Gruyères, Fribourg, Switzerland Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Private Train

Gruyeres, town or cheese? It is both and that is where we are going today. We catch a train back up into the hills to Montboven, where we switch to a train to Gruyeres. The two car train is waiting for us and we get on to an empty train. 10 minutes later the conductor gets on and we start our journey. Carol had no idea that I had rented her a private train to Gruyeres. I will spare no expense to keep her in luxury!
At the Gruyeres stop, we get out and there is a bus that goes up to the village located on a hill a mile or so away. While sitting on the bus, I turn around and see that the cheese factory we want to visit is right behind us. So we hop off the bus and cross the road to the Gruyeres cheese factory.

Cheese Maker

We discover that our Swiss pass is good for free entry so even better. Carol is entranced by the cheese making process. I think she stared at the rotating paddles stirring the milk, whey and other ingredients too long. The cheese man has hypnotized her!
It is quite interesting and when I finally snap her out of her trance, we leave and walk up to the village. Legs are still a little stiff but we make it just fine.
Gruyeres is a quaint and small village that does not let cars in the main part of town. We find a bench by a fountain and sit and eat the free Gruyeres cheese samples they gave us. The samples are aged 6,8, and 10 months. There is quite a bit of difference in the flavor and texture. I personally liked the older aged one.

Crane Sculpture

The cheese fix satisfied, we visit the Gruyeres castle. They start you with a short film explaining the history. Once again, it really adds to the experience knowing how the castle came to be and who was in power. The last in line lost the castle to creditors in bankruptcy in the 1600s. As a last ditch effort, he tried to make his own coins but nobody would use them. Imagine that!
The castle itself, had furniture and decorations from different periods and a few strange art exhibits. One was a bunch of metal and stone crane sculptures. The crane was the emblem and coat of arms of the original owning family.
From the castle, we decide to visit two more small museums that are free with our pass. The first was the Tibetan museum which was basically a bunch of different Bhudda statues and art from various centuries. Even with the small guide, we did not find it very interesting. I guess you would have to be knowledgable in the Tibetan culture and Bhuddism to get more out of it.

Giger Stuff

The next museum was the H.R. Giger museum. He was an artist and won an academy award for designing the monsters in the movie Alien. His artwork and sculptures were pretty weird and some were just plain weird with alien porn mixed in. It was interesting yet not what most would hang in their living rooms.
We had an early dinner at the cheese factories restaurant. Cheese fondue of course, chicken Milanese, 2 cold beers, and a meringue with Gruyeres double cream for dessert. Very good and filling. Back on the train to Montboven and switch to Montreux or so we thought until after about 15 minutes we realize we got on the train going the other way. We get off at the next stop and have to wait for the right train. This was only about a 25 minute wait but cost us an hour overall.

Wine Gift With Our View on Label

Walking back to our room it starts to rain lightly but we don’t care as we get to sit on our covered balcony sipping espresso and having some cookies. I start to catch up on blogs while Carol showers and then we share some wine that the owner Yves gave us last night while we were talking to him. It is from a small vineyard behind the BNB and the label has the church behind us and mountain view we see, on it. It is very good and we have a piece of Swiss chocolate with it. Not a bad way to end our Swiss journey.
CNC
“I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list”- Susan Sontag

 

Expenses
51.90SF- Fondue, dinner, and 2 beers
150SF- BNB Belalp

Miles Walked -5.5 Miles