Day 8
Went to bed with rain, with the roof behind the headboard singing with rain cascading into the 1 foot wide gutters.
Woke up to more rain, but the singing didn’t seem so musical anymore. Hey wait, what is that on the top of the Gummfluh (“our” mountain)? SNOW? On August 12th? Yep, even the gas station owner was surprised.
He helped me out with the auto-payant machine, like the French gas station auto-payants, it only accepts debit cards. We had a nice conversation as he pumped my gas – it’s early for snow on the mountains, even here. He also told me not to bother with the Donc Festival - the Rock / Blues festival on the Col de Mosses. He said, in French, “People like this”, and made a twisting motion on his nose with his fist. (I thought it meant “stuck up” but Jill thinks “pigs”, which is probably right.)
We had the homemade bacon with eggs – quite salty but with a great smoky flavor, the girls thought too salty. Certainly not very fatty.
It had cleared a bit during breakfast, and we headed in the direction of the good weather, but as soon as we gassed up it started raining again. Destination – Gruyeres.
I drove past a police barrier to try to get to parking lot #1 at the top of the village, rather than hiking up from lot #2, but the cop at the top wasn’t buying my leg excuse and told me if we didn’t want to walk we could take the mini-train from the cheese factory / museum instead. Sounded like a plan.
Parked down the hill and went for a self-guided tour of the cheese factory, which was “ok” and had English language museum guide audio players to help out.
Then lunch in the large cafeteria that looked promising but was a little disappointing – Dave Rosti with veggies & cheese, Jill salad with too much cheese (even though we were in the factory), Miss K the ubiquitous chicken fingers and excellent fries.
The best part of the place was looking at the 7000 Gruyere cheeses (70 lbs. each) and watching a robot pick up each one, wash it with a saltwater bath, flip it, and replace it. I wonder how the old guy who used to flip the cheese felt when Robo-Cheeseman showed up?
The mini-train was nice because we got dropped right at the top of the town, where Gruyeres castle was. Our first destination.
Parked down the hill and went for a self-guided tour of the cheese factory, which was “ok” and had English language museum guide audio players to help out.
Then lunch in the large cafeteria that looked promising but was a little disappointing – Dave Rosti with veggies & cheese, Jill salad with too much cheese (even though we were in the factory), Miss K the ubiquitous chicken fingers and excellent fries.
The best part of the place was looking at the 7000 Gruyere cheeses (70 lbs. each) and watching a robot pick up each one, wash it with a saltwater bath, flip it, and replace it. I wonder how the old guy who used to flip the cheese felt when Robo-Cheeseman showed up?
The mini-train was nice because we got dropped right at the top of the town, where Gruyeres castle was. Our first destination.
It was quite nicely done, despite being the center of a major tourist town. The 19th century owner had a lot of decorative painting done to the interior, which added a tasteful accent to the original furnishings – which included a petrified hand. The hand had many myths associated with it until it was proved in 2003 to be from an Egyptian mummy!
The castle was nicely furnished, had beautiful views, and many authentic elements dating back to the 1200’s. The girls liked the kitchen, and I liked the balcony with the awesome view. I also like the room full of original modern paintings, all depicting the castle.
It was raining again when we left, but slowed a bit after we walked past the wedding party in the main part of the village.
We nosed around the main village square, and wished we had waited to eat lunch until we got up to “town”. Kristen had an ice cream cone and the girls walked the ramparts while I stood guard over the central fountain – circa 1980.
For a tour bus stop, Gruyeres does a decent job presenting their past, and present… there are still people living there despite the throngs.
The castle was nicely furnished, had beautiful views, and many authentic elements dating back to the 1200’s. The girls liked the kitchen, and I liked the balcony with the awesome view. I also like the room full of original modern paintings, all depicting the castle.
It was raining again when we left, but slowed a bit after we walked past the wedding party in the main part of the village.
We nosed around the main village square, and wished we had waited to eat lunch until we got up to “town”. Kristen had an ice cream cone and the girls walked the ramparts while I stood guard over the central fountain – circa 1980.
For a tour bus stop, Gruyeres does a decent job presenting their past, and present… there are still people living there despite the throngs.
Then up, way up, top Moleson-sur-Gruyeres, though we knew we were probably too late to see the old style cheese making at the Fromagerie D’Alpage (we were). But we did speak with some cows, goats, and some very pink pigs.
We’ll come back another day to ride the luge track (I will anyway; the girls are chicken), and take the funicular and cable car to the top for views and lunch.
About 20-30 minutes back home where we called the parents from a pay phone before pushing Kristen 20 more times on the alpine cable swing thing at the kids’ park.
Finally home at 6:30 for cocktails and more Cats Eyes and potatoes and string beans for dinner at 8:30. Miss K is in the bath, Jill is sighing, and Dad is on his second Weissbier.
One thing’s for sure – tomorrow will be sunny – or rainy – or both.
We’ll come back another day to ride the luge track (I will anyway; the girls are chicken), and take the funicular and cable car to the top for views and lunch.
About 20-30 minutes back home where we called the parents from a pay phone before pushing Kristen 20 more times on the alpine cable swing thing at the kids’ park.
Finally home at 6:30 for cocktails and more Cats Eyes and potatoes and string beans for dinner at 8:30. Miss K is in the bath, Jill is sighing, and Dad is on his second Weissbier.
One thing’s for sure – tomorrow will be sunny – or rainy – or both.