Over four hours and three train changes past Zurich, we disembarked at Grindelwald. Here to spend one night at the 1,034 meter (3,392 foot) elevation in the Bernese Alps. The following day to travel high above to 3,454 meters, or 11,332 feet, to disembark at Europe's highest railway station--the "Top of Europe".

After arriving in Grindelwald, we trekked, and I mean trekked, up a steep road to the Alpenhof Hotel. We passed beside a green slope where black and white long-hair goats grazed. Called, I believe on the German-speaking side--Walliser Schwarzhalsziege. On this road, I had to stop once or twice to catch my breath. Once we were shown inside our room and stepped onto the balcony, it was the view that took my breath away. We were directly facing the Jungfrau. Of course, the mountains are so massive, surely every structure in the village owns a view of the top.

In the sky that fair day a scattering of hang gliders soared enticingly close the the mountain.

We opted to submit ourselves to the hotel climb once more and walked down to the village center to find coffee. Dinner could be had later inside our hotel. We walked past the stately old Regina Hotel, beautiful against the mountain backdrop. Various colorful banners flew in the village--the national Swiss flag, the banners of Canton Bern and of the village Grindelwald. At a cozy cafe along the main street we found coffee and--what else?--meringues offered on the menu. Somehow these seemed the most delicious yet.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant gave us a hearty start. We walked briskly to the train station, where our luggage was held until we would return from the top. First we took the train to Kleine Scheidegg, where we switched to a cogwheel train to take us through the Eiger North Face Tunnel. Once we entered the Eiger tunnel, the train slowly climbed its way to the stop Eigerwand--a five-minute photo opportunity through an 8-meter window. A wonderfully intimidating sight! This is the window in the final scenes in Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction. Back on the train until the next photo op stop, the Eismeer or Sea of Ice. Onto the train once more, and we reached the top--fifty minutes from Kleine Scheidegg.

We took advantage of the self-guided tour at the Jungfraujoch. Top on our list was to walk through the Ice Palace, carved from inside the Aletsch Glacier. We walked cautiously through the ice tunnel that shows off several ice sculptures. We kept our pace slow as we explored, as we were not accustomed to breathing the high-altitude air. There is another room that seems to be designed for the children, or the child within we adults, with whimsical wood carvings and a display much like a giant snowglobe. Of course, there is a gift shop offering various tempting gift items. Lindt Chocolates can be found in a separate room filled with lusciousness to purchase.

Hungry as only alpine air can make one, we bypassed the orderly and clean self-service restaurant and opted for white tablecloths and high-class (no pun intended) service. We were luckily seated beside one of the enormous windows. No one seemed to mind that I left my table to make photos from other nearby windows. Then I had my first taste of Rösti Margherita. (Not a drink!) Much like hash brown potatoes, with tomatos, Mozarella cheese and olives. So-o-o-o savory good.

One outside seating area was closed due to falling ice from the roof. We found another area where we walked across snow to chairs provided to sit and soak in the sun's rays. I was surprised to observe people active at such a high altitude: people hiking trails higher yet, zip lining above us, and a bit further down the slope the young and young-at-heart innertubing.

Zurich awaited our return, so we soon hopped on the next train to Kleine Scheidegg below, then the train to Grindelwald. We retrieved our luggage and boarded the train to Bern to begin in reverse our journey of the previous day.

We were happy to be back in Zurich, and I was really glad to have experienced the glacier pass, the Jungfraujoch.