Day 9
When the highlight of the day is a cup of coffee, you know you’re scraping te bottom of the barrel.
Rain all night, rain all morning, rain all day. The trip is beginning to look like a rehash of our Germany – Austria – Switzerland trip of 16 years ago, weatherwise, and we’re all getting sick of it.
We couldn’t get motivated to get out of bed, so it wasn’t till after 11 that we were done with bacon and eggs and out the door.
Drove to L’Etivaz in search of a cheese to bring home, and arrived precisely at 12, their closing time. A short ride back down the mountain to home, noticing that no one was out and about. Sundays, or at least rainy Sundays, still seem to be reserved for rest in Switzerland.
Looked at the chalkboards in front of La Gare restaurant, but couldn’t get motivated to enter. Not much inspiring, including Kangaroo meat!
Saw a nice menu at “La Poste” but – closed Sundays. Strike 3 was lunch itself at the Irish Tavern – we were th only guests in the very quaint, woody bar, but madame was only serving three dishes – a mushroom something, Fondue (we’re all cheese-d out) or an Assiette Froid, cold cut plate with salad.
Rain all night, rain all morning, rain all day. The trip is beginning to look like a rehash of our Germany – Austria – Switzerland trip of 16 years ago, weatherwise, and we’re all getting sick of it.
We couldn’t get motivated to get out of bed, so it wasn’t till after 11 that we were done with bacon and eggs and out the door.
Drove to L’Etivaz in search of a cheese to bring home, and arrived precisely at 12, their closing time. A short ride back down the mountain to home, noticing that no one was out and about. Sundays, or at least rainy Sundays, still seem to be reserved for rest in Switzerland.
Looked at the chalkboards in front of La Gare restaurant, but couldn’t get motivated to enter. Not much inspiring, including Kangaroo meat!
Saw a nice menu at “La Poste” but – closed Sundays. Strike 3 was lunch itself at the Irish Tavern – we were th only guests in the very quaint, woody bar, but madame was only serving three dishes – a mushroom something, Fondue (we’re all cheese-d out) or an Assiette Froid, cold cut plate with salad.
I suppose if you like decent ham, decent potato salsd (but different) it was ok, but there were some mystery cuts on the plate that gave us all pause – including raw bacon. (Surprisingly not bad, if you trim the fat off.) Not a culinary highlight.
Back up to L’Etivaz to see about a tour of their 14,000 cheese cellar. When we opened the car doors you could distinctly, and I do mean distinctly, smell the special house where they age the Rebibes – 3 year old special selections that turn Parmigiana-like. Mmmmm.
Inside my French must have been pretty good because before I knew it I was over my head a bit… but after a while I got the drift. There was a French language tour of ½ hour duration at 3:00, the next guy who spoke English wouldn’t be in till Tuesday, and we could go upstairs and watch a narrated slideshow (“Diaporama”) for 2 CHF for each adult instead, if we liked. That seemed like a good compromise, and the ½ hour show on L’Etivaz cheese, how it is produced in the high mountain pastures using only wood fires, etc. was quite well done, informative and entertaining.
After the shoe we went back down into the store and bought some aged, shrink-wrapped L’Etivaz to bring back to the USA, and I had a tougher time with the 2 counter women’s French, as they now thought of me as fluent. I may have to give up my quest to bring a whole cheese home – most of these alpine guys weigh 50+ lbs. each! (Editor’s note: we should have sought out a Raclette cheese, which would have been the perfect size.)
Back up to L’Etivaz to see about a tour of their 14,000 cheese cellar. When we opened the car doors you could distinctly, and I do mean distinctly, smell the special house where they age the Rebibes – 3 year old special selections that turn Parmigiana-like. Mmmmm.
Inside my French must have been pretty good because before I knew it I was over my head a bit… but after a while I got the drift. There was a French language tour of ½ hour duration at 3:00, the next guy who spoke English wouldn’t be in till Tuesday, and we could go upstairs and watch a narrated slideshow (“Diaporama”) for 2 CHF for each adult instead, if we liked. That seemed like a good compromise, and the ½ hour show on L’Etivaz cheese, how it is produced in the high mountain pastures using only wood fires, etc. was quite well done, informative and entertaining.
After the shoe we went back down into the store and bought some aged, shrink-wrapped L’Etivaz to bring back to the USA, and I had a tougher time with the 2 counter women’s French, as they now thought of me as fluent. I may have to give up my quest to bring a whole cheese home – most of these alpine guys weigh 50+ lbs. each! (Editor’s note: we should have sought out a Raclette cheese, which would have been the perfect size.)
Back down to town, where we had a very nice, relaxing coffee, tea and hot cocoa at a coffee house / gift shop / pastry shop, and Jill bought some souvenirs.
Stopped by the cinema, not only does it appear the manager lives upstairs and the place has about 20 seats, the signage makes it look like “Pirates of the Caribbean” will be in French and they will be enforcing the minimum age of 12 years, so we’ll be skipping the movies.
Went to the Chateau D’Oex town museum, 5 floors of an old house with quite interesting historical society stuff including reconstructed rooms, old painted / inlaid furniture, etc. My favorite was the cut-out scissor art, apparently originated by an uneducated hermit in the area.
Took a short drive thru town, then back up the driveway, managing to avoid loss of life, limb, or property yet again.
Dinner tonite will be sausage, sautéed potatoes, string beans and salad, with a loaf of bread from L’Etivaz made with high-mountain butter. Tastes kind of like a croissant.
Hoping for a better day tomorrow…
Stopped by the cinema, not only does it appear the manager lives upstairs and the place has about 20 seats, the signage makes it look like “Pirates of the Caribbean” will be in French and they will be enforcing the minimum age of 12 years, so we’ll be skipping the movies.
Went to the Chateau D’Oex town museum, 5 floors of an old house with quite interesting historical society stuff including reconstructed rooms, old painted / inlaid furniture, etc. My favorite was the cut-out scissor art, apparently originated by an uneducated hermit in the area.
Took a short drive thru town, then back up the driveway, managing to avoid loss of life, limb, or property yet again.
Dinner tonite will be sausage, sautéed potatoes, string beans and salad, with a loaf of bread from L’Etivaz made with high-mountain butter. Tastes kind of like a croissant.
Hoping for a better day tomorrow…
