Bad Timing

Once again, it was a sick week. S wasn't 100%, and L woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday with a fever of 104.2. Everyone is still coughing. I've thought it was just one of those things - the sick season and germs we haven't encountered before. I'm starting to wonder, though.

The forecast for the weekend was perfect sunny spring weather in the 50s, so we gave the girls the choice of going up in the mountains or something less strenuous. They chose the less strenuous route, not surprisingly, and we decided to go to Gruyeres. It is three hours away, so we booked a hotel in nearby Bulle, thinking it made sense to do everything in the area at once.

T looks so sweet, but he is throwing sticks and stones.

On Saturday morning, S was a little sluggish, but that wasn't so unusual. With congestion morning is always the worst time. And none of us feel all that great on long train rides. We got to Gruyeres and it was beautiful. It is a very quaint medieval town (really one main street) leading up to a castle. It is built on a hill, so there are green fields in every direction backed by snowy mountains. Also, it is spring, so primroses, crocuses, snowdrops, and all the other early spring flowers are blooming. The fountains are running. Chickens are out in their coops (we saw what might be the world's biggest rooster!). Really, it was a perfect day. It was so sunny that it was hard to take pictures, but it was wonderful to admire the view from sun-warmed stone walls.

 Looking back toward Gruyeres from the castle

As soon as we got to the castle, S was sick. But that made her feel better and we figured our troubles were over. Rather than bring her to the hotel, we stayed at the castle. We started with a movie about the history of the castle and of Gruyere. Everyone got headphones in their own language. L was very into the movie. I think she may have taken over S's old job of yelling back to movies and plays. At one point Gruyeres went to war with Bern and when the bear was shown on screen she let out a tremendous growl that we could hear even with headphones on. It was a good movie, but we were a little confused about why it was narrated by an old man in a gold Mardi Gras costume. R later figured out that he is some sort of local beloved traditional jester character.

Checking out the kitchen.

S shows how big the big fireplace is.

L considers taking a bath in the knights' washbasin.

Tickle break.

After that we toured the castle. It is a self guided tour, but very well laid out. The rooms are numbered and are seen roughly in chronological order from the oldest to the most recent. The most modern rooms were decorated by the castle's last owner. In the mid-1800s a watch tycoon bought the castle for his unemployed artist brother. The artist was always having friends over and painting murals. T was able to follow the tour numbers and was very very excited to be our leader and show us from room to room.

T was excited to find the suits of armor.

One of the modern rooms. 

After the castle S was starving so we had something to eat at a very cute terrace restaurant. S had a strawberry shake - that it the only thing she wanted. The rest of us had one of the main Gruyere specialties: meringues with double cream. The other specialties are fondue and raclette, but we are not big fans. After a couple of bites it's just way too much cheese. The meringues were excellent, and the cream was the perfect match for them.

Look how thick that cream is!

Sadly, S was sick again. Our plans to walk around the village more and take the short trail around the castle were scratched. So were S's hopes of buying a real Swiss army knife. We hurried to catch the bus to the train station. When we got there, we had a wait until our train, so R and I went across the street to check out the cheese museum.

At the cheese museum, the first thing they do is give you a sample pack of cheese. It has three different aged cheeses so you know what to get at the store later. Then we went through the museum with audio guides. The narration was bizarre enough to be surprisingly fun. The narrator is a cow named Cherry who say things like, "Then rennet is added. Rennet is an enzyme harvested from the stomachs of calves. Such is life." And, "I don't know who you are or where you're from, but you must love cheese." I can't remember it all. I wish I could because I am missing the best parts. I do remember that Cherry considers herself above humans, is obsessed with the quantity and variety of her diet, and insists that milk tastes best piping hot from her udder. They weren't making cheese when we were there, but we were able to look down onto the factory floor and see the cheese vats, the whey, and the salt baths. One of the coolest things there were the scent canisters. There were about a dozen different cannisters where you could smell Cherry's favorite foods: clover, barley, wild flowers, various weeds, etc. We also saw the cellar where the cheeses are aged. Each cheese wheel is 77 pounds, and they have to be brushed and flipped every day. R admired the arm muscles of the cheese workers. It was a good shop, too. It had meringues, cheese, chocolate, and a good variety of picnic food and souvenirs.

The factory floor.

The cow gets offended if you fail her cheese quiz.

Aging cheeses. You can tell from the brownish rind, these are on the older side.

Back at the train station we had trouble. S was sick again. Also, we got on the wrong train. The train was scheduled for 3:58. So when the train came we got on it. We did not see that another train arrived right beside it at the same time. There were no signs or track numbers, we never suspected there would be two trains simultaneously at a tiny station with stops once an hour. So we got on the wrong one. We realised right away, but we had to wait almost an hour for the next train going back. It's times like those that we miss our car. If you make a wrong turn driving you don't have to lose an hour. The kids were good sports, though, and we finally made it to our hotel.

Poor S!

We had planned on getting some dinner at the grocery store across from the hotel, but it closes at 4:00 on Saturdays. All the stores in Bulle do. Can you imagine if Walmart closed at 4:00 on Saturday and didn't reopen until Monday? It would take getting used to, but might be a good thing. Anyway, we had a huge hotel room, so we settled in, watched TV, and ordered room service. The room service was very good, and was normal Swiss prices. S felt well enough to eat, the kids all fell asleep early, and things were looking up.

In the morning S was feeling better, but R had caught her stomach bug. We decided that I would take R home and everyone else would go to the Cailler chocolate factory, as we originally planned. Walking to the train station, though, S realized she didn't fell all that much better, so we all came home. R and S managed to sleep most of the way, but it was still a long ride. No one wants to travel with a flu.

So now we are home. All three girls are asleep. E was catching up on work. And T is making the most of having all the toys, electronics, and both parents to himself. He just very sweetly invited E to go to the playground with him.