This is a factory, not a circus!

June 18, 2018

Today for our first full day exploring Switzerland, we went on a quest to find the traditional three C's of Swiss culture - chocolate, cheese, and Coca-Cola light – ok, maybe that third one is a bit of a stretch, but we did end the day going to the Migro (a chain of Swiss grocery stores) to get Becky and Dee their Diet Coke – called Coca-Cola light here. 

We started the day with breakfast with Mimmo, Maria and Josh, and then we went to the most important of our Swiss cultural stops today – La Maison Cailler (Cailler Chocolate Factory).  My favorite chocolate in the whole world is La Branche de Cailler, and I first toured the factory as a missionary over twenty-five years ago.  They have changed the tour quite a bit since then, but the most important thing remains the same – there is a tasting room at the end where you can try most of the kinds of chocolate that they make in the factory.  Now there is a play area for kids out front complete with huge statues of over-sized Cailler Branches – that’s where we got the idea for Les Miserables reference for the title of the this post. 

After we gorged ourselves on chocolate, we drove the short distance to the medieval city of Gruyere.  We first walked around the old hilltop old town with it’s castle and magnificent views, and then we made it down to the second stop on our Swiss culinary cultural day – the Gruyere cheese factory.  That was a lot of fun as well, and while they did not have an all-you-can eat tasting room, they do send you home with some samples. 

As I said we also did pick up some Diet Coke – which may not be traditional Swiss fare, but is nonetheless considered essential by certain members of our party.  To complete our Swiss culinary day, Maria barbequed chicken and sausages to go along with couscous salad and several other delicious Maria dishes.  Mimmo also cleared off the boules court so that we could introduce Dee and the kids to petanque.  Ashley's husband Jonathan and I actually beat Mimmo and Katie (I think that first time that Jonathan has ever beaten Mimmo, and he was pretty excited).  I think Dee is falling in love with Switzerland.