I Love the Sound of Cowbells in the Morning

We've broken today up into 2 posts, so that we could give each part their due.

Today was the day of cheese and chocolate, aboard the Train du Chocolate. We left Montreux on a Belle Epoque Pullman train car and headed for the village of Gruyeres. At the start of the trip, we were given a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) with either coffee, tea or hot chocolate. However, the hot chocolate was really powdered Ovaltine. How ironic. On the way, we went up into the mountains.  We could hear the sound of cowbells (and the smell of cows) once we entred 'Gruyeres country'.  1 hr later, after some amazing mountain and valley views, we reached our first destination, Gruyeres. Note: there is an accent on the first e in Gruyeres, but I can't find it on the keyboard.

 Valley picture, complete with fog

We went through a tour of a demonstration cheese making facility. Part of tour included 'smelling tubes' of different flora that a cow eats that gives the Gruyere cow's milk their signature flavour. Then to the gift shop. They had some really nice fondue pots, but were very heavy. We bought some stuff for lunch (more on that later).

 

Outside the Gruyere gift ghop.  No yodelling allowed.   

We boarded a bus and in 5 minutes, were in the village of Gruyeres, with it's historic castle. We were free to wander, have lunch etc...we started walking on a path that went all the way around the castle. We stopped halfway, looking out to the valley below and mountains above for lunch. We had bought all the ingredients earlier for our classic French lunch (Jen and Jay...), a small loaf of bread, cheese (Gruyeres this time) and some cured sausage. Throw in some Coke Zero and we're good to go. We were going to have wine, but I forgot our travel wine glasses back at the hotel.

We did a tour of the castle (free with our Swiss Pass) and watched a multimedia show about the history of the region that was done better than expected. We both liked this tour better then Chateau de Chillon. There was a few rooms with modern art exhibits. Some were disturbing and weird and others interesting and cool. We hit the castle gift shop for a few post cards and a print of a painting we liked. Back on a bus for a 15 minute ride and we're in the village of Broc, the home of Cailler Nestle.

 Big harp at Chateau de Gruyere. Jennifer was too scared to be in the picture.

Spot the Jennifer.  The Jardin at Chateau de Gruyere.