Lake Geneva and Gstaad

We did a lot of sightseeing today and were on the road most of the day.

Fields and fields of yellow flowers everywhere. It is Rapeseed, which is used to make vegetable oil. May is the peak season for them.

We stopped to see how Gruyère cheese is made. It is a hard cheese that has a rich, creamy, salty, and nutty flavor. It has a stronger flavor than Swiss cheese. Gruyère is the most popular cheese in Switzerland and is used in fondue and French onion soup.

Big vats of cheese on the right and the forms for the cheese on the left

The cheese is gradually heated while stirring constantly

Rows and rows of cheese it will ripen here for two months at room temperature.

This is the size of the portions they sell in the wholesale food markets! For Gruyère cheese to have the stamp on the side, it must be made in the city of Gruyère.

We also walked around the city of Gruyères. it is a medieval town with a population of less than 2000 and only 11 square miles.

The coat of arms for the city has a crane on it Crane in French is “Grue.”

Spiral staircases were a prestigious architectural feature of many Renaissance castles.

There were many tall furniture pieces like this, which was strange since the people were much shorter.

The view of the garden from a bedroom window

The courtyard area. Russell thought this would be a good place to work on cars (or maybe carriages back in that time!)

After touring Gruyères, we went to Montreux on Lake Geneva. It was such a pretty little town with pleasant walkways along the water.

France on the left, Switzerland in the right. The country boundary goes through the center of the lake.

I couldn’t get over the beautiful flowers!

Statue of Freddy Mercury. He fell in love with the serenity of Montreux and Lake Geneva and decided to live here. He said, “If you want peace of soul, come to Montreux”.

After having lunch at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the lake, we took a train ride to Gstaad (pronounced Schtad). The train ride was about an hour and a half through the beautiful countryside. Gstaad is s a popular ski resort in the winter.