I can’t believe it’s already time to move on from Switzerland. Although I will say i’m ready for a change of scenery. the swiss countryside (and french for that matter) have been stunning but i’m ready to get to a new country, a new cuisine and a new group of people.
we spent our final day in gruyere and bulle, switzerland. we woke up in the morning and had a communal breakfast with everyone at the hotel. holiday inn sucks. this lady was cooking fresh bread like it was going out of style. she was making french loafs, sourdough, challah and croissants. i watched her rapidly whip up espresso slam a loaf in, pull another out all while make sure people had their fill. honestly, it was one of the better breakfasts we have had here.
after that we wandered up to the castle and took the official tour. again, i cannot believe how old things are here. we walked around the castle looking at the original outlines and changes it has experienced through time. it was absolutely fascinating!
one of the many many interesting costumes..
our hotel
after wandering around the castle and the grounds we drove to the gruyere cheese factory. and ate gruyere fondu with bread and potatoes then took a tour of the factory and well..watched them make cheese.
after we felt like cheese logs once again we took a drive to bulle which is yet another cute little quaint town. almost all of the little shops were closed due to the sunday but all of the cafes were open. we grabbed a couple of desserts and another round of espresso then headed back to gruyere where we spent some time reading on the deck because it was such a bright and sunny day.
after reading we went hiking around some of the trails. that is when something terrible terrible awful happened. we were hiking and this family with a yellow lab was behind us. we let them pass and they went through the tunnel under the road to get to the path on the other side. the little girl and the dog beat them out and like in slow motion i saw the dog run in to traffic and just get nailed by a car skidding about 20 feet. joe and i ran down the steps and across the road to the little girl and the dog. luckily the dog was alive and amazingly alert for what had just happened. i’m like fighting back tears and the man comes out of the tunnel asking me what happened. i try to explain to him but he only speaks french. it was so incredibly sad. however, the man picked up the dog and it again, amazingly could walk/limp and seemed like it might be ok. it was just ugh ick i hate that. leash your dogs when near roadways. not just for you but because they don’t know any better! after that we were pretty shaken up and we turned around and headed back to the village.
we found a spot for some pizza and ice cream because we were still basically in a coma from lunch but wanted to get dinner before everything closed. (note: things close early in gruyere) we grabbed dinner and some ice cream (it’s so good can’t resist) and headed back to our hotel. we sat on the deck and enjoyed a bottle of wine before heading back to the room to pack for todays drive to italy and get a good nights sleep.
happy monday everyone! we are on our way to italy. say a little prayer for us again…because we are driving. and it’s really scary.
