Meet the Parents, Part 1: Switzerland
As mentioned before, the 'rents were in town for about three weeks (although it certainly felt like longer), and as we did so much traveling, I think I have enough photos and such that I can milk it for at least a couple of blog updates. First up: our time in Switzerland!
Fig. 1: From left to right: Dad, Mom. You can tell it's early in their visit as both are still smiling.
After arriving Thursday afternoon, my parents spent Friday and Saturday largely hanging around Lausanne and recovering from jet lag. Sunday, we took the train out to Bern, which was nice but not particularly exciting. Although I have a bunch of pictures of the city, well, unfortunately none of them are particularly exciting either. As I was too dumb to bring a towel or swimsuit, I did not get to partake in that highlight of any Berne trip, swimming in the Aare river. Maybe next time.
Monday, we did something that I've been meaning to do for a very long time: take a ride on the Train du Chocolat!
Fig. 2: Le train du chocolat!
Fig. 1: From left to right: Dad, Mom. You can tell it's early in their visit as both are still smiling.After arriving Thursday afternoon, my parents spent Friday and Saturday largely hanging around Lausanne and recovering from jet lag. Sunday, we took the train out to Bern, which was nice but not particularly exciting. Although I have a bunch of pictures of the city, well, unfortunately none of them are particularly exciting either. As I was too dumb to bring a towel or swimsuit, I did not get to partake in that highlight of any Berne trip, swimming in the Aare river. Maybe next time.
Monday, we did something that I've been meaning to do for a very long time: take a ride on the Train du Chocolat!
Fig. 2: Le train du chocolat! The Chocolate Train is an small, old-fashioned narrow gauge train that takes tourists on a full-day excursion of cheese and chocolate.
Fig. 3: Vintage, belle-epoque wagons added to the charm of the trip. Unfortunately, the lack of air-conditioning added to the discomfort of the trip as well.
Leaving from nearby Montreux at 9:25 AM, the chocolate train winds its way up the Vaudoises pre-alpes into the hills of Fribourg. The first stop is in the (modern) town of Gruyère for a visit to a model cheese factory (La maison du Gruyère), which although largely aimed at tour groups of children was still fairly interesting. They give the statistic about how much grass and water it takes to produce one kilo of cheese, and although I can't remember them exactly, I assure you it is more than you would ever guess. Let's just put it this way: cows are just not very efficient cheesemakers. Oh well.
From the modern town, a very short shuttle ride takes you up the hill to the ancient village of Gruyère. Pretty much the closest thing to an all-tourist affair that I've ever seen in Switzerland (it sort of reminded me of San Gimignano or one of those other Tuscan towns that doubles its population whenever a large bus pulls up), Gruyère is your typical hilltop castle town.
Fig. 4: Main street, Gruyère. Off in the distance is Le Moleson, fairly impressive and badass mountain in its own right.
Besides cheese, Gruyere is also famous for producing a special, extra-unhealthy cream, called (obviously enough) crème de gruyère. Usually used for extremely heavy desserts, I was a little surprised when it arrived with the espresso I had after lunch. It was so thick that you couldn't pour it -- it had to be scooped out with a spoon.
Fig. 5: Espresso with real crème de gruyère. Not pictured: adorable little wooden defibrillator.
Lots of other cool things in Gruyères:
Fig. 6: The Hostellerie St. Georges. Where does one find such a cool sign? That would look perfect in my apartment.
Gruyere is also the home of the H.R. Giger Museum. Born in Chur, Switzerland, Giger is a visual effects artist, painter, sculptor, etc., best known for his work as art director of the Alien movies. Although it seems a little bit out of place in the middle of a quaint, quasi-medieval town, the museum is quite popular. We didn't have any time for a visit (the chocolate train stops for no one), but I did manage to get some pictures of the artwork outside.
Fig. 7: Giger's Wikipedia page tells me that this particular piece of art is called "Birthing Machine."
After a bit more travel time, the chocolate train finally arrives in beautiful Broc, Switzerland, home of the Cailler chocolate factory. Cailler wass the inventor of milk chocolate (amongst other innovations) and the factory has been in continous operation since 1911 (it became part of Nestle in 1929). The factory itself is not particularly scenic, but inside ...
Fig. 8: Terrie and the Chocolate Factory.
After an interminable ten minute tour, you are finally let loose in the "sampling room." Every single chocolate the Cailler makes (maybe around 30 different kinds?) is available to taste, thus finally putting the "chocolate" in "chocolate train." Admittedly, I found it hard to really enjoy the chocolate after about piece number 15, but a second wind allowed me to push through almost to the end. In what can only be described as a brilliant marketing strategy, the next stop is the Cailler gift shop, which sells everything you just enjoyed for prices slightly below what you would expect to pay at the supermarket. Not a bad deal.
After a long, sun-drenched, and un-air-conditioned ride, the chocolate train pulls into Montreux around 6:00 PM. All in all, it was a pretty fun activity, but I think it could be improved. The train really is interminably slow (it frequently stops to allow other trains to pass, makes numerous detours and direction changes, and generally doesn't operate under the same efficient operating conditions of the rest of the Swiss train system), and the whole pace of the day means that you're rushed some times and bored at other times. Fortunately, though, all of the individual activities that make up the trip -- the cheese factory, the town of Gruyère, the Cailler factory -- can be enjoyed independently of the chocolate train. I think that future visitors to the Hotel San Giorgio might look forward to whatever portions of this trip strikes their fancy without worrying about slogging through the things they might not enjoy so much. We aim to please.
Next update: France!
Fig. 3: Vintage, belle-epoque wagons added to the charm of the trip. Unfortunately, the lack of air-conditioning added to the discomfort of the trip as well.Leaving from nearby Montreux at 9:25 AM, the chocolate train winds its way up the Vaudoises pre-alpes into the hills of Fribourg. The first stop is in the (modern) town of Gruyère for a visit to a model cheese factory (La maison du Gruyère), which although largely aimed at tour groups of children was still fairly interesting. They give the statistic about how much grass and water it takes to produce one kilo of cheese, and although I can't remember them exactly, I assure you it is more than you would ever guess. Let's just put it this way: cows are just not very efficient cheesemakers. Oh well.
From the modern town, a very short shuttle ride takes you up the hill to the ancient village of Gruyère. Pretty much the closest thing to an all-tourist affair that I've ever seen in Switzerland (it sort of reminded me of San Gimignano or one of those other Tuscan towns that doubles its population whenever a large bus pulls up), Gruyère is your typical hilltop castle town.
Fig. 4: Main street, Gruyère. Off in the distance is Le Moleson, fairly impressive and badass mountain in its own right.Besides cheese, Gruyere is also famous for producing a special, extra-unhealthy cream, called (obviously enough) crème de gruyère. Usually used for extremely heavy desserts, I was a little surprised when it arrived with the espresso I had after lunch. It was so thick that you couldn't pour it -- it had to be scooped out with a spoon.
Fig. 5: Espresso with real crème de gruyère. Not pictured: adorable little wooden defibrillator.Lots of other cool things in Gruyères:
Fig. 6: The Hostellerie St. Georges. Where does one find such a cool sign? That would look perfect in my apartment.Gruyere is also the home of the H.R. Giger Museum. Born in Chur, Switzerland, Giger is a visual effects artist, painter, sculptor, etc., best known for his work as art director of the Alien movies. Although it seems a little bit out of place in the middle of a quaint, quasi-medieval town, the museum is quite popular. We didn't have any time for a visit (the chocolate train stops for no one), but I did manage to get some pictures of the artwork outside.
Fig. 7: Giger's Wikipedia page tells me that this particular piece of art is called "Birthing Machine."After a bit more travel time, the chocolate train finally arrives in beautiful Broc, Switzerland, home of the Cailler chocolate factory. Cailler wass the inventor of milk chocolate (amongst other innovations) and the factory has been in continous operation since 1911 (it became part of Nestle in 1929). The factory itself is not particularly scenic, but inside ...
Fig. 8: Terrie and the Chocolate Factory.After an interminable ten minute tour, you are finally let loose in the "sampling room." Every single chocolate the Cailler makes (maybe around 30 different kinds?) is available to taste, thus finally putting the "chocolate" in "chocolate train." Admittedly, I found it hard to really enjoy the chocolate after about piece number 15, but a second wind allowed me to push through almost to the end. In what can only be described as a brilliant marketing strategy, the next stop is the Cailler gift shop, which sells everything you just enjoyed for prices slightly below what you would expect to pay at the supermarket. Not a bad deal.
After a long, sun-drenched, and un-air-conditioned ride, the chocolate train pulls into Montreux around 6:00 PM. All in all, it was a pretty fun activity, but I think it could be improved. The train really is interminably slow (it frequently stops to allow other trains to pass, makes numerous detours and direction changes, and generally doesn't operate under the same efficient operating conditions of the rest of the Swiss train system), and the whole pace of the day means that you're rushed some times and bored at other times. Fortunately, though, all of the individual activities that make up the trip -- the cheese factory, the town of Gruyère, the Cailler factory -- can be enjoyed independently of the chocolate train. I think that future visitors to the Hotel San Giorgio might look forward to whatever portions of this trip strikes their fancy without worrying about slogging through the things they might not enjoy so much. We aim to please.
Next update: France!
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