Chocolate and Cheese Train!!

Way too soon after going to sleep my alarm went off! My sweet husband got up with me and called me a taxi. There was some stress about the taxi not coming on time and me trying to cal the cab company and explain where exactly I am (like I know!) in German. But I made it to the bus on time! As soon as we started moving, I fell back asleep. When we stopped for breakfast, this was the view out my window.

They had a cow exhibit outside the restaurant.

How much do I love the chocolate train!!!Don't you just want to live here? This is a typical house in Gruyere, Switzerland. They speak French in this part of Switzerland (SW), so it was fun to practice that!It's true! Happy cows do make better cheese!

1. The cow eats 100 kg of grass and drinks 75 liters of water daily, creating about 25 liters of milk a day. (~220 pounds of grass and 16 gallons of water)

2. It takes 400 liters of milk to make one 35 kg round of Gruyere cheese.

3. This pan, holding 4,800 liters of milk, creates twelve rounds of Gruyere cheese. They make four batches daily.

4. 5.7 million liters of milk are processed every year in Gruyere! 2/3 is consumed in Switzerland and the other 1/3 exported to Europe and North America.

The outside of Gruyere's town

The town of Gruyere...

I'm standing on a balcony in the castle, looking down over the courtyard.

A pianoforte from 1835!

A sun dial from 1559~

The symbol of Gruyere- a white crane amidst a red backdrop... When explorers found this area, the sun was setting as a crane flew across the sky. They decided to stay!

The chocolate part of our tour! We went to a Nestle/Cailler factory. They're owned by the same corporation, but Caillers uses regional condensed milk and Nestle uses powdered. Caillers was unbelievably good. They do not export it out of Switzerland.

Trays and trays and TRAYS of chocolate!!! I would have paid good money for a glass of milk. After a while it was just too much! You couldn't possibly try it all! (But I had fun trying!)

Mixing up the chocolate!

This machine turns the powder into a paste while refining the taste and smoothness.

Don't worry- I bought more than just one!

I tried (in vain) to capture the beauty of the train and bus ride. Somehow scenery pictures are never as amazing as the real thing. It was an incredibly beautiful trip.