A Ride on the Geri Cruise

Hello All!

We are currently sitting in port at a little Greek Island named Paros. We have been on our cruise for 2 1/2 days now and we are liking it a lot. For the money we paid, we feel that it's an excellent break from traveling every few days with our massive packs on our backs! However, we thought for sure there would be a great amount of people our age on the cruise...there's not! Instead Megz and I have taking to calling it the Geri Train because of all the older people on board.

Don't get me wrong, they are absolutely lovely! We have met such nice people but the average age is probably 65 where we thought it would be more around 25....hum....They are really taking care of us, even though we've only been on board just over 2 days we know most of the other guests by name and where they are from. They all take time to talk to us and ask our story. Our favorites so far are Becky and Frank from Arizona....we ate dinner with them last night, it was a great enjoyable experience!

Let me backtrack just a bit. We left Selcuk early on Monday morning to make the bus to our port of call, Bodrum. The bus did not come on time and was, instead, an hour and a half late...we were not impressed! I even had one smart mouthed kid come up to me and say "your God help you" when I asked him if he thought the bus would ever come...hum...

But it did come and we made our way to the port and to the boat. It's an old Russian boat which first sailed over 20 years ago, I think. You can tell it's definitely budget but Megz and I are happy with our small room and even smaller bathroom because it's just ours for the week! As we arrived on the boat, the first moment we walked through the door, we met a guy named Andrew who is from Michigan....interesting guy! We've spent a lot of time with him so far but during the day, at the different ports, Megan and I have just done our own thing and loved it.

Yesterday we were in Kos (a small island just across a narrow bit of sea from the Turkish mainland). The old town was very nice and we walked and shopped and window browsed for hours. Then we had a gyros pita for lunch and made our way, quickly, back to the ship because we thought it was leaving in the afternoon...and of course we were wrong. It left this morning super early, but we used yesterday's extra time to sit on the upper deck and read and just relax.

So now we are all up to speed, I'm in Paros. It looks great but our first stop was this internet cafe so I can't tell you for certain just yet. I hope to blog more this week but the internet is not working on board so we'll have to wait until we can find another place to use it.

Hope this post finds you well!

Talk to you soon....

LuLu

What Was Once Great and A Visit at the Holy Mother's House....

Hello All!

We are currently in Selçuk which is a city near the Aegean Sea in Turkey. We left Egirdir around noon two days ago and have been here since. It is so great to be in a tourist city again and I'm getting my fill of the backpacker experience! The people here are just wonderful to us, most speak some English and they are so inviting and friendly and very giving of their time to help us when we need it!

Yesterday we went to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. It was more than I thought it would be. Amazing. Though most of what is there has been reconstructed after excavation of the city, it is definitely a sight to see! We sat in the reconstructed ampitheatre there, this is where Paul gave a sermon and was later lead away to imprisonment at a fortress you can see from the ruined city on a nearby hill.

Afterward we walked around the markets. It was market day and there were so many people out and about looking at wares from the local vendors. Then we spent some time at the hostel (which is amazing, by the way, mostly Aussies and so much fun!). Last night there was a BBQ here, the food was awesome, and we enjoyed swapping travel stories with all the other boarders...

Today we left early for the House of the Virgin Mary, which is actually a small church built over the ruins of where the house would be. This place is where many people believe the Holy Mother spent her last years on earth. It is widely believed that she moved here with John the Apostle after the death of Jesus; it says in the Bible that Jesus gave His mother to John and him to her as her son, because of that it is believed that she moved here with him when he came to Ephesus. It was such a moving experience. Just a small background about the discovery of this place:

The place was discovered in the 19th century after a German nun, who had never left Germany, described perfectly from a vision the mountain area around the city of Ephesus. After her directions where given explorers came to the this area and found it exactly as she had described and came upon this church built over the remains. She also described where the Virgin is buried, but that spot has still never been found.

From the house we had a driver drop us at a place called the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. Accounts of this place vary but most believe it to be this: 7 youths left Ephesus to escape persecution because they were Christians. They fled to the hills and slept overnight in this cave; however, they actually slept for 112 years and upon their awakening they came to know that Christianity was at that time now widely accepted.

We slowly made our way back from the Cave on foot, the walk was about 30 minutes. Along the way we stopped by the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. All that remains of it are a few pieces of marble and a reconstructed column. However, in its day, it was the great temple; in fact, the largest temple ever constructed.

Needless to say we were quite exhausted after all this walking and time in the sun...so we headed back to the hostel for a bit of relaxation and ended up in a rain storm. After the short shower we walked up the small hill within the city of Selçuk to the St. John's Basillica where which was built over the apostle's grave. It is also in ruins but well worth the entrance fee as you have a great view of the city from there.

You know how you sometimes read a book or see a movie and you've been to the place where the story is set? Well I feel that way about the last 3 days. I feel like these are places I've read about my whole life, both in the Bible and also in history books, and I'm finally now visualizing them all!

It has been excellent being in Selçuk. Being with other tourists and enjoying meals with other English speakers. We leave super early tomorrow morning on a bus to Bodrum, Turkey where we embark on our Greek cruise. Should be lots of fun! But, we don't know if we'll be getting much internet time while we are on the ship, there is supposed to be an internet connection on board but we'll see if it actually pans out!

Thanks again for reading!!

LuLu

ps-interesting fact: did you know that the word for lion in Turkish is aslan?? For all you C.S. Lewis fans this is a small tidbit of interesting stuff...

Conservative Konya and on to Egirdir...

Hello again!

We are now in Egirdir, a city situated along a beautiful lake here in Turkey. We left Goreme so early on Tuesday morning and did a 4 hour bus ride to Konya. We even rode by a massive volcano, I am still trying to figure out which one it is and if it is active, so cool!! It is supposed to be a very conservative city but it was not so much that way, in our experience.

Konya is home to the Whirling Dervishes. We are still learning about this special religious group but we were able to go to the museum about them and the mosque nearby. It was my first mosque experience and I can say I was very nervous, though now I do not know why I was. I am very curious about this religion and their traditions. We entered and were required to take our shoes off and cover our heads with scarves to show respect. We were able to see the burial site of the man who´s teachings and writings were the beginning of the Dervishes.

Still on the streets most girls were covering their heads, though some were not so we only felt moderatly out of place. This morning we caught the mini bus to the otogar (bus station) and hoped on a really nice bus to Egirdir. We were having some troubles finding the right mini bus and the nicest old man helped us. With our combination of broken German and barely Turkish language experience we made it well before our bus left!

The bus ride was awesome. We rode through the country to our destination and were met along the way by many a tractor on the road or families heading out on their donkeys. I was surprised to see that amide such poverty and homely living many houses are equipped with solar panels that provide their heating and maybe for some their electricity.

So we made it to Egirdir and walked what seemed like forever to a place we had read about but did not have a reservation at just yet. We met the nicest lady who spoke no English and we negotiated a price for a room and breakfast tomorrow. We are hoping to do a fishing trip on the lake tomorrow, we will see how that goes!

Tonight we are just relaxing by taking a long walk by the lakeside and catching up on some reading out on their terrace. We are hoping desperately that we can find a cash exchange. Because Ramadan (the Islamic holy month) ended last week alot of places are closed for festival thıs week.

I am adding some pictures from Konya and a few of the lake that I just took outside. Tomorrow afternoon\evening we will depart for Selcuk, a city near the ruins of Ephesus. I apologize for any weird characters you find in this post. I am using a Turkish keyboard and it is not agreeing with me mostly! Teşekkur ederim (teh-sheh-KOOR eh-DEH-rim), thank you, for reading up with my experiences on this journey!

Love you all!!

LuLu

Exploring Underground and a Hike in Ihlara Gorge...

Hello all!

It's me agin, we're making a habit of this daily writing, so far. It's quite cold out so we haven't been doing much exploring after dark and thus our opportunities for some quality internet cafe time!

Though the weather wasn't fantastic, today we decided to go on a tour of the Cappadocia area. First stop was a panorama lookout point. We stopped to take a few pics and then we were on our way. It was about 45 minutes in a bus to the Selime Rock Monastery. It was quite impressive with it's many passageways and rooms, and even some frescos (though badly faded) in the cathedral area.

After that we drove to a lookout point in Yaprakhisar, looking back to the Monastery. The landscape looks like a scene from Star Wars, so says our guide...so I've added a picture of it just for James (hope you enjoy, Bug)!

Then we were again in the bus for nearly an hour to the Ihlara Gorge. It was so beautiful, and the bad weather cleared just in time for us to take a 3km hike along the river to a restaurant where we enjoyed more traditional food and getting to know some of our fellow tour members.

Soon we were on our way again, and this time to the underground city of Derinkuyu...definitely the highlight of my day! It is thought that the tunnels and underground rooms (going down 8 floors) was first begun around 2000BC but has been used throughout the years for many peoples (Hittites, Christians, etc...) to escape attacks by their warring neighbors and also attacks of persecution because of their religious beliefs. The tunnels were very narrow and so small even I had to duck going through a lot of them.

Then on last stop at a panorama overlooking a place called Pigeon Valley. The "fairy chimneys" in this valley have very distinct places cut into them for pigeon nest. Pigeon dropping are used in the agricultural production of the area as fertilizer.

It was quite a long day but worth it definitely. The tour took us to many things we'd already decided to see here. Tomorrow morning we are boarding a bus for Konya, a very large city which is extremely devout in it's Islamic beliefs. Hope we can message again soon, but we'll have to see the situation in the next place.

Love you all...hope you enjoy the pics!

LuLu

ps-to my family in Switzerland...I LOVE THE CAMERA! It takes such wonderful pictures, as you can see! Thank you again!!

Reaching the Depths of Delerium....

Hello all!!

Megzi and I have FINALLY made it to our first destination, Cappadocia in Turkey...more specifically the town of Goreme. This town is charming, which is more than I can say for our hostel, hum...

Let me start at the beginning. We did board a plane in Stuttgart last night around 11PM. Our flight landed in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, around 3AM local time and we then proceeded to the main bus terminal there, which is HUGE and we waited around in a cafe with a lovely German couple until they caught their bus at 7:30AM and we got on ours at 9AM. It was excurciating...the waiting, the lack of sleep, the lack of food...it would appear that Megan and I don't cope well with that sort of stress!

So finally we were on our way and we made it to Goreme, with only one bus change in between, around 1:30PM. We checked in and rested for a bit, making ourselves comfortable with our sleeping accoms for the next few nights, and then we headed out to the Goreme Open Air Museum. It is housed in ancient formations called "fairy chimneys" which were formed by volcanic eruptions what is believed to be at least a million years ago. During the time for the Hittites, around 2000BC, the people carved into these rock formations and some people even still live in there today. It's such a special place! The Open Air Museum is a collection of churches housed in these "chimneys" which contain some of the most beautiful Bizantine frescos I've ever seen...it was amazing!!

I'm adding pictures for you all to see, I hope you enjoy! Tomorrow we are headed to one of the over 35 underground cities in the area.

Love you all!

LuLu

Day One...Lets Try That Again!!

Hi everyone!

Megan and I are currently STILL sitting in Stuttgart. Germanwings canceled our flight but as a plus put us up in a really nice hotel. So we have been enjoying that for the last 12 hours. At first we were really disappointed, then excited to find that we were staying in luxury for one more night....now the long night and potential of no sleep looms over us and are anxious to get it all out of the way and just be there already.

Just wanted to send you all this short note for an update...hope this finds you well!

LuLu

Pick an Emotion…and the Slumber Party that Almost Was!

Well folks, today was my last “official” day of work here. I guess technically it was two weeks ago, I’ve been working without a permit for the last few weeks…hum….Anyways, tomorrow I leave for my big trip.

Megan and I head out by train tomorrow, around lunch, to Stuttgart in Germany and then a flight quite late tomorrow night to Ankara, Turkey! We are so excited about this adventure!

As our journey progresses, I will be checking in periodically from different cities throughout Turkey and Eastern Europe. I am hoping to add some pictures as I do, we’ll see how my new fandango card reader works!

As it was my last night here “officially” my girls, aged 5 and 8, and I were planning a big sleepover with all the things they aren’t usually allowed (i.e.-watching all the movies they want, eating popcorn in my bed, staying up as late as they can, etc…). However, it didn’t quite go to plan as girl aged 5 was nearly asleep in her dinner and girl aged 8 was not that much more enthusiastic either. Hehe…so we’ve decided instead to wait until I return from my trip and they’ve been missing their LuLu time!

I arrive back here in Switzerland on November 20th and then I will have three more weeks here with the family before returning to America for good. My flight home is on December 11th.

I have very mixed emotions about all the things happening around me lately. I’m excited to be finished with work and starting this big adventure with Megan. I’m sad at the thought of leaving Switzerland in December. Angry at myself for not figuring out yet a plan on getting a job, or what I will be driving, or even a cell phone…at this point I have none of those things. I’m overwhelmed/exhausted at the thoughts of two months on the road and at the same time I’m anxious to get there to see all the amazing sights we have planned for exploration!

I’m sure if you picked any emotion you can think of I feel it in some way. I’m confused about life in general but happy with the way the last two years have been and ready to see where the next ones will take me.

If you all need to get in touch with me over the next two months please feel free to email me or post comments on the blog. My trip itinerary is available through this link at TripIt.com. I hope you are all well!

Love you!!

LuLu

Alpfahrt in Urnäsch

Today I went to witness a very special tradition in Switzerland. I went to the village of Urnäsch, which is in the Appenzellerland area of the country, to see the farmers bring their cattle down from the summer alpine (mountain) grazing. This event is called Alpfahrt (mountain journey, roughly translated).

This is a tradition which dates back many centuries. I’m not sure how many because I can’t seem to find very many English translations talking about this experience. If you click on the link above it will give you a brief description of the event, only that one is from the spring perspective-when they take the cattle up the mountain for the summer. Also, if you click on this link you will get a few translations of different German words used on the other page. It’s all quite interesting.

I am told that before making their descent the farmers choose their most beautiful cow and it is chosen to lead the herd and wear the very big, and very beautiful, traditional bell. Most all of the farmers dress in time-honored attire and walk alongside their herd. The first farmer (and maybe others also, I don’t know…) is also accompanied by children who are herding the special Appenzeller goats which are hornless. There is also usually a wagon carrying the traditional cheese-making things behind the herd as well. And…there was, of course, the Appenzeller dog that accompanies every herd, keeping the cattle in line as they walked through the streets!

The day didn’t go as I’d expected it to, quite frankly. I’d thought others would join me, but they didn’t. I asked a few of my friends and all either had obligations or financial difficulties which wouldn’t allow them to go with me.

Secondly, it was a nice day when I left my house, though still a little bit chilly. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a light jacket…but, as the train grew nearer to Appenzellerland I began to notice the fog…not a good sign. A day might be perfectly lovely everywhere else, but when there is fog in a certain place it becomes gloomy and usually a good bit colder there! This was definitely the case…I ended up freezing, thought I might just shiver to death right there on the streets of Urnäsch! Because of this, and the fact that I was alone, I left just before lunch.

Lastly….I’d imagined the parade to be a continuous one. The brochure said it started at 10:30 so I arrived well ahead of time to find a good spot to see it…this was not at all necessary. I thought it would be much like a parade at home…no, not throwing candy and political candidates riding on the back of convertibles…but something of a steady flow. The way it actually happened was this: the first farmer would arrive with his cattle and pass through the village, a little later (maybe 25 min, in this case…) another one would come through…then another a little after that. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it, as I should have expected…it’s not like they’d all get together at the bottom of the mountain and then start off together again, now would they?!?

So, the Alpfahrt, as I now see it, is a day where the villagers (and some tourists, like me) come to the town to welcome the cattle from the summer grazing. It’s a time of leisure where people sit at the outdoor cafes and enjoy a coffee or sandwich and wait for the next herd. There is also a market set up for buying local wares and traditional foods. It’s a day of seeing your neighbor and enjoying something time-honored by the Swiss people.

Something to be witnessed definitely! I enjoyed seeing all the people in traditional clothing and all the frills brought out by the community for this occasion. If you are in Switzerland during the time of Alpfahren (whether spring or fall) I highly suggest you see it...

Also, my host family bought me a going away gift…It’s a new camera!! I was so happy for it, the old one, while it worked just fine, was a dinosaur. This is the most amazing camera…I’ve added some pics to this post taken with my new camera…hope you enjoy!!!

LuLu

Trip to the Rheinfalls and Missing Madonna!

Last Saturday my friend, Dawn, and I decided to take a trip to the Rheinfalls (the largest waterfall in Europe-see previous posts!). This was my third visit to them but I’d never gone on the boat across to the middle and, since it was on my to-do list before I leave, I wanted to check it off! The weather was perfect!! Seriously, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to go.

We took our time getting up and around that morning and finally met around lunch time at Zürich HB (main train station). After taking a few minutes to organize her train ticket (I have one for the entire state of Zürich which got me there) we were on our way. We took two train connections to get there and finally arrived at the tiny station just down from the falls.

Because of the nice weather we weren’t the only ones around that day. There were so many tourists there, we were definitely in the minority as locals (at least that’s how I like to think of myself!). We walked along a bit of the scenic path, which I’d never been on before, and then down to the docks where we caught a boat to the other side of the Rhein River.

From the other side we were able to catch another boat that took out us out the middle of the falls. This was the bit I’d been waiting for! This was the thing I’ve wanted to do since I arrived in Switzerland two years ago! It is a bit intimidating when you are actually on the boat moving right into the largest waterfall in Europe, especially when you have an enormous fear of drowning, as I do. The water was so clear and beautiful. If I were a swimmer I might have been tempted to jump right in!

Our boat was filled to capacity and mostly with Italian tourists. That day, they were everywhere with their beautiful language and excess amounts of hair gel. Dawn and I decided that we’d sit right at the front of the boat and when it docked at the massive rocks in the middle of the falls we hurried to get off to be the first ones at the top. It turns out that this is not an advisable plan. First of all, there are about a bazillion stairs to climb to get there; secondly, everyone else is rushing up behind you and you feel a considerable pressure to make it to the top as quickly as possible…what a workout!! The worst bit of it all is the size of the platform at the top. I’d say about 10 people might fit comfortably up there. But, there were more like 30 packed up there on the day we went, with little more to hold you in than a few metal bars and they are flimsy at best! So taking pictures is difficult and posing in any sort of comfortable fashion was out of the question completely. The people after us, the last ones to get off the boat, had the best situation I think…they took their time and didn’t rush down for the next boat back to the river’s edge.

After the experience in the middle, we made our way back to the other side of the river to the viewing pavilion. I’ve been there before but Dawn hadn’t so it was a fun time taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine! All this took a few hours and by the end of it we were tired and hungry (and maybe a little bit sunburnt!). However, we had plans for the evening…(scoping out the Madonna concert near Zürich)…so we hurried back to my house for a quick dinner.

It turns out that Dawn and I aren’t very good with planning out our time. By the time we arrived at my house (food in hand, still uncooked!), we were only an hour out from the start time of the concert. We’d never make it in time, of this we were certain. So, we made the decision to stay in and watch movies at my house. And, well….that never happened either. Something I’m beginning to notice when I spend time with Dawn is that we never get the things done we want to get done because we are too busy talking…about life, work, the US…you name it, we’re gonna talk about it! So we did nothing all evening and it was perfectly lovely.

I do wish we could have made it for the concert scoping, though we weren’t planning to pay to get in so I’m not sure how much we’d have seen anyway. But, apparently there is a hill overlooking the outdoor concert area so hearing it would have been definitely possible and there was a very good chance of seeing it as well…ah well, sometimes things don’t work out and sometimes it’s even for the best.

Well, I’ve attached some pictures to this post of our time at the falls. Hope you all enjoy. I’ll be updating a little more frequently in a few weeks…this time from Eastern Europe. Megz and I leave for our trip to Turkey and Eastern Europe on September 27th. We will be gone for nearly two months, returning back to Switzerland on the 20th of November…should be an interesting experience, hope the money holds out! I’ll be accepting donations beginning next Monday…hehe…..

Love you all!

LuLu

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