Interlaken,Switzerland

Cloris Shi

Interlaken, Switzerland (the literal name directly translating to “between lakes” in German) is a statistic town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is a significant and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Highlands region of the Swiss Alps, and the main transport gateway to the mountains and lakes of that region, some of the more famous including the Jungfraujoch and Lake Brienz. The following journey depicts our two day journey of such variety that some captures images of the highest point in Europe to among one the most placid, peaceful lakes, a color such a beautiful blue it seems of a mythical fairytale.

The Jungfraujoch, a notable “saddle” in the Bernese Alps connecting the Jungfrau and Mönch summits, shelters the Sphinx Observatory, the world’s tallest astroniomical obervatory, providing an additional viewing platform at a height of 3,572 metres (11,719 ft). The breathtaking view is one to cativate, far beyond what mere words can express:one side the view of the Mittelland up to the Vosges, on the other the Aletsch glacier, bordered by four thousand metre peaks. The icy breeze weaving through even the thickest of clothes, ubiquitous ice and snow crushing under your feet, twirling ballerinas in the crisp Alpine air— one knows it with one step: the Jungfraujoch is in its own magical fairyland.

On the road up to the Jungfraujoch mountain peak, aesthetic, postcard-worthy snapshots of a serene, tranquil European countryside fill us with wonder, open-mouthed in joy as we position our cameras against the glass for a kodak memorandum of our journey.

The Jungfraujoch Express, reaching the highest altitude by public transportation means at the Sphinx Observatory, travels from the heart of Interlaken, Switzerland to the foothills of the Jungfrau and Mönch mountains harboring the picturesque, tourism-centered city below and finally to the Jungfraujoch, offering countless snapshots of a typical countryside village along the way.

The Jungfrau Railway is a metre gauge rack railway which runs 9 kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch, between the Bernese Highlands and the Valais in Switzerland. Its brick red exterior coating striped with vibrant yellow strokes poses as an ideal photography opportunity for tourists as it contrasts as a man-made/nature contrast as it rumbles through the natural green fields of the mountain village.

A small cottage oversees the two tallest summits in the Bernese Alps: the Mönch and the Jungfrau mountains in which the Jungfraujoch stands at an outstanding height of 3,454 meters.

At the peak of the Jungfraujoch, the Sphinx Observatory welcomes explorers travelling from near and far to explore through stunning ice structures sculpted skillfully from snow and ice in the Ice Palace, taste the newest flavors of Lindt chocolate at the tallest chocolatier in the world, and explore the millions of dreams of Switzerland displayed in a human-sized snowglobe.

Theoretically, the Jungfrau is split between the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen (Bern) and Fieschertal (Valais). It is the third-highest mountain of the Bernese Alps after the nearby Finsteraarhorn and Aletschhorn, respectively 12 and 8 km away.

Admist the heavy fog blanketing the Jungfrau mountain summit in the dustance, the bright, radiant crimson red and the contrasting chiffon white cross of the flying Switzerland flag brings warmth to the citzens of this beautiful small country, rich botheconomically and environmentally.

The more transient something is, the more beautiful, the more delicate, the more stunning. This is especially true of the Ice Palace and its treasures: a majestic eagle, penguin and bear just to name a few, as though they have been had just turned to ice, appear quite natural. But even at minus three Celsius, they are melting, reminding the awe-struck viewers that nothing as magneficent, as alluring stays in the world forever. Mountain guides created the aisles and halls in the 1930s with picks and saws in the middle of the Jungfraufirn. Today, artists create the ice with a great deal of flair. On a mirror-smooth tour through a frosty world, visitors will discover their works of art in nooks and crannies.

Long known for major exports in the dairy departments, the Jungfraujoch Express trains often maneuver through the countryside meadows as descending from the mountain peaks, where unculturized, free-roaming dairy cows graze on the lush, abundant grass meadows blanketing the foothills of the Bernese Alpine mountains.

Brienzersee Lake ( Lake Brienz )

Lake Brienz (German: Brienzersee) is a lake just north of the Alps, in the canton of Berne in Switzerland. It is fed, among others, by the upper reaches of the Aare at its eastern end, the Giessbach at its southern shore from steep, forested and rocky hills of the high Faulhorn and Schwarzhoren more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above the lake, and by the Lütschine, flowing from the valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, at its south-western corner. A mysterious silence is suspended in the warm air, an almost fake landscape— a 360 degree panoramic view summing up a stereotypical Swiss countryside with views from sleepy wooden cottages nestled in grassy meadows to a tranquil lake sheltered under two protective mountains spreading beyond what meets the eye. Church peals chime bright and lively—a fake, man-made tone—, disrupting and destroying the natural beauty gifted to us by Mother Nature, reminding visitors of the carbon footprints humanity has left on the Earth for nature does not curtail its beauty for us, so let’s not curtail beauty for nature.