railway:

And went steeply up the hill, winding around many steep drops!

It was a very noisy journey, but eventually we reached the top:

After a beer, I explored the area – good views and it almost felt as if you were on top of the world.

After another beer, it was time to return down – much quieter!

We then took the steam paddle steamer back to Interlaken:

From there, it was the usual two trains back to Wengen. A very full day!

We had to make our own arrangements for supper tonight. We were going to get the train into Interlaken, but decided to be lazy and eat in Wengen instead.

We chose a nearby pizzeria and sat outside with views of the mountains:

Supper was good, even the Italian lager…

Afterwards, we went for a stroll in the forest to the Mendelssohn memorial, which I’d previously visited:

And when we got back, the Jungfrau was actually clear of clouds:

Phil left me to enjoy the view while he walked across to the other platform. He did wave, but not while I had my phone out.

These waterfalls (supposedly) take all the water from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains, and some are underground.

We went up part way in a lift:

Then climbed the rest on our own:

All very dramatic and surprisingly noisy!

We walked back down, mainly outside:

Then it was time for a beer, the bus to Lauterbrunnen and the train back up to Wengen.

We’ve certainly done a lot of vertical travel so far this week!

From Murren, we used two cable cars to get to the bottom of the valley:

And then caught a bus to Trümmelbach.

Yet another mountain today… This involved a train down into the valley, a cable car up the other side, another train, a walk and two more cable cars!

This is the view from the first cable car:

It connects with a single coach train at the top:

And has interesting machinery to transfer freight from the cable car to the train:

At the top end, we had a bit of a walk to Mürren, and sadly, it briefly drizzled…

The next cable car went up into the clouds to Birg:

Where we changed yet again and headed up to the Schilthorn.

Luckily there were breaks in the clouds, though we never saw the Jungfrau or Eiger.

They publicise the fact that this was used in one of the James Bond films.

On the way back, we stopped for a beer at Birg:

Then back to Murren.

The forecast rain seems to have held off, so we had a short stroll around this end of Wengen. First was the reform church:

A nice simple church with interesting stained glass windows.

The view down the valley was excellent:

We then went to an “English Church”, St Bernards:

Again, plain and simple. All the services are in English, which is quite unusual for a church in Europe.

By which time, it was getting dark:

A lovely stroll.

Another day, another mountain…

We met at Wengen station for our reserved coach in the train up the hill.

Unfortunately, one of our party wasn’t feeling well, so I and another chap had to be deputy tour managers for the morning.

We had a single change of train at Kleine Schiedegg – the second one is mostly in tunnel, so not very interesting. But the train did stop for 5 minutes so we could get out for a look through some ‘windows’ in the rock:

And then we were at Jungfraujoch station, the highest in Europe at just under 12000ft.

Inside were the usual collection of overpriced shops and restaurants, and a small outside viewing platform:

Further along some tunnels was a long and fast lift to a science research station and some more viewing platforms:

It was a bit murky at this point, but soon cleared:

We then explored the other inside attractions…

and some ice sculptures:

Finally, we managed to get to some snow (the main access to the glacier was closed for some reason):

By then, it was time for lunch and a beer.

I did have a further look outside, but by then, it was very murky, windy and damp!

It was nice to get back down to the sunshine a mere 4000ft up.