Week 10 - Cheese- and Chocolate-Stravaganza

This past week was alright, although Margaret was feeling a bit under the weather. Fortunately, she was able to make enough of a recovery so that we could finally go to Gruyère.

The day started with cheese making at the Maison du Gruyère, a working cheese factory where they make up to 48 enormous wheels of cheese per day. We got to see them boil the milk, add the renet, and pour the concotion into cheese molds roughly 2 feet in diameter. After most of the whey (the liquidy part) drains out, they place an identification number on the top of the cheese and put a disk on top of the curds to compress them. After they're compressed, the wheels of cheese are put in a salt water bath to soak for about a day. After the salt water soaking, the long and tedious part takes place. The cheese is aged in a cellar smelling of ammonia for 6-15+ months on, depending on how smelly and flavorful you want your cheese. The cheese is not left completely by itself, however; every now and then it is pulled down from its aging spot and is scrubbed with more salt water, which encourages the formation of the cheese rind. (This is performed by a robot, so Ken was pretty jazzed)

After an hour and a half of ogling giant wheels of cheese, the only proper thing to do was to go get some of the melty stuff for lunch in the cheese's name-sake town, Gruyères (yep...the town has an "s" on the end; the cheese and region known as La Gruyère do not). We headed to one of the many establishments (practically any place that serves food) in Gruyères to get the local dish. As anticipated, it was cheesy heaven. Somehow, the locals manage to make it really creamy, not clumpy like when we make it; they say the secret is in the Gruyère cheese which melts smoothly. We had it served with pieces of bread and boiled potatoes (though apparently, Margaret was not eating the potatoes correctly according to our waitress...the french explanation on how to properly eat the fondue and potatoes went over our heads...regardless, it was delicious!).

After gorging ourselves on molten cheese and following with an ice cream/ meringue/Gruyère cream dessert, we trudged up the hill to the famous castle of Gruyères. The castle itself was neat, but the best part was the grounds and the view of the surrounding countryside. It was particularly fun listening to the bells tied around the necks of the cows which rang gently through the hills.

The day ended with a trip to the Cailler/Nestlé Chocolate Centre of Excellence in Broc. The Broc facility includes a factory, a chocolate research and development center, a chocolate museum, and, of course, a chocolate store. The museum was quite interesting and included a rather theatrical interpretive tour of the origins of Nestlé/Cailler chocolate. (Not recommended for people with a heart condition.) The end of the museum tour included an introduction to the raw materials of chocolate and a view of one of the plants assembly lines (complete with a tasty sample, "hot" off of the assembly line).

After a day full of cheese and chocolate, we had a nice meal of hummus, bread, and a banana, and turned in rather early.

Sunday was much more leisurely than Saturday but included a walk to the Neuchatel botanical garden, which was having a special event which included a plant sale. Margaret bought a tomato plant and some basil with hopes of being able to have a small fraction of the produce she grew with minimal effort in California. Her baby step goal is to keep it alive at least for the next week.

Lessons Learned:

1) Switzerland is in a unique situation when it comes to road signage. Whereas in the US, we can just say "Slippery" or "Bridge out" or "High wind area", it's much more difficult for this Swiss who have three official languages. Therefore, the Swiss rely heavily on pictographs to try to convey their messages. Unfortunately, sometimes it comes across a little like an episode of "Lassie"..."What is it, Lassie? You say Timmy's playing with a windsock?...What the **** are you trying to say, Lassie?!?"

One of the first questionable traffic signs we observed was the windsock sign. A Google search on traffic windsocks shows that traffic windsocks are not unique to Switzerland or Europe. Regardless, this is the first time either of us had encountered a wind sock sign. (For those who don't know, this sign indicates that the area you are about to drive through is susceptible to gusts of wind. If the actual windsock that follows this sign is billowing out, you should slow down.)

Other examples of Swiss traffic signs can be found at http://www.astra.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/00127/00634/index.html?lang=fr . I have included some favorite ones below:

a)House planted too close to tree

b)Emergency outdoor space heaters

c)French horns forbidden in this area

d) Ultrasonic canon firing range nearby


2) Swiss teens can be jerks just as big as U.S. teens can be. (Only, being bilingual seems to make them think they are cooler.) This is a bad combination when paired with an irritated American woman trying to get shopping done before the stores close in 10 minutes.