Jungfraujoch, Switzerland (6/20-22/1979)

Wednesday, June 20, 1979

Left Diano Marina at 00:30 with Dino to arrive home at 2:30. After three days at the Riviera, Signora B and I changed places again.

That evening I finally left at 20:00 to go to Switzerland. Took the scenic route even if it was getting dark, heading towards Ivrea then Santhia. Then up to Borgomanero and finally to Domodossola where I was stopped for a routine check by the police. Headed towards the Swiss border and pulled off to the side of the nearly deserted road to sleep. It turned out I was around the curve from the border station!

Thursday, June 21, 1979

Woke up at 6:00 and after marking my routes on the maps, I went back to Domodossola to wait for a gas station to open. After filling up, I drove to the border, where I had some trouble because I could not prove I had consent to drive the car. Finally they decided to let me through. The Swiss border police made me take out an insurance policy because I had no proof of having insurance, which cost 1,500 lire ($1.88). Drove through the Simplon Pass and saw that Switzerland is a very mountainous country with large beautiful valleys.

Simplon Valley

Simplon Pass

Stopped in Brig to exchange money and fortunately decided to change 50,000 lire instead of 20,000. Drove through the Grimsel Pass through a rugged valley with two dams. There was still ice in the lakes, and the snow at the sides of the road was higher than the buses that passed that way. It also seemed Switzerland was very green, even the streams had a greenish tinge! There were little villages with the picturesque churches. And the Swiss chocolate colored cows! Finally arrived in Interlaken about 12:30 Italian time, but 11:30 Swiss time! This city was a picturesque tourist trap even with casinos! Went first to the west, then the east railroad station where I took a train to Lauterbrunnen. This train used a small section of racking. Changed at Lauterbrunnen to another train that totally used racking to really climb the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg – a town with a hotel, restaurant, souvenir shop, and railroad station, and that’s about all! No cars here!

Lauterbrunnen in the valley with waterfall

Lauterbrunnen and Swiss "hills"

Rack railroad at Kleine Scheidegg

Saw and heard an Alpine horn player. Tourists (mostly Japanese!) were putting coins in the end of the horn (at least 10 feet from the mouth end!).

Alpine horn

From Kleine Scheidegg, took another rack railroad train to Jungfraujoch, the “top of Europe.” This train climbed up inside the Eiger mountain. It made two stops for picture-taking. The first stop had a clouded view of the valley. The second had a view of the glacier:

At Jungfraujoch you got a view of the Jungfrau and accompanying peaks as well as the snow-covered glacier. 

Jungfrau from Jungfraujoch

"Bird's eye" view of the glacier

Jungfrau from the Sphinx area

Glacier and mountains

There was a so-called ice palace where the floors and walls were made completely of ice, with various ice sculptures inside.

The Eiger and rack railroad

Interlaken and Lake Brienz

Soon made my way back down to Interlaken, and got to the car at 18:30 Swiss/19:30 Italian time, with only a few francs to buy gas. Headed straight home, only stopping for gas, and at the border where the Swiss wanted to look in my trunk. And the Italians wanted to have a long conversation with an American. Also stopped in Brig to see about taking the train ferry across the border, but it seemed to have stopped running for the night. 

Friday, June 22, 1979

Arrived home at 1:30.