I stand in front of the Mönch thinking what an amazing New Year's Day this was. We are so lucky to have blue sky and sunshine here as Switzerland has been blanketed by snow over the last few days. That in itself has made travelling around so picturesque. All our train trips have been through snow, just what I wanted! The trip to the Jungfraujoch from Interlaken Ost takes two and a half hours including two train changes! It is a round trip. We choose to take the train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen. In Lauterbrunnen we change to the cog wheel train for Klein Scheidegg, 2062m high. Because it is such a beautiful day, there are hundreds of skiers on the slopes.

In fact, the mountain cog wheel trains have a trailer behind the carriages to transport skis! The scenery to Kl. Scheidegg is typical snow covered mountains but when we change trains there for our final leg to Jungfraujoch, it is tunnel almost all the way. 7 of the 9 km are inside the Jungfrau Tunnel which is built inside the Eiger and Mönch mountains. In fact, I've been in so many tunnels in Switzerland, I am beginning to think all their mountains must be hollow! The Swiss are certainly the ultimate tunnelers. The other amazing fact is that this tunnel was completed in 1912!! It has just celebrated its centenary. There is a tour mapped out for tourists on arrival which is self-explanatory as we only have to follow the numbers. We start with the 360 degree panorama at the station level. As we turn towards the stairs, I straighten the camera strap on my shoulder. Something doesn't feel quite right! Hanging from my camera strap is a pair of brand new ski gloves, still with the price on. CHF77. "Are these your gloves?" I ask Colin, knowing he had recently bought a new pair. "No," he replies. "I think they must have caught on your camera strap on the way through the shop!" The security can't be much good!! We return to the shop, hand them in and start again!! From the station level, we catch the Sphinx Lift to a height of 3,571m above sea level. The view of the Aletsch Glacier is magnificent - all 22km of it. Walking through the Ice Palace was fun, looking at the sculptures carved out of ice. Birds and bears, penguins and especially Sherlock Holmes smoking his pipe (although it has started to melt). For the uninitiated, Sherlock Holmes fell to his death near Meiringen, not too far from the Jungfrau. The tour then takes us to the Ice Plateau where we can actually go outside on the snow. It's not that cold today at -4 degrees. The glare from the snow with the sun on it though is really hard on the eyes. I completely forgot my sunglasses today! We have a New Year's Day lunch at the Restaurant Crystal where we not only enjoy a delicious lunch but also magnificent views out over the mountains. The return trip is back down to Kl. Schneidegg in the same tunnel and then via Grindewald back to Interlaken Ost. Today Interlaken is hosting an outdoor music concert near our hotel and, as we walk back from the station, we can hear it in full swing. The main street has been closed and from our balcony we can see it packed full of people all swaying to the music. At 8o'clock we hear the first fireworks exploding. We walk out onto our veranda and we have a perfect view. For fifteen minutes we are absorbed by one of the best fireworks displays we have ever seen. A perfect end to New Year's Day. We stayed at Hotel Royal St Georges in Room 177. We were upgraded to a Junior Suite at no extra charge. We had an enormous room with a balcony looking towards the town. The bathroom was big with a bath and separate shower. Excellent water pressure, nice toiletries and a little clothes line next to the heated towel unit on the wall. One of the best breakfasts ever. Super-fast wifi. It was excellent. There were only two issues I had. One was the lack of lighting in the room and the second was trying to make a cup of tea with a Nespresso coffee machine. If I return to Interlaken, I will definitely stay here again. It also included a free shuttle back to the station. www.accorhotels.com