La Gruyere – A land with a heart

Sadly our time in Croatia came to an end. As we sped away on our way to port we waved our dreamy island farewell.

We caught our flight to Lyon

And we we’re surprised that the skies we’re bluer than in Croatia.

We picked up our rental car and headed to Switzerland. (Cars are way cheaper in France and it’s easier to fly into/out of than Switzerland). We drove to a grocery store, bought 5 types of cheese, a loaf of fresh bread, some chocolate and drinks and continued on to our hotel in Beviax which is just outside of Neuchatel. Neuchatel is the French speaking capital of the Swiss canton Neuchatel ( canton= equivalent to a state for US folks) and is on Lake Neuchatel.

We got settled in and went for a walk to stretch our legs because we had been sitting most of the day. We were caught off at how quintessentially french this Swiss town was.

There are tons of public water fountains that have water clean enough to drink out of (and people actually do!)

They obviously have a lot of fires in the winter! All of the houses had tons of firewood and it was perfectly cut!

We went home that night, enjoyed all of our cheeses and prepared for our next days adventures.

Sunday – Gruyere

Our first Swiss adventure was to Gruyere to check out Gruyeres Castle and to learn more about Gruyeres cheese.

I loved seeing the cows on the hill as we walked up to the castle. They were all wearing cow bells and there was a beautiful “bell medley” playing as we walked by the herd. I never realized cow bells were a “Swiss” thing until I saw the gift shop had a whole selection of cow bells in different colors and sizes. (Dare I admit that I thought it was weird that Howard brought one back as a souvenir from one trip but didn’t want to ask why!?)

We walked up the steep hill to get the 13th century fortress. It has had several owners over the years but much attention has been given to restoring it to it’s original form. There were also many modern day art exhibitions housed within it’s walls which felt out of place but was an eccentric backdrop.

We toured all of the rooms and enjoyed looking at their kitchen. Howard had to explain how a lot of the items worked. My lack of experience in this room was obvious!

The stone floors were amazing. They probably weren’t comfortable to walk on with bare feet and I bet they got cold in the winter but for someone who paints rocks…. Goodness!

H found his Halloween costume for this year!

Cat was mesmerized by this hand! Many legends were forged over the years about it’s origins but the most popular was that it belonged to a soldier who had his hand ripped off in the battle against Charles let Temeraire. It was kept in memory of the glorious victory at the castle. In reality, it was found to be the right hand of an Egyptian mummy after analysis was done in 2003.

H and I could not come to an agreement on what was happening in this painting. Please leave your interpretation in the comments section.

Below is a wheelchair that was off in a random corner without additional information. The individual would have had to crank the handles to make the cogs on the wheels move the chair. Imagine the upper body strength that would have been required to move the chair over the cobblestone walkways.

The views from this castle were amazing. We we’re surprised that there was still snow on the mountains. I tried to get this picture about 10 times but my 2 comedian traveling partners thought it would be funny to keep jumping in the shot.

…but I finally got it. Truth be told I like the ones with them in it better!

We had worked up an appetite and had to try the fondue. The warmth of the cheese on the fresh bread was a perfect combination of rich and savory. It was amazing.

Our view during lunch wasn’t bad either!

Feeling the huge need to walk after our lunch we wandered around the castle grounds. It was a treat to watch a group of men playing the Alphorn (think TV commercial for Ricola cough drops) while a man did a dance with the Swiss flag.

As we left town we stopped at the cheese dairy La Maison du Gruyere which did a great job of explaining the cheese aging process. Each season 4000-7000 wheels mature in the cellars at a temperature of 53 degrees to 64 degrees at 92% humidity. The cheese is made into 35kg (77 pound) wheels and turned over and brushed with a mixture of salt and water, every day for the first 10 days. During the following 2 weeks a machine carries out this process 3 times per week, then twice per week during the next 3 months and once a week until they are real for sale. They had samples to try the different ages…6 months old, 12 months old and 18 months. Like the 3 little bears, Cat liked the youngest cheese, Howard liked the oldest cheese and I thought the one in the middle was aged to perfection.   

After an amazing day with a lot of giggles and cheese we felt accomplished and headed home. It was a good day for a good day!