Chocolate and Cheese in Gruyère, Switzerland

Gruyère cows enjoying their lunch

Switzerland is the land of chocolate and cheese. Nowhere is this more evident than Gruyère, home to Cailler chocolate and, of course, Gruyère cheese. It's also full of rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, quaint villages and medieval castles. Cows roam the countryside and their tinkling bells fill the air. A day in idyllic Gruyère is quintessentially Swiss and one we try to share with all our visitors.

Getting to Gruyère from Zurich is fairly easy - two and a half hours by train with two changes, the first in Fribourg and second in Bulle. The trains run once per hour. With an early start, there will be plenty of time to explore!

Gruyère, town and castle

Gruyère Castle

Begin with a visit to the town of Gruyère and the Gruyère Castle. Follow signs for the short uphill walk from the train station (or catch the local bus). In town are cute shops fully of kitschy Swiss souvenirs and plenty of restaurants for lunch - or bring a picnic to enjoy on the castle grounds, like we did.

Jamie exploring Gruyère Castle

Picnic lunch with a view at Gruyère Castle

After your stroll through town and lunch, head back downhill to La Maison du Gruyère. For a 7chf entry fee, you will learn how Gruyère cheese is made, watch the process in action and taste three varieties. 

Cheesemaking at la Maison du Gruyère

Hop back on the train for a short ride to Broc-Fabrique. Take a deep breath when you arrive at the station - can you smell the chocolate? It's a short walk from the station to Maison Cailler.

Jamie and me before eating too much chocolate.

The 9chf tour covers the history of chocolate and Cailler, information about how and where Cailler sources its raw ingredients and an overview of the manufacturing process. All in English (among other languages). Best of all, it ends in....

...a buffet of chocolate.

I always leave with a stomachache. Well-worth it. Before you go, stop into the cafe for coffee or hot chocolate and stock up on discount candy bars. Or pop into the Nestle (the parent company of Cailler) shop by the train station for snacks on the train ride home. 

May 2015 visit with Julie - so much colder than May 2016!

If there's time, I highly recommend hopping off the train in Bern for a stroll through town and a quick dinner. Bern isn't often on people's Swiss itinerary, but its Altstadt is probably my favorite of the larger Swiss cities. 

Altstadt in Bern

Have you been to Gruyère? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Celebrating Sechseläuten in Zürich, Switzerland

Sechseläuten, or in proper Züridüütsch (the Swiss-German dialect in Zurich), Sächsilüüte, is Zünfte, historical guilds, parade through Zurich to Sechseläutenplatz, where the Böögg, an effigy of a snowman, is burned on top of a large pyre.
Zurich's spring festival. Each year, on the third Monday of April, members of Zurich's

How the Böögg burns predicts the quality of the coming summer. Its head is loaded with explosives and, the quicker the Böögg blows its head off, the nicer our summer will be. Last year's explosion at 20 min. 39 sec. indicated a mediocre summer ahead. Luckily for us, the Böögg was wrong and the summer of 2015 was gloriously sunny and warm.

What will be 2016's prediction? Watch the live stream of the parades and burning of the Böögg. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. CET here http://www.telezueri.ch/live

Until then, check out my photos from last year's celebration!

Celebrating Fasnacht in Basel, Switzerland

It's Fasnacht in Switzerland! Late January through February, Protestant areas of the country celebrate the pre-Lenten festival season known as Fasnacht (the Swiss-German version of Carnival). Parades of costumed children, grotesquely-masked adults and "Cliques" of piccolos and drums parade through streets in towns large and small, passing out candy and dumping loads of paper confetti.

Morgenstreich, photo courtesy of news.ch

The best and largest of the many celebrations is in Basel. It begins with the Morgenstreich, "without light," parade, at 4 a.m. on the Monday following Ash Wednesday. Every light in the city is turned off for the parade of glowing floats and lanterns. Fasnacht continues for 72 hours, during which parades and festivities fill the Basel Altstadt. After Morgenstreich, there are two more "official" Fasnacht parades, or Corteges. Last year, the Sleachmours took the 40 minute train from Zurich to Basel for Monday afternoon's parade.

Summer 2015 > Summer 2014

Can you spot the famous mountain?

Beers in Altstadt Zurich

I have fallen far, far behind on blogging. It's been over two months since my last post and I owe updates on half a dozen trips: Dijon, London, Amsterdam, Budapest, Lausanne, Milan.... Plus, we have visits with Matt's mom and my friend Julie to share! I will get to them soon, I promise. I have the best excuse for the delay: it has been the most gorgeous summer here in Switzerland. Last summer was cool and rain soaked. This summer has been the polar opposite, gloriously full of warm, sunny days. We've been soaking up every bit, swimming in lakes and rivers, climbing mountains, learning new hobbies and trying desperately to keep our non-air conditioned apartment cool. The last month was the hottest on record here in Zurich, with highs in the 90s for about half of the days and 80s for the rest. It's been hot! Despite the lack of AC, I really haven't minded. It feels a bit like home (but with less humidity than central Ohio, thank god). Here's a peek into how we've spent our second summer in Switzerland.

Swiss Discoveries: Cut Your Own Flowers

A few weeks ago, while walking Henry past our local Gemeindehaus (town administrative offices), I noticed a field of flowers in full bloom. Rows were labeled by flower names, photos and a prices per "stiel," (stem). Small box cutters hung from nearby cash boxes along with a comprehensive price list. Putting two and two together, I determined it was a cut your own flower field.

Gladiolas and Sunflowers

Adam and Kim Visit Part 1: Zurich

In April, we had visitors from home!!!! Adam and Kim, two of our favorite Columbusites, sandwiched a few days at in Paris, between stays at Sleachmour B&B. We had a blast playing tour guide. Here's how we spent their first two days in Zurich.

Arriving bright and early Saturday morning, Adam and Kim were total champs, ready to start exploring after a few cups of coffee. We started our tour at the Hauptbahnhoff, Zurich's main train station, strolled down the Bahnhoffstrasse and through the Old Town on both side of the Limmat River, heading towards the lake. This is our usual route with visitors. It passes most of the highlights of the Old Town: Fraumunster, Grossmunster and many beautiful, decades old buildings. We ending our walk with a traditional Swiss lunch of sausage and rosti at Sternan Grill.

The Durfberts and Sleachmours at Limmatplatz
Photo Credit:  Adam

Old Town Walk
Photo Credit:  Adam

Exploring Switzerland's Italian Side in Lugano

Monte San Salvatore across Lake Lugano

Since our arrival in Switzerland, I've been pestering Matt for a trip to Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland. I hear wonderful things about Tucino - its scenic beauty, the abundant sun, tasty food and wine and the (very un-Swiss) disregard of schedules and clocks by locals and visitors alike. It sounds like the Swiss-Italians could be my people! I couldn't wait to visit.

The first weekend in May, a nice long holiday weekend for Matt, was the perfect opportunity to hop on a train and make our way South. We booked a hotel in Lugano, a small Swiss town located on Lake Lugano, just minutes from the Italian border.

The train ride from Zurich to Lugano was unexpectedly gorgeous. Don't get me wrong. Most train rides in Switzerland are scenic. My twice weekly commutes into the city have beautiful mountain and lake views. But the train to Lugano was special, slowing climbing up into the Swiss Alps. I planned to read, but spent most of the trip with my nose pressed to the window watching snow capped mountains, waterfalls of snow melt and adorable mountain towns. Unfortunately, iPhone photos through windows can't do it justice. You'll just have to take my word, or come visit.

We arrived in Lugano mid-morning and checked into Hotel Federale, conveniently located just below the train station and a few steps from the Old Town. We dropped our things and went straight to the lake.

Exploring Switzerland: A Day in Basel

A few weeks ago, Matt and I spent a sunny, warm spring Sunday exploring a new Swiss city: Basel. Located just 85 kilometers northwest of Zurich, a quick 45 minute train ride, Basel straddles the Rhine near Switzerland's borders with France and Germany, both of which you can see from downtown Basel. Alsace, France, where they make very tasty sweet white wines, is just a short drive away. 

Sundays in Switzerland are always quiet, and since we brought Henry with us we were unable to explore Basel's excellent museums (including the largest Kunst museum in the country), but we did lots of walking and exploring. After a quick coffee, we spent more of the morning strolling through the medieval Old Town. Winding streets are full of gorgeous old buildings. 

February Visitor and a Trip to Luzern

In February, I welcomed our second visitor to Sleachmour (temporary) B&B. Aarti is one of my oldest friends and is also a fellow expat, currently living in Brussels, Belgium. Aarti coordinated her visit to Zurich to overlap with Matt's second business trip. The weather wasn't on our side; most of her visit was drizzly and gray. Also, Aarti came down with (and shared) a killer cold. So, we kept things pretty low key, made dinners at the apartment for two of the four nights, spent a day exploring Zurich and a day in Luzern.

This was my first visit to Luzern (Lucerne in French), even though it's an easy 45 minute train ride from Zurich HB. Luzern sits on Lake Luzern, nestled between lots of mountains. Mountains that make Zurich's view look like foothills. In Luzerne, it felt like I could reach out and touch the Alps. Amazing! Mount Rigi and Mount Pilatus are the local mountains to visit. Both are short trips on public transport from the city center. Unfortunately, with the gray weather, we decided it was best to save mountain hikes for another trip. Instead we roamed the town.

Finding (Decent) Mexican Food in Switzerland

There are Mexican restaurants in Switzerland. But, most of them are TERRIBLE. And terribly expensive. We once spent 100 chf at a "Mexican" restaurant in Winterthur for packaged guacamole, terrible quesadillas soaked in salad dressing (???) and salsa with absolutely no heat. At. All. The margaritas and chips were ok, so there was that.

That's typical for a Mexican restaurant in Switzerland. And perhaps it is unsurprising, given the lack of proximity to Mexico and their general dislike of very spicy foods.

Since arriving in Zurich, we've been on a hunt for good Mexican food. We stumbled upon a Mexican grocery in central Zurich during our first visit, before the official move. El Maiz has all the critical ingredients for making Mexican at home.... although, like everything else, it's pricey. Over 5chf each for black beans, chipotle in adobe and decent salsa. There are basic ingredients for Mexican food at the regular grocery stores, but nothing is quite the same and everything is expensive. I once calculated the cost of making tacos at home and it was well over 35 chf per meal.

Also, for the record, there's only ONE kind of cheddar available at the grocery.  In the land of cheese. What is wrong with the Swiss?

Americans, you have it made and you don't even know it.

January Visitor

I apologize for the LONG delay in new posts. We've had a busy three weeks, although it's poor excuse for failing to share the details. As of our last post, Henry and I survived our first week without Matt. Quite well. I think he may have been disappointed by our success. Ha.

The second week we had a visitor, my brother Joe. On his way to India, he managed a five day layover in Zurich. The weather wasn't great, so we spent a good amount of time in our flat, cooking, eating and trying the local microbrews available at Avia. We did manage to spend two cloudy days exploring Zurich. Day one, we discovered Museum Reitberg, which, according to their Wikipedia page, is the only Swiss art museum focused on non-European cultures. Joe found great pieces relating to his research and I enjoyed the exhibit on Indian textile art. Beautiful tapestries painted to tell the stories of goddesses draped were across an entire room (photos banned, sorry!).

Sleachmour Christmas

The Rapperswil Christmas Market was our favorite of those we visited this year. Rapperswil is a quaint town on the opposite end of lake Zurich with a beautiful castle and a scenic main street along the lake. We drank (more) Gluhwein, ate sausages, browsed stalls filled with toys and tasty treats and enjoyed locals singing English Christmas carols.

Exploring Swiss Christmas Markets

We're finally out of the hotel and in our temporary apartment. Yay! Once we've unpacked our short-term shipment, I'll post a tour. For now, here's a bit about how we spent our first weekend as Swiss residents.

Switzerland is home to hundreds of Christmas Markets. Over the weekend we explored a few, beginning with the Uster Weihnachtsmarkt, just a ten minute walk from our hotel. Henry began the trip by walking, but soon shivered himself into his carrier. But that didn't stop us from enjoying some Gluhwein (mulled wine) and a snack.

Matt enjoying Gluhwein while Henry looks pathetic.

My Introduction to Zurich

On Wednesday, I left Columbus for Zurich. Matt had arrived four days earlier for work. The long weekend was my introduction to the city I had already agreed to call home. Luckily, it lived up to my expectations!

I arrived Thursday morning and checked in to our hotel. Matt had a full day of work, so I was on my own to explore. I spent it strolling through Old Town, which sits at the northwest tip of Lake Zurich. It was beautiful and small enough to see the main sites on foot. Public trams got me safely there and back (with a little help from the hotel staff). Matt met me for dinner on the lake and a stroll before heading back to the hotel.
 

Old Town Zurich