Eleonore met us in the train station when we arrived. I was so happy to see her and to be in her hometown! It was just a quick five minute walk from the station to her flat, which I had heard lots about and seen pictures of. She lives on the top floor of a commercial building, of which the 7th floor has 4 flats, and has a huge balcony with an amazing panoramic view over most of the old town of Fribourg and the hills and mountains behind it. I've seen so many pictures of her balcony view that when I walked out onto it for the first time I couldn't believe that I was actually standing there!
Fribourg is located 34 km southwest of Bern. The Swiss French pronounce it free-boor and the Swiss German pronounce it fry-borg. My Rough Guide describes it as "one of Switzerland's best keep secrets, it's winningly attractive medieval Old Town set on a forested peninsula in a meander of the River Sarine. Steep, cobbled streets, bedecked with wrought iron lamp standards and ornate inn signs, are picturesque and characterful."
Yeah.... The guide book pretty much nailed it. It was absolutely stunning to stand on her balcony and be able to view the old town below us. On the hill directly across is a large convent, and slightly below is a large park with a huge swimming pool. After seeing the medieval town below, I was itching to explore those narrow streets.
We dropped off our bags and cleaned up quickly, so we could head to her local bar to watch the Switzerland vs Romania match. I've mentioned that it's the European Championship while we're here, right?
Just in case you didn't know, it's the European Championship and we're watching tons of football. ;) It's amazing to be watching it in Europe! I think that so many people are absolutely surprised that we, two American girls, are so obsessed with and knowledgable about footie.
We headed to the bar and snagged a table on the patio out front, where they had a large TV showing the match. We ordered beers, and settled in to watch. It was a fairly sunny evening, and we felt ourselves relaxing. Of course we were cheering for Switzerland. The bar where we were is located in the old train station, and the inside of the building is beautiful. After a bit Eleonore's friend Veronique met us, and we headed to dinner at an Italian restaurant located closer to the old town on the Rue de Lausanne. Lo and I don't speak very much French, so it was to my amusement when I said bonsoir to our waiter and he replied with buona sera! I was informed that we speak Italian when in that restaurant, so I happily complied with my traveler's Italian. Eleonore and Vero ordered a delicious red wine, a Primitivo, and we set about ordering food as we were all STARVING!
Three pizzas and a pasta dish later, we were absolutely satiated. It was an absolutely delicious meal. I had a pizza with hot salami, tomatoes, arugula, and garlic. By now our exhaustion and jet lag was settling in, so we headed home to get to sleep.
We woke early the next morning to get ready for our day, as we were going to have a fabulous day doing one of the most tourist things possible - the Chocolate Train! Before you ask, yes it's as cheesy as it sounds, and yes, it was amazing. AMAZING! I mean, we rode in old Pullman luxury train cars from Montreux, a beautiful town located on Lake Geneva (Lac Leman is what the locals call it) to Gruyeres, which is where they make Gruyere cheese, followed by a visit to the tiny hilltop village of Gruyeres to explore and have lunch, and culminating in a visit to the Nestle-Cailler chocolate factory located in Broc. Oh my goodness we were excited. Cheese and chocolate and an old train? Yes please!!!!
We arrived in Montreux bright and early to catch the train. Once we were in our comfortable seats, we were offered pain au chocolate and our choice of coffee, hot chocolate, or chocolate milk.
Before I delve into our day too much, let's talk about pastries. Especially French pastries. I think I could eat croissants all day every day and never tire of them. Buttery, flaky pastry?! YES PLEASE! Add chocolate? EVEN BETTER! At the Gare de Lyon Wednesday morning Lo and I made an extremely necessary stop at a patisserie to purchase coffee and pastries for the train. In typical fashion for us, we couldn't decide what to get, so we got three pastries! A an apple tart, a chocolate croissant, and a donut called a mascot, which was filled with chocolate cream. And before you ask, yes, they were all as delicious as they sound. So it is unecessary to tell you how much we enjoyed our croissants on the train. I'm going to eat so much pastry on this trip and have absolutely no guilt about it at all. After all, we're walking so many miles each day that it's okay! I can rationalize almost anything.
The train journey was so beautiful. It was a cool and misty day, and the clouds sat on top of the mountains and settled into the valleys like graceful veils. It was Eleonore's first time on the chocolate train as well, so she was being a tourist with us. We passed through so many beautiful little towns, filled with chalets and surrounded by rolling green pastures. We saw lots of cows grazing, of course, and goats and sheep as well. On the train from Paris to Fribourg, we saw white animals grazing in the distance, so of course my first thought was to say "sheep!" Lo, with her excellent eye sight, informed me that they were in fact cows. White cows. Of course we told Eleonore this and now we laugh every time we see white cows. "SHEEP!" It may be time for a new prescription for my contacts and glasses.
When we arrived at the station in Gruyeres we were immediately across from the showroom for The Gruyere factory. We trooped in and were given audio guides to listen to during the tour. Our guide on the audio guide was.... Wait for it....
A cow. So funny! Cheesy for us (pun intended?!) but really nice for kids, as I think it was much more interesting for them. The display about the history of the cheese was a bit lacking, but the room where they were making the cheese was very interesting! We stayed and watched for a while, as they had an excellent explanation of the process. We were given a sample of the three different kinds of Gruyere cheese, based on how long they are aged, and then sent on our way. We took a bus up to the old village of Gruyeres, and there we had two hours to walk around and have lunch. We decided to walk around first, so we headed down the cobbled avenue to see the beautiful old village.
It really was like stepping back in time. If you took away the modern light fixtures and signs, it would be easy to imagine how it looked in the 14th century. The chateau sits at the end of the main avenue, higher up on the hill. The Chateau de Gruyeres was occupied from 1080 to 1554 by the 19 counts of Grueyers. In 1493 a terrible fire destroyed almost everything but the dungeons (what a thing to escape the fire! Why couldn't it have been the Hall or something?!), and the last count ran up huge debts trying to restore it before he fled, leaving his creditors to divide up his land between them. We did not go into the Chateau, but we walked a path all the way around it that afforded us exceptional views of the valley below. At this point we decided we were ready for lunch, and headed back towards the center of the village.
First we had to make a stop. I would literally never imagine finding this in a quaint Swiss village, but the fact remains that it's there - a bar created by the Swiss graphic artist H.R. Giger, who created all of the special effects for the movie Alien, as well as Poltergeist and Alien 3 and some other scary movies that I'll never see but I know some people love. I'm a scary movie wimp, however I know my father would want to go into the bar so I went in for him! It was soooooo weird! Everything was like the movie Alien, including the chairs, ceiling, floor, walls - everything! I took some photos so don't worry, I'll post them. There is also a museum there full of his work, but it's all his grotesque art - sexualized surrealist visions of machine like humanoids, nightmarish cityscapes, and fantasy porn. Pass! We had a quick drink in the bar and then went on to find a place for lunch.
Due to the fact that Gruyeres is a very touristy town, all of the food is extremely expensive. We decided that it most likely didn't matter too much which restaurant we chose, as they would mostly serve the same food for the same prices. We chose a restaurant with a gorgeous view on a glassed in terrace overlooking the valley below. Eleonore recommended that we eat CROUTE !!!!!!!!!!!
This is glorious because it's just excellent cheese on excellent bread along with whatever other excellent toppings you choose. Eleonore and I had one with ham and a fried egg, and Lo had one without ham but with the egg. Oh it was glorious! Served traditionally with pickles and pearl onions, the combination of taste is so delicious. The cheese was so melted and creamy. Our portions were huge! We should have shared, but we didn't know how big they would be. We paired this with an excellent local white wine and left lunch feeling rejuvenated (and also sleepy).
One of the most entertaining parts of the chocolate train experience thus far was this hilarious woman who was one of the organizers of the train trip. She was meticulously organized and excellent at her job, but was rather bossy - which I suppose you have to be when you're organizing tourists that have no idea where they're going or aren't paying attention or simply just don't care. So of course we nicknamed her Le Generale and started saluting her. When we reconvened at the meeting point to head to the chocolate factory, she was there herding everyone into the proper place. She was really nice and great at her job - Vive Le Generale!
At this point it was time for our cheese satiated selves to go to the chocolate factory of Nestle-Callier. I couldn't imagine eating another bite, but of course that quickly changed when we entered the factory. I could type out the long history of the companies of Nestle and Callier, but I'd rather not. If you're interested in learning about it, you can visit www.callier.ch
The tour was wonderful - they made it extremely interactive and interesting. You walk into individual rooms that have re-enactments of a specific time period relating to the history of chocolate. So we started off in a room in South America, with the legends of the gods bringing cocoa beans to the people, then to a room for Spain when the conquistadors took cocoa home, then a room for Europe discovering the delights of chocolate, and so on. It was so fun! After that we were given a view of a small part of the production factory, which was really interesting.
At the very end, the piece de resistance! You get to taste so many of the different chocolates that are made with there. And when I say so many, I mean like 20. In fact, there were so many to taste that I couldn't try all of them, as I was totally chocolated out. Lo was smart, she saved a bunch of them in a napkin to eat later. After all of that chocolate we were desperate for a coffee, so we went to the cafe in the entry to have a coffee and wait for Le Generale to tell us where to be when.
After this it was back on the train to return to Montreux. The ride back was beautiful, and we celebrated with a glass of prosecco on board.
Once we disembarked, it was time to go to the home of Eleonore's parents for dinner! I was so looking forward to meeting them. Alexandre and Gratienne recently sold their family home and moved into a modern flat in Vevey. We arrived at their lovely home, and were immediately greeted by the family dog, Ouimac - he met us at the door with his stuffed raccoon in his mouth and his tail wagging. So sweet! Gratienne had prepared us a lovely meal of a soufflé, salad, caprese bites, and then for dessert we were lucky enough to be served the famous double cream from Gruyere! Oh my gosh. Think whipped cream meets creme fraiche but better! We had it with strawberries, and it was divine.
Alexandre is just like my own father - he kept saying "that's not enough, put more creme on!" Dad would have been proud. We had such a nice evening with them, and it was so kind of them to invite us to their home. I absolutely hope to see them again someday! Even though they both said that they don't speak English well, they do. Eleonore said that her mother was so happy to be able to practice English at home! Eleonore really wants to bring them to the US, and I hope that happens!
I think it's amazing that, having met Eleonore in Burma, she then visited me in Denver and met my parents, and now I've been able to visit her and meet her family. It's truly an incredible thing when you meet and become friends because of such a strong shared passion for viewing the world and expanding your own personal horizons. Though it's not always comfortable at first, I love pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. I always grow more than I could imagine and change for the better. The best part of traveling, in my opinion, is the people you meet and the connections that are formed with them. After all, it's all about relationships in this life.
