Switzerland (part 2)
Our next stop was the Cailler chocolate factory, that I first read about here (her description is really funny).
There were brief glimpses of the actual factory, but the tour was designed to be more of a tutorial on the history and process of chocolate making. There was a great display of vintage chocolate molds. The picture below shows a ginormous one that was probably three feet long.
There was a room that showed a variety of films from the 1940s and 50s about the factory's history that was quite fun - it was definitely better than that one with Lucy and Ethyl. One of them featured a recurring yodel of "Chocolat au lait" that I took up later on, much to the dismay of Davis.
The highlight, of course, was the all-you-can-eat chocolate tasting room. The chocolate was great, but I have to say that it was a challenge to do it justice after having just eaten a cheese-swathed breakfast a few hours before. You'll be glad to know that I did give it my best try, though.
From there we went on to wind our way through the mountains as I called out things like "Look! There's a Heidi-house!" and alternated between my new chocolate-themed yodel and the yodeling song from "The Sound of Music". I'm a lot of fun to travel with.
I'd love to share some pictures of the spectacular mountain vistas, but I'm afraid my photos really didn't do them justice. I can give you this guy though:
A mere 400 mountain passes later we found ourselves in Interlaken where we spent the night. The main street is fairly meh, but if you go just one block off it's really beautiful - charming Heidi-houses surrounded by mountains, plus streams that you can walk along.
I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the water was a crazy color. All through Switzerland it seemed to have a strange blue-green hue. It was as if a beverage manufacturer set out to make a youth-marketed drink called "Xtreme Freeeeeze", and they chose the chilliest color imaginable.
The only real complaint I have with Switzerland is the price of things. It's reeeeeeaaaaalllly expensive. Hotels and food were 2-3 times what they cost in France. We knew this before we went, but it was still rather painful. It would have been nice to spend more time there, but it would mean having to sell the house upon our return. Oh well, it's hard to complain about moving on to Italy.
There were brief glimpses of the actual factory, but the tour was designed to be more of a tutorial on the history and process of chocolate making. There was a great display of vintage chocolate molds. The picture below shows a ginormous one that was probably three feet long.
There was a room that showed a variety of films from the 1940s and 50s about the factory's history that was quite fun - it was definitely better than that one with Lucy and Ethyl. One of them featured a recurring yodel of "Chocolat au lait" that I took up later on, much to the dismay of Davis.
The highlight, of course, was the all-you-can-eat chocolate tasting room. The chocolate was great, but I have to say that it was a challenge to do it justice after having just eaten a cheese-swathed breakfast a few hours before. You'll be glad to know that I did give it my best try, though.
From there we went on to wind our way through the mountains as I called out things like "Look! There's a Heidi-house!" and alternated between my new chocolate-themed yodel and the yodeling song from "The Sound of Music". I'm a lot of fun to travel with.
I'd love to share some pictures of the spectacular mountain vistas, but I'm afraid my photos really didn't do them justice. I can give you this guy though:
A mere 400 mountain passes later we found ourselves in Interlaken where we spent the night. The main street is fairly meh, but if you go just one block off it's really beautiful - charming Heidi-houses surrounded by mountains, plus streams that you can walk along.
I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the water was a crazy color. All through Switzerland it seemed to have a strange blue-green hue. It was as if a beverage manufacturer set out to make a youth-marketed drink called "Xtreme Freeeeeze", and they chose the chilliest color imaginable.
The only real complaint I have with Switzerland is the price of things. It's reeeeeeaaaaalllly expensive. Hotels and food were 2-3 times what they cost in France. We knew this before we went, but it was still rather painful. It would have been nice to spend more time there, but it would mean having to sell the house upon our return. Oh well, it's hard to complain about moving on to Italy.
posted by Petula Darling at
4/25/2007 01:27:00 PM
1 Comments:
Oh, wow. I looked at the pictures of the tasting room from the other gal's blog and was just amazed. All you can eat chocolate! How can they do that! Maybe they're in cahoots with the folks who overfed you on cheese in the morning.
The glacial waters are beautiful! So, did you go skinny dipping in them? A bit chilly?
Julia Pequlia | Homepage | 04.25.07 - 5:30 pm | #
I have been to Switzerland and saw the crazy water too. I drank from it and man talk about brain freeze! Your pictures have to come with you to knitting!Eileen
Eileen | 04.29.07 - 8:16 pm | #
What fabulous fun you must be to travel with! An all you can eat chocalate room? Word.
jungle dream pagoda | Homepage | 05.01.07 - 11:01 am | #
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