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The Jungfraujoch is probably Switzerland’s most popular mountain attraction. It’s reached by rail from Kleine Scheidegg, and in a normal year in excess of 1 million visitors will make the trip. It’s also very expensive – a family of 4 could easily spend a thousand francs on a day trip.

But of course, these are not normal times, and the Jungfraujoch is facing a distinct shortage of visitors. To try and get more people up there the trip has been included in our summer passes, which means we can go as often as we like – for free. Off we go then. Plenty of room on the (normally packed) train.

The journey is almost entirely within a tunnel through the Eiger. We stop at a halfway point to look out at the Grindelwald glacier.

It’s difficult to convey the scale of it all. The glacier is huge.

The train continues to the summit at 3454 metres (11333 feet). We step outside. It’s cold, and there’s not much air to breathe. Before us is another glacier – the Aletsch. At 23 kilometres it is the longest in the Alps, and the ice is up to 1 kilometre deep.

The view down the other side is no less impressive. Kleine Scheidegg and the Lauberhorn below us.

You can go for a walk on the glacier, to a mountain hut. It’s late afternoon so we won’t be doing this today.

Inside, there are lots more attractions. This thing is like a huge snow globe.

And there’s an ice palace inside the glacier. Everything is ice – walls, floor and ceiling.

Lots of ice carvings in here, here are some penguins and an igloo.

There’s a chocolate museum, and we learn how Herr Lindt came up with the recipe for his delicious chocolate (it was an accident).

The shop attached to the museum is really good, with a big pick ‘n mix as well as all the different bars of choc. We bought loads before hopping on the train back to Scheidegg.

While we were waiting for the train back to Wengen we spotted a lone cyclist coming up the hill.

Emily has biked up from Wengen, and her goal was the top of the Lauberhorn. See you later for a well deserved beer!

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One of our favourite hikes is from Trachsellauenen, which is a tiny hamlet at the very end of our valley. There are no lifts or any kind of public transport, so you have to walk up from Stechelberg. Today however, we have an opportunity to do things differently. Sandro has a splendid new 4 wheel drive minibus, and he’s going hiking with his mate. We hitch a lift, and we’re dropped off just above Trachsellauenen. This saves us at least an hour. It’s a beautiful day.

Our first stop is at the Hotel Tschingelhorn. We have coffee and cake. They keep yaks here, and sometimes they’re on the menu.

After coffee we continue upwards. A big family of goats on the path.

We reach the next mountain hotel at Obersteinberg. More coffee, and fantastic views.

And this is as far up our valley as you can go. The last bridge over the Lütschine.

Having gained all that height we now need to start our descent. It’s steep and rocky.

But just look at those views.

The waterfall above is called the Schmadri fall. We can see it clearly from our balcony at home, but to get this close requires a bit more effort.

A great day out, and we covered about 11 kilometres.

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We were promised a sunny day today, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way. To be fair it’s pleasant enough, just a bit grey. We had a saunter up to Allmend for lunch.

Val is babysitting for Beanie tonight, so it’ll be a quiet night in for me.

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Sandro, Beanie and the girls went hiking yesterday, and came upon lots of mushrooms in the forest. This must mean it’s autumn. Anyhow, the mushrooms will go very nicely on home made pizza, so last night we fired up the oven in the garden. Larina with her pets.

The pizzas were delicious.

The nights are drawing in now, and before long we were in darkness and beginning to feel the chill. Another few logs on the fire soon sorted that out.

Today it was still a bit chilly, but we had a nice walk around the village and it got a lot warmer once the sun came out.

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There’s a lot of good eating in Luzern, and we were delighted to stumble upon a Greek restaurant just downriver from our hotel. We ate there last night and it was every bit as good as we hoped.

This morning Val picked up some last bits of shopping and we bought lunch from a bakery to eat on the train home. Thanks Luzern, you were great.

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We had a lovely dinner of spare ribs last night, followed by cocktails in the bar next door. Luzern is very attractive after dark.

This morning we have more sightseeing to do. Our first stop is at the Luzern lion, a sculpture commemorating some 1000 Swiss soldiers who were killed supporting King Louis XVI of France in 1792. This was during the French revolution, and we know how that ended.

Mark Twain visited Luzern, and described the sculpture as ‘the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world’. It’s hard to disagree.

Luzern was originally a walled city. 9 towers and 870 metres of wall remain to the north of the old town. We hike up for a look.

We walk to the top of the hill and climb the many steps to the top of the tallest tower. Great views.

We begin the long descent back to town.

We had lunch in the grand cafe. The cakes are simply splendid.

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Or Lucerne, if you’re any nationality other than Swiss or German. However you spell it, that’s where we’re going today. It’s a very pleasant train ride.

On arrival we check into our hotel and go for a wander. The old town is lovely. Here’s that famous wooden bridge.

And Val on a more modern one outside our hotel.

This is a city untouched by war, and the architecture is simply wonderful. We stopped for a beer here.

We like Luzern, it should be a fun few days.