TOP OF EUROPE -- You have to hand it to the Swiss. Not only did they invent fondue and continue to single-handedly keep it alive as a food source, but they build railroad stations to the top of the Alps.
I am standing here at what the brochures call the Top of Europe because they did just that, and also because of these three words: "Saturday night stay."My assignment of providing probing analysis and in-depth commentary from the IOC's expulsion hearings last week in Lausanne ended before the Saturday night stay required by the airlines for the super duper air fare -- a savings I was able to quickly and effectively spend on a round-trip ticket on the Jungfraubahnen Railway System, from a place called Winderswil in the Interlaken valley to the top of a mountain called Jungfrau.
The highest train station on Earth.
And nobody gets off and argues.
As far as the eye can see, peaks, peaks and more peaks.
On a clear day you can see Germany, France and Italy. On an unclear day you can't see Switzerland.
Luckily, when my son Eric and myself disembarked at 11,330 feet it was a clear day and there they stood, in all their magnificence. The Alps. It looked like Midway on some serious creatine.
Ninety years ago, the Swiss hit on the idea of building this train. They were smart enough to make watches that could sell for as much as cars and they were the first to number bank accounts, they ought to be able to tunnel a train track through more than five miles of solid rock and ice, almost straight up.
Europeans! Are we really related? Other than Disneyland and McDonald's, name something we have in common.
Yeah, OK, and we both like to buy the occasional Olympic Games.
Them: Smoke wherever they want, park their cars wherever they want, close their shops for lunch and go home and have a nap, shower when they want, drive as fast as they want on the freeways.
Us: Exactly the opposite.
And we're the land of the free.
They'll die of lung cancer about the same time we die of stress.
But back to the mountains.
Most spectacular view of all is the Eiger -- one of a trio of peaks, along with the Moench and the Jungfrau, that sit atop this portion of the Swiss Alps like the points on the Rolex logo.
Think of an elevator shaft, but with only one side. Not even the Swiss have thought about building a train up the Eiger.
It should also be noted that there is an almost solid procession of ski lifts and gondolas flanking the Jungfraubahnen train tracks. Once you get to the Kleine Scheidegg lifts, at the foot of the Eiger, you have a seven-mile ski run staring you in the face, should that be your pleasure. Like going from Snowbird to Sandy in one shot.
Today's travel tip: If you only have a weekend to do Europe, Switzerland is a good way to do it.
The biggest advantage is you can see France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland and never have to leave the country. The southwest, bordering France, is French-speaking and very French-looking, although not so overboard on wrought iron railings. The south, bordering Italy, is Italian-speaking with lots of hand gestures, and the interior and north is German-speaking and looking, right down to the drindls and stern innkeepers.
Besides French, German and Italian, the Swiss have a fourth language -- a colloquial Latin called Romansh. If the Swiss legislature wanted to adopt one single official language, THAT would be worth buying tickets to.
Thus, it is possible to get on a train bound for, say, the top of the Jungfrau and hear French, German, Italian and Romansh -- and still be completely surrounded by Swissfolk.
You will also get there on time.
Send e-mail to (benson@desnews.com), fax 801-237-2527. Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.