Saturday, June 28th
On our own! Each weekend, we are free to spend our time as we like. Mark and I had a few ideas in mind: to see a Glacier, to visit the Medieval town of Gruyere and to tour the Museum of 5 senses across Lake Geneva in Yuoire, France. As it turned out we got up a bit late (I think the pace of the week caught up on us) and arrived at the train terminal around 10am with our friend Lauren. We learned that it was already too late to make the trip to the Glacier outside Gstaad, or visit Yvoire (to see the museum of the 5 senses), but we had plenty of time to visit Gruyere, so that’s what we did! It turned out to be an amazing day.
In essence our trip was a large loop taken by train. We took the express train out of Lausanne north to Palezieux to Gruyere and saw more amazing countryside. On our return trip we decided so to go through Montreux.
At first we weren’t too impressed with Gruyere. As soon as we got off the train we saw the fromagerie (cheese factory)—were we learned about the terroir of the area and the significant impact it has on the cheese. It felt like a sensory class because we smelled several different scents blind--many of which I never expected to smell in cheese.
On our own! Each weekend, we are free to spend our time as we like. Mark and I had a few ideas in mind: to see a Glacier, to visit the Medieval town of Gruyere and to tour the Museum of 5 senses across Lake Geneva in Yuoire, France. As it turned out we got up a bit late (I think the pace of the week caught up on us) and arrived at the train terminal around 10am with our friend Lauren. We learned that it was already too late to make the trip to the Glacier outside Gstaad, or visit Yvoire (to see the museum of the 5 senses), but we had plenty of time to visit Gruyere, so that’s what we did! It turned out to be an amazing day.
In essence our trip was a large loop taken by train. We took the express train out of Lausanne north to Palezieux to Gruyere and saw more amazing countryside. On our return trip we decided so to go through Montreux.
At first we weren’t too impressed with Gruyere. As soon as we got off the train we saw the fromagerie (cheese factory)—were we learned about the terroir of the area and the significant impact it has on the cheese. It felt like a sensory class because we smelled several different scents blind--many of which I never expected to smell in cheese.
Automatic cheese washing and flipping machine
Milk heating kettle (beautiful)
Milk heating kettle (beautiful)After the tour, we walked around a bit looking for a place to have lunch but it was too late. We were going to leave when we decided to take a walk to the medieval town and look around. As it turned out, the whole town of Gruyere was at the top of the hill with the Castle!!! We had just been at the bus terminal. We felt a bit silly—and relieved that we had taken the time to hike to the top of the hill. The first thing we recognized was a gelato shop, and decided to refresh ourselves after the long hike up the hill. Afterwards we walked around a bit, and meandered towards the castle.
To our complete surprise we turned a corner and saw some giant Alien sculptures and realized that there was a museum dedicated to H. R. Giger(http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/), the artist who created Alien, Species, and Necronomicon. The artwork is dark, but it was fascinating to see, since the movie Alien is such a part of our movie history. Needless to say it made our conversations for the remainder of the day very interesting. Did we mention--that next to the museum there was a bar designed after the Alien set?? This day just kept getting better!
To our complete surprise we turned a corner and saw some giant Alien sculptures and realized that there was a museum dedicated to H. R. Giger(http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/), the artist who created Alien, Species, and Necronomicon. The artwork is dark, but it was fascinating to see, since the movie Alien is such a part of our movie history. Needless to say it made our conversations for the remainder of the day very interesting. Did we mention--that next to the museum there was a bar designed after the Alien set?? This day just kept getting better!
Due to our sidetrack visit through the museum we ended up racing through the castle, which was architecturally beautiful; being on the top of a mountain made for exciting photos.
After visiting the castle, we felt we must have a drink in the Giger Bar—mostly for the photos; when finished, we raced back to the train station and checked the schedule for a trip back through Montreux. Fortunately, we were able to jump on one of the Goldenpass panoramic trains; the views of the mountains and the lake coming down into Montreux were breathtaking. It was hot in Montreux, so we cooled our feet in the lake for a bit and wandered a lot before choosing a place to have some wine and share a pizza. The people-watching was fun—we saw our equivalent of a “booze cruise” taking off, advertising a local free magazine. After relaxing and chatting for awhile, we headed back to our hotel.
Once in Lausanne we picked up some food from the coop—bread and tomatoes to go with our cheese from Gruyere. We helped Lauren download her photos and drank some wine and ate our bounty. It was a great night.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Today we started early so we could enjoy our day at Glacier 3000. Lauren decided to sleep in, so Mark and I headed out by ourselves. Our first train out of Lausanne was a historic train where we were served coffee and enjoyed a comfortable journey back in time. The travel was beautiful. Once we arrived in Gstaad, we were in the mountains, so the rest of the trip by bus was amazing. At Col-du-Pillon, we were at the base of the mountain. It took two different cable cars to get us to the top, which was approximately 9000feet. I had never seen a glacier before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect (so far it just looked like a mountain.)
Riding the cable car we saw many people hiking trails that were all over the area. Across the road and up some hills we saw lakes formed from water falling from the hills. Had we known we would have planned differently--a hike in that area would have been amazing. The glacier was impressive. Mark paid to ride the alpine slide—kind of a cross between a bobsled and a rollercoaster. It looked like fun, but I was too chicken to ride it, so I enjoyed taking photos of Mark riding it—which he thoroughly enjoyed.
We took the chair lift down to a section where people were hiking out to Devil’s peak. At first we thought we’d walk, but the snow was pretty slushy, and I wasn’t wearing waterproof shoes. Instead, we each paid $15 to take a Snowcat out to the point. We passed the dog sled teams, people hiking and met a group from Edinburgh having lunch at the peak. Our guide pointed out the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, and a few other peaks. We saw the glacier, a large, slow-moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, which slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity (compliments of wikipedia.) It was impressive. We saw people hiking everywhere. After our Snowcat ride back, we climbed to the top of the observation tower and were amazed all over again.
Our final activity on the mountain was to have a beer and some lunch at 9000feet. The balcony was warm and sunny and could not have been more beautiful. We each had a beer and raclette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette). After our brief respite and snack we headed down the mountain to Col-du-Pillon were we waited a few minutes for the bus taking us into Les Diablerets, a small ski resort town. Mark and I perused a cheese shop a bit and then got some ice cream. Our trip back was nice, and we’re starting to become familiar with the terrain. Luckily we caught the express train back to Lausanne through Aigle.
Final note for today-we got our first rain tonight, which actually cooled things down a bit. Yeah!
Once in Lausanne we picked up some food from the coop—bread and tomatoes to go with our cheese from Gruyere. We helped Lauren download her photos and drank some wine and ate our bounty. It was a great night.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Today we started early so we could enjoy our day at Glacier 3000. Lauren decided to sleep in, so Mark and I headed out by ourselves. Our first train out of Lausanne was a historic train where we were served coffee and enjoyed a comfortable journey back in time. The travel was beautiful. Once we arrived in Gstaad, we were in the mountains, so the rest of the trip by bus was amazing. At Col-du-Pillon, we were at the base of the mountain. It took two different cable cars to get us to the top, which was approximately 9000feet. I had never seen a glacier before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect (so far it just looked like a mountain.)
Riding the cable car we saw many people hiking trails that were all over the area. Across the road and up some hills we saw lakes formed from water falling from the hills. Had we known we would have planned differently--a hike in that area would have been amazing. The glacier was impressive. Mark paid to ride the alpine slide—kind of a cross between a bobsled and a rollercoaster. It looked like fun, but I was too chicken to ride it, so I enjoyed taking photos of Mark riding it—which he thoroughly enjoyed.
We took the chair lift down to a section where people were hiking out to Devil’s peak. At first we thought we’d walk, but the snow was pretty slushy, and I wasn’t wearing waterproof shoes. Instead, we each paid $15 to take a Snowcat out to the point. We passed the dog sled teams, people hiking and met a group from Edinburgh having lunch at the peak. Our guide pointed out the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, and a few other peaks. We saw the glacier, a large, slow-moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, which slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity (compliments of wikipedia.) It was impressive. We saw people hiking everywhere. After our Snowcat ride back, we climbed to the top of the observation tower and were amazed all over again.
Our final activity on the mountain was to have a beer and some lunch at 9000feet. The balcony was warm and sunny and could not have been more beautiful. We each had a beer and raclette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette). After our brief respite and snack we headed down the mountain to Col-du-Pillon were we waited a few minutes for the bus taking us into Les Diablerets, a small ski resort town. Mark and I perused a cheese shop a bit and then got some ice cream. Our trip back was nice, and we’re starting to become familiar with the terrain. Luckily we caught the express train back to Lausanne through Aigle.
Final note for today-we got our first rain tonight, which actually cooled things down a bit. Yeah!
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