On top of the clouds (Day 12)

We woke up this morning without a cloud in the sky, and we decided that this would be the day that we'd go explore some mountains east of here. A place called Les Diablerets had been highly recommended to us by one of Corinne's (our host's) good friends, Karine. (She lent us a stroller after ours was lost/stollen at the lake during our first week.) We knew nothing about this place, and we're still sans guidebook, so we were hoping that this endeavor would live up to the strenght of its recommendation.

It did. This day trip will certainly be one of the high points (literally) of our stay here in Switzerland. We were treated to an absolutely stunning drive up to "Glacier 3000" in Les Diablerets where you can catch a gondola up to the summit at 3000 m. I would have been happy with just the drive here - although I was a bit envious of all of the motorcycles I saw on the road. The road from Aigles (in the Rhone Valley) is a very winding narrow road that takes you up the mountain, past traditional dark wooden houses built along the hillside and the occasional stone church. Quintessential Switzerland. I'm not a cyclist, but after seeing all the cyclists working their way up the mountain, it made me want to be one. If you're going to ride a bike, this just seems like the place to do it. (My brother Chris, who is an avid cyclist, would have been green with envy. I hope he's not reading this.)

When we got to the gondola at the road summit, we parked and checked out the prices for the ride up to the glacier. In keeping with the prices of everything else in this country, these prices were inflated accordingly. We had a choice: we could pay 28 Swiss francs (each) and go halfway up the mountain or 49 francs to get to the top (where the glacier was). We had to convince ourselves but I'm glad we splurged, because the halfway point was right in the middle of a cloud.

Here's where we ended up (altitude 3000 m)...

And here's where we came from.

(We could still hear the cowbells down here.)

This was about a minute after we got off the gondola. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Although clouds had gathered around the summit, we were actually above all of them, and we could view what seemed like all of Switzerland's alps. It was really cold when we got off the gondola, and we realized we had not come prepared for this. (Duh? We're going to a glacier.) Fortunately, we hadn't been there long and the midday sun started to warm us up.

When we got off the gondola, we still had to walk up a short distance to get to the actual summit. Where you end up is on a steep craig up above the rest of the world with an essentially vertical drop-off surrounding you with the exception of the path you came up. I'm usually pretty good with heights, but this was not a little unnerving. The little chain fence that they've put up doesn't go very far in terms of reassurance.

Here's my sweetheart at the top trying to smile while wondering if that chain fence is going to withstand Lucia's weight leaned up against it.

Not only do they take you to 3000 m, but then they offer you the world's highest alpine roller coaster. This was an experience not to be passed up. While one of us stayed with Elias and let him play in the snow, the other took Lucia down on the roller coaster. I think I was screaming the whole way down - louder than Lucia. The car you ride in is attached to the track but it's free-rolling and you are responsible for slowing yourself down with a hand break. If you can imagine, every switchback on the right side of the photo gives you the sensation that you are about to be flung off the cliff. Talk about a wild ride.

This is Lucia and Danielle at the start of their ride...

Lucia seemed pretty unfazed by all of this. Weird. She's afraid of pirates these days, but the prospect of flying off a cliff doesn't seem to bother her.

Here are a few shots of the view we had (we were so captivated, we shot nearly 100 photos...there's lots more where these come from).

Looking down on a midpoint gondola station through the clouds...

Yup. A fall from here will definitely ruin your day.

Snow in July. Who knew??? This snow felt like the stuff from a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine. Lucia wanted to make a snowman with me, but the building materials weren't quite right.

Family shots are really hard to come by. This one's a self-timer and it's not bad. Just wish Elias could sit still for more than 2 seconds. Now that he's found his legs, photo-ops are not on the agenda.

Know your limits (Day 11)

Today it was raining and we thought we'd take our activities indoors. We visited the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc, about 45 minutes from our house. Even though they've been acquired by Nestle International (which apparently produces at least one food product that we consume every day), they've held on to their original recipes. Their chocolate is set apart by virtue of the fact that they use condensed milk instead of milk powder. One bite of Cailler chocolate and everything else is but a waste of your tastebuds' time.

Not surprisingly, chocolate tasting is a component of the factory tour that they offer here. I won't say much more than this: even the pleasure of eating Swiss chocolate has its limits. I'll say one other thing: these limits are very, very, very difficult to observe. Yada, yada, yada, an hour after our arrival, we all had brown mouths and aching stomachs.



Just look at those brown beauties. How can one possibly resist??? Although a white chocolate specimen isn't shown here, you could actually taste the dairy in each bite. Amazing.








The table of endless delight.
This was right at the beginning of the chocolate-fest. These are the faces of pure pleasure. (This was not to last.)

Here are a few shots of the machinery used over the past 100 or so years to transform cocoa beans, milk, sugar, and all the other good stuff into fine Swiss chocolate. A feat of engineering. This is mankind at its best.

Immediately following the tour, Danielle and I were wondering if we would ever eat chocolate again. Hours later, we were starting to entertain the possibility that we would. The next day, we were ready to pack up the car and head back to the factory.

What a great way to spend a rainy day.