Cheese, Chocolate, and the Top of Europe!!

This past weekend my Mom and brother, James, came to visit me here in Zürich. They’ve been traveling around Europe for nearly a month now and this was the last stop on their journey before flying back to ATL, so I made to sure to plan many things for our time together.

The most popular tourist destination in Switzerland is probably the Jungfraujoch (a.k.a.-The Top of Europe). It is the highest train station in Europe and it is situated along the ridge between the Jungfrau and Mönch mountains towering above Interlaken and many little mountain villages. This is a very expensive day trip so I was hesitant to plan it as I knew we were all three on a budget. However, I found out that James was able to go for free this year because he hasn’t yet turned 16, as long as he rides with Mom. So we went for it…well…I decided we’d go for it.

It was mostly a last minute decision. The conditions up there are very weather dependant. If you don’t go on a nice day there is no point in paying the money at all…visibility will not be good and that’s most of the appeal…the view! So, I decided for certain on Wednesday night that we’d go but waited until mid day Thursday to message mom about it. In order for the timing to be right (the bad weather was heading in about lunch time!), Mom and James needed to get off their night train two stops earlier than Zürich and I was planning to go down on the first train of the day to meet them there at 6:30am.

So I messaged Mom and never heard from her, I called her and it went straight to voicemail…I went through several ideas on trying to get in touch with them and I was just about to can the whole thing when my host dad came up with a crazy plan…the train my Mom was coming in on was also passing through a place in Switzerland called Spiez and he has a friend there. His friend offered to go over at 5:40 in the morning and get on the train to pass a note off to my Mother to have her get off the train at the next stop. Well, thank goodness for the kindness of strangers (at least a stranger to me…). We were able to work it all out and by 7:00AM the three of us were on a train heading into the mountains!

The train ride up to Jungfraujoch is very time consuming, 2 ½ hours from Interlaken and you change trains at two stations. The altitude change is enough to make you light-headed or sick feeling. Along the way the train passes through the Eiger with two stops inside this mountain and large picture windows facing out of the mountain for photo opportunities. The ride itself affords some spectacular views but it is the view from the top that can take your breath away.

It was not the clearest of days when we were there but it was still quite nice. The temperature was at 38 degrees Fahrenheit and it did snow for a bit while we were there as well. I’ve read that on a very clear day you can see as far as France and also to Germany’s Black Forest from the top. They also have opportunities to do a few different activities (we decided against all of them) and there is an ice palace built into a glacier a lot of sculptures inside. I’m really glad I was able to experience it with my Mom and James.

On the way back down I decided to also take them to Trümmelbachfälle (see previous post about sleeping in the straw!) because I found it so breathtaking the first time I saw it. I think Mom and James were impressed as well. Though it was a lot of walking and train riding, on top of being woken up at 5:40AM I think they had a good time that day. We headed home to my house (4 hours on trains to get home!) and my host parents were waiting with a hot dinner. We had one of my favorite meals: Rösti (a hashbrown pancake), Fleischkäse (a meat, really can’t describe it…GOOD!), and a green salad. Then we were able to sit around a really catch up on what they’d seen on their European Adventure!

The next day, Saturday, we decided to take it easy and just see some things around here. We didn’t leave the house until nearly lunch time and then we took a train to Rapperswil, which is on the opposite end of the Lake of Zürich, to have a look around. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating with me and Mom and James were unable to witness how beautiful this place truly is. So, we came home fairly early.

That night my Swiss family had some of my friends over to visit with my American family. It was great. My new friend Dawn was here and also my American friend down the street, Beth, and her husband, Thomas, and baby, Eliane. We had a BBQ which consisted of grilled bratwurst, marinated pork, and skewers along with roasted potatoes and grilled veggies (zucchini, kohlrabi, and carrot). For dessert we had the last of my birthday cake (for those of you who think it sounds majorly gross, don’t worry! We made a small cake and a big one back in March and froze the small one until it was eaten this weekend!). It was a perfect evening. I’m so glad my Mom and James got to meet a lot of my friends here.

Well, maybe they didn’t meet too many on Saturday night but on Sunday we decided to make a trek to the French-speaking part of Switzerland to visit a cheese factory in Gruyères and a Chocolate factory in Broc and we took along a few more of my friends. Again Dawn came with us, but also Megz and Mckenzie. It’s never a dull moment with these girls around. I think it was a good break in the trip for James as he’d been traveling with Mom and one of her friends and then with me…he needed some other company. It would have been better for him if he hadn’t been sick the whole day, though.

We met the girls at the clock at 9AM and made our way toward Gruyères. This was my favorite part of the day. I LOVE CHEESE!! And Gruyères is one of my favorites. The first thing I noticed walking into the building was a glass-enclosed room they call “The Cellar”. It’s a HUGE room full of cheeses, stacked to the ceiling. Of course you can’t go into it, that wouldn’t be sanitary! As we entered the factory we were given a sample of the cheese to take with us. There were three pieces: one aged 6 months, one 8, and one aged 10. We took a tour of one of the factories that makes this kind of cheese. There was a brief explanation of how the cheese is made and the flavors of things that the cows eat to create part of the flavor and good milk it is produced from. This was given from the perspective of the cow…a bit strange, I must say. After that we were able to see just a bit of production, but really not very much.

After the cheese factory we made our way to the Gruyères train station to catch our connection to Broc. We discovered that we had almost an hour to wait so we ate our pre-packed lunches sitting at this tiny station. I basically only at cheese for lunch…it was the best ever! Finally we were able to get our train back to Bulle and then we were to take a connection on to Broc, but that one also was an hour wait so we decided to look around Bulle for a bit. We walked around the outside of a 13^th century chateau and then to a park, but as it was raining we didn’t feel like wandering too much and mainly just sat at the train station.

Finally we were on our way to Broc. The ride took only about 10 minutes and when I saw the Cailler/Nestlé factory come into view my heart skipped a beat because I was so excited. We went in and found that there was a self-guided tour starting immediately (and it was all free…which was the best part!!). We watched a movie, all in French, about chocolate over the years and production. Then we were able to walk through a hallway of old advertisements and chocolate molds, mostly bunnies…hehe. We also got to sample some of the raw materials used in the production of chocolate (WARNING: the cocoa bean does not taste good before it’s made into chocolate!!). And finally we were in the tasting room…I was disappointed by it’s size…I imagined it would be a really HUGE room full of all sorts of chocolate. We very quickly realized why they didn’t need a room that size. I thought I’d be eating my weight in chocolate but after about 3-4 pieces I was stuffed. So we made our way to the gift shop and then headed for the train station to go home.

Poor James had a massive headache all day (and we later found out, a fever as well), we had to wait several times for right at an hour on train connections because I didn’t write down the exact timetables, and the weather wasn’t that pleasant; but, overall I think we had a great day. For my part, I’ve discovered that though chocolate and cheese are probably my two favorite things to eat…that’s all of it, I like to eat them but I don’t necessarily have the patience to sit through a movie or a presentation on their production.

And then it was Monday, the day Mom and James were to leave for Munich again. We’d thought at first of going to the Rheinfalls (see earlier posts, it’s the largest waterfall in Europe) because there is a boat ride you can take and they allow you to climb up to the top of this massive rock in the middle of the falls and the water is surging all around you. However, because of James’ fever and everyone being tired we decided to eighty-six that idea and opted instead for lounging around. Mom and James ate lunch with us and then I drove them to the train station where they caught an early afternoon train back to Munich. They flew out for ATL this morning and I’ve just been informed that they’ve landed safely and all their luggage arrived too.

I’m glad to know they had a good time and I hope that we can all come over in the years to come for a big family vacation in Europe. I think that might be really fun (or maybe a really crazy idea….who knows!).

Well, I’m signing off for the evening. Will write again soon!!

Ciaoness,

LuLu