This time we started in the French Swiss countryside. We stayed in Fribourg. We thought this was just a stop on our way to see the things we wanted to see on Saturday. But this town was really neat. This was the church that was right across from our hotel.
We went on a little walk and saw this view. Amazing! I just love all the old buildings all around Europe.
Saturday morning, we headed to Broc to the Callier Chocolate Factory. Zack calls it Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory.
To start the tour, we watched 3 short, black and white movies about chocolate.
We saw the inside of the factory. We saw cocoa beans get roasted, ground and then heated and mixed with milk to make chocolate. We saw how the machines poured it into the molds. Zack really liked it, even though he couldn't understand it. Then we actually got to go see the factory. Of course, we couldn't actually go inside. That would not be a very clean factory. We just got to look through big glass windows to see the machines. This is the mixing machine.
See all that chocolate!
They did have huge bags of nuts that they used to make different kinds of chocolate.
The best part of the tour was the TASTING TABLE! We really enjoyed ourselves! They had about 40 different kinds for us to taste. Don't worry we didn't try all of them, but the couple behind us did! They must have really liked it. We liked what we tasted. Very yummy!
Steve liked it so much, he wanted to try all the chocolate he saw!
After the tour, purchasing some very delicious chocolate and eating way too much chocolate for 9:30 in the morning, we just had to have a taste of their hot chocolate too. DELICIOUS!
After the chocolate factory, we decided we still needed to eat a little more so we went to the Gruyere Cheese Factory. This was actually really, really cool. First we learned about cows and the importance of cows in the cheese making process. Especially about their diets. Switzerland cows have the best diet which makes the best cheese.
We saw big pots of milk being heated and stirred to make cheese. Look behind me and you can see them. We listened to the audio through that remote I am holding.
Zack liked checking these out!
We saw how they mold it into large circles. We saw the salt baths that the cheese is in for 36 hours. This is the cellar that the cheese sits in for 5 months. After that it is ready to eat. But if it sits longer, it will get a stronger flavor.
We had a couple different samples of different aged cheese. We decided anything after 6 months was to strong. But before that was very good.
Since it was lunch time and we were at a cheese factory, we had to try the restaurant's cheese fondue. It was the best cheese fondue we have had and if you know us, you know we have had a lot of cheese fondue. So delicious!
Zack liked that the restaurant had toys and a park.
Josh, like always, was just happy to be there.
After lunch, we drove to Interlaken. While we were driving there, we turned a bend in the road and saw this:
I told you Switzerland is absolutely beautiful!
In Interlaken, we met up with the Hunter family. Since it was foggy and rainy, we decide to tour the St. Beatus-Hohlen caves. It was a beautiful cave. Of course, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the cave. Just take my word for it, it made the Timp cave look like hideous. It was amazing!
Sunday morning, we looked out the window of our hotel room and saw this:
For breakfast we had some of these.
Okay we had more than a hard boiled egg. But these made me smile. The Swiss are so proud of their flag. They put it everywhere!
After church, which had English translator radios-they must get a lot of visitors, we went on the same hike we went on last time. This time we saw the Alps! It was amazing! They are absolutely breathtaking. We were able see all three peaks. We saw the Eiger and Jungfrau as we were hiking. But a cloud would not leave the front of the Monch. Just as we were leaving in our train, we looked back and the cloud had moved! They are amazing! Another thing that was new this time around was cows. Last time we didn't see any cows. This time they were all over the hike. There was even one on the trail. At one point, Steve was going to take my picture with a cow behind me. As soon as I got into position for the photo, the cow start urinating. Steve and I just started laughing. There were also goats all over at the final destination. Zack wanted to pet one. So we went up to pet it and guess what it did. That's right urinate. We must have that affect on farm animals.
As you can see, Switzerland is still wonderful! It is still our favorite place yet, even more so! We will be saving our pennies to come back here someday!
4 comments:
You totally should have tried all 40 types of chocolate. You only live once and you are only at the chocolate tasters table a couple of times in your life!
I am so so so so jealous!
I hope you learned how to make the cholcolate so you can inform hersheys. They need a new recipe.
What were you thinking?!?!?! If there are 40 different chocolates waiting for you to try, you try all 40 chocolates! (Maybe twice.)
Yea! More of my favorite places! I went to Gruyere before Broc and the difference in smell is still part of my memories of that trip. They were both interesting, but the chocolate factory smelled like what I believe Heaven smells like! : )
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