Gruyères, Mont Blanc, Callier, and the Matterhorn

 Our most recent adventure included traveling through Switzerland (from French speaking to German speaking) and was full of luxurious cuisine. From chocolate and cheese to castles and mountains, this trip was remarkable! We have a much better appreciation for the beauties of Switzerland.

We started off early Saturday morning and picked up our brand new rental car with only 300km on it.  We drove around Lac Leman (or Lake Geneva) and headed to Broc.  Emily learned that happy cows are not from California, they are from Switzerland and have cow bells. There's nothing like looking at beautiful mountains and listening to chiming cows grazing in their pastures.

The main reason we went to Broc was to see the Cailler Chocolate Factory. The tour was really fun and we learned a lot about the history of "edible happiness." Haven't heard of Cailler Chocolate?  Neither had we.  Turns out it is the first chocolate factory in Switzerland that later merged with Nestle.  Part of the tour included a tasting room where you can eat as much chocolate as you want...we definitely indulged!

We also happened to visit the Maison Cailler at the same time as a bunch of local car enthusiasts. Which means we were treated to a free car show of some of the most incredible old European cars ranging from Jaguars and Porsches to Citroens and Peugeots. Emily would like a Porsche Targa someday and Chad readily concurs.

 We then drove to Gruyeres and went to a cheese factory.  Some of you may know of Chad's love for cheese or may even follow his cheese blog. If so then you can imagine Chad's delight in going to a cheese factory.  Let's just say Chad is now looking into studying some type of cheese law and hopes to be the next cheese baron of Gruyeres.

 Gruyeres is also known for its Medieval Castle. It was the first time Emily's been inside a castle and it did not disappoint.  She was looking for a dragon to fly over the mountains any second.

 Lincoln was such a trooper.  Good thing he came equipped with toes.  They produce endless fun for this little one.

 How cool are these turrets?

 We let Lincoln crawl around with the suits of armor.  I think he thought they were pretty cool.

 

Switzerland has a thing with horn blowing.  On Saturdays horn blowers come and play music at the castle.  It was really neat to see and nice to listen to.

After Gruyeres we headed to St. Maurice where we stayed the night in a lovely Franciscan hotel.  While walking about this little town it started to rain. We felt bad that Lincoln got wet, but he just sucked the water off his toes and loved it. Atta boy!

The next day we went to church in Martigny and met some really nice people.  Then we drove to Zermatt.  In Zermatt we got a great view of the Matterhorn.  Not the one at Disneyland (although it would have been nice if there was a roller coaster going through this one).  We saw the real life one!  It was breath taking!  I can't really describe how beautiful and unreal it looked.



 

1617.23m is about 5,305 ft.

On our way to and from Zermatt we drove through St. Niklaus, and yes we saw THE St. Niklaus.

 

Our last stop was in Chamonix where we saw Mt. Blanc. This mountain is covered with glaciers, ski resorts, and unfathomable beauty. Chad was aching to get his skis on and conquer those mountains.  Maybe next time... 

And then back home to Annemasse and another exciting week on the French/Swiss border. Our Opel Corsa rental car had 900 km on it when we returned it. Nothing like tripling a new car's mileage, er... kilometerage.