So we finally made it. 200 Francs per person (actually a little less as I had a Swiss Travel Pass which itself cost a small fortune) and 3 hours bottom to top, and we had reached Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the Jungfrau and Mönch mountains. Although we wanted to experience a bit of Switzerland as a whole, this was one of the Big Two that we had come here for. The other was the Bernina Express journey that got us into the country.

I took this shot from The Plateau, or more precisely just a little bit above there. The Plateau is one of the places where you can go out onto the mountain; it's 3,475m (11,401ft, for those chained to the old system) above sea level. This was a glacier which is running off to the south east, if I recall correctly. The main set of tourist facilities are in the building to the left including the restaurant where we had lunch. So yeah, there was a nice view to go with the nice food. (In fact it was probably some of the best we had in Switzerland, which is curious because there is usually an inverse relationship between the quality of food and the quality of the view in my experience. But hey, it was Switzerland; it didn't have a whole heck of a lot of competition in the "good food" department, except for the cheese fondue place.) Way, way up at the top left is where you would find the Sphinx Observatory referred to in my last couple of shots, or would do if the frame extended far enough.

I had not brought a set of gloves, and regretted it a little though I didn't feel imperilled by the omission; just a bit uncomfortable at times. You do notice the relative scarcity of oxygen at that altitude. I was feeling a little more euphoric than would be justified even by this long-anticipated trip, but I was aware of the fact.

When you look down this glacier and at the rocky mountains surrounding it you are not merely looking into the distance but you are looking back in time. These glaciers did not form in the last few years or the last few hundred. They have seen generations be born, live and die. They have seen empires rise and fall. They have seen wars fought, lost and won. I would like to say that they will continue on for generations still, but on one wall they have a chart showing the temperature readings over the last 60 years or so. The numbers are inclined to make one say "Holy s**t". Yes, the numbers are increasing, and worryingly so.

I have said previously that some places have an air about them that makes it impossible to take photos that do them justice, no matter how good the photographer or how good the gear. For now at least, this is still one such place.

(Of course it doesn't help that the sun's rays picked up a damn magenta fringing which my Photoshop skillz are not l33t enough to overcome at this point. (Though looking at it here it's a lot less noticeable when reduced to the 1200px publication size. It's rather obvious in the raw image, though.) Much as the snow and mountains are majestic they can be a sod to photograph because of all the glare and reflections. If you live in a place which is regularly covered by snow I suppose that you will eventually adapt to it and learn the techniques to overcome those problems. However this was the first time that I had encountered snow one to one, face to face, so I was basically feeling my way photographically. Still, at least I got the ray flare pointing into the valley as intended, so that's something.)