21st August

After such a great time we boarded the train and headed for Geneva. 

The train was fun we passed Lausanne on the way and the train took us straight into Geneva airport.

HOME WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20th August

We were so exhausted from our travels the last few days with the family Ashley fell asleep on the bean bag. 

19th August

Today we went into Fribourg for a quick visit. It truly is a beautiful city.

       This is in Interlaken where you can see the Jungfrau and Eiger. The Alps really look gorgeous with the clear blue sky.

On the way back we stopped at Thun for dinner the view of the alps from there was just spectacular. My camera died so I'll get pics when my brov forwards them to me.

18th August

This morning bright and early granddad, Charmaine and Uncle A arrived to Switzerland to join us on our holiday. We decided to take a picturesque ride through swiss countryside.

This is the whole family on the top of the pass.

We went to Gstaad to visit the beautiful town which is a ski resort during the winter season.

The town of Gruyere is really pretty and very old. 

This is a symbol of a creamery where they make cheese. they seem to be all over the place. We bought some cream and cheese here. It was unpasturised and tasted delicious. 

Afterwards we went to the lake house where we made Uncle A get in and play with us. It was sooooo much fun. We had a lovely dinner that Marius cooked on the barbecue it was fresh ham an some salads.

17th August

                     Today we borrowed Marius's car and went for a drive to the chocolate factory.

                           The coco beans smelled so delicious we just wanted to eat them all.

We learned about where the beans came from..... Mexico. We also learnt that the original form of chocolate came in a drink that was red and not sweet. Then they decided to add some sugar to it when it became extremely popular even in a terrible recession.

We had our choice of samples. We could have stayed there and tasted them all day, although I think we'd have been sick if we did!

This was a special kitchen made for those people with private reservations to learn how to make chocolate. The dark chocolate has the least amount of milk and sugar content therefor is the healthiest. Milk chocolate is the second most fattening because it contains a lot of sugar and more milk. The white chocolate only has milk and sugar, although it's called white chocolate it contains not coco beans what so ever.

At Gruyere we went to see how they made cheese. 

They had some samples of the smells the cows would eat from the grass. This is what creates the true flavor of the Gruyere cheese and it's unique flavor comes from the regions pastures.

Once they have proceeded to make the cheese they put them into salt baths to cure. This process takes approximately 16 hours.

I don't think my mom should of posted this pic because I look drunk. Anyway that was the actual size of the cheese. And by the way it reeked in there.

16th August

 

               We went for an evening walk around Fribourg which is a really old city and very pretty.

     We met this man who loves the medieval times and wants to keep people aware and educate them.

                         
                              We tried on some traditional costumes this one was really heavy.

                                                I didn't want to smile for this picture!!!

15th August

 We went to a river for a picnic and Marius explained to us the course for the river because of the dame and Lake Gruyere. The lake is usually down at least 18-20 feet in April/May because they drain the water thats there to create power. This river was freezing. We lost our flip flops and Marius got in to try and retrieve them he found Mom's but Ashley lost one but gained someone else's left foot which was the one she had lost, so that worked out!!!

                                    Ashley fell in and had lots of fun skimming stones.

                                        This is a neighbors cat called Tibits. SOOOO cute.

                                                Baba and Marius on Marius's boat.

 This is a map demonstrating the flooding of the town that was there to form the damn. If you go diving you can still see the houses underneath the lake.

                                 The little chapel on the island dates back to the 1300's.