Unending Beauty - The Jungfrau

Paramita Mukherjee Mullick

Paramita Mukherjee Mullick

Have you ever realised that the beauty of Nature never diminishes? In fact in different lights, in different seasons, nature shows myriad colours, myriad wonders. I fell in love with mountains in my vacation to Interlaken, Switzerland recently. Our hotel balcony overlooked the mountains of Interlaken. In the middle of the conifer covered green mountains the majestic snow covered Jungfrau peak dazzled.

Every day, every hour the Jungfrau looked different. I was fascinated with the wonderful colour- play on the snow. The glistens, the dazzle, the radiance made me photograph the beauty again and again.

Before checking into our hotel my family and I spent some time in the Hohematte Park. This is a huge green stretch with flower beds and fountains on the periphery. Interlaken is famous for outdoor sports like paragliding, skydiving, bungee jumping and many more. The paragliders land on this Park. We were fascinated to watch the paragliders landing. Suddenly I looked up and lo and behold! Saw the dazzling snow covered peak of Jungfrau in the midst of green mountains. It was about 1pm then. The view of the Jungfrau, dazzling in the afternoon sun was mesmerizing. I took a photograph of it along with a beautiful flower bed of the Park.

After walking around and soaking in the beauty of Interlaken for a while we checked into our hotel. After settling down I went to the balcony of our room. Oh what a sight! From the 14th floor you could see almost the whole of Interlaken. The fresh stretch of green of the Hohematte Park in front and the majestic mountains in the background. Then the cloud covered peak came into view, it was about 4.13pm...the play of the clouds went on with Jungfrau. The milk white clouds met the milk white snow of the peak. 

At about 5.20pm it started clearing up.  The clouds floated away. I sat mesmerised in my balcony.

A white big mansion with grey roof was at the lap of the green mountain covered with conifers. Beautiful houses were at the foothill of that mountain.  I saw children playing in the Hohematte Park. The fountains at each flower bed of the Park added to the beauty. People were enjoying the sunny day. The colourful sails of the paragliders splashed the Park with colours. At the corner there was an ice cream vendor and a few people were crowding around her. Just before getting into the hotel we have had the famous Swiss ice cream from her. The street in front had cars and colourful horse carriages. Again on the extreme left I could see the glistening blue water of the Lake Thun.

At 8.29pm when the sun was setting the white snow reflected the red of the setting sun and the pinkish glow on the snow covered peak was ethereal.

The conifer silhouettes against the white background of the snow peak and the white mansion standing on the green mountain was something out of a picture postcard.   The beauty made me go crazy and I went on clicking photographs of the same peak again and again.

The next day the 11th of July early in the morning at 5.54am the first light of the rising sun glistened on the peak, so only the peak was pink and the rest dazzling white. 

At 6.29am the first paraglider was gliding with Jungfrau as a back drop. 

We were getting ready to travel to Jungfraujoch to experience the ‘Top of Europe’ feeling and by then at about 8.45am there were no clouds and the dazzling mountain was welcoming us with a sunny day.

 

We came back quite late and I ran to my balcony and at 9.15pm the sky was a wonderful blue and Jungfrau had vanished in that blue darkness.  A fairyland kind of darkness had set in.

The lights twinkled in the houses. Even at that late hour it was not dark totally. The restaurants in the street below were bustling with people.  I could both hear and see a musical drama going on in a restaurant. Both the men and women were in traditional clothes. A woman was playing the piano.  The sweet songs were breaking the silence of the night. 

The next morning, the 12th of July at 7.01am clouds gathered around Jungfrau. 

A while from then a poem was weaved by the clouds and the snow-capped mountain…the milk white clouds below, the glistening peak and white fluffy clouds above. 

In that sunny weather just after our hearty breakfast, I posed in my balcony with the mesmerizing Jungfrau as a back drop. 

After coming back that night after another invigorating trip I had to go to my muse and lo and behold! The blue darkness was enveloping Jungfrau...that was 9.25pm. Jungfrau vanished in the darkness to energise itself for the next day.

On our last day in Interlaken, the 13th of July I went out to the balcony with my daughter. Clouds were covering up Jungfrau and it was raining heavily. I was feeling sad to leave my muse and maybe the Jungfrau was also sad and so had conspired with the clouds to bring rain to add to the melancholy mood.

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Setu, August 2023