Adventures in Switzerland

  Last week sometime on the drive home from picking my husband up from work he turned to me and asked "Hey do you want to go to Switzerland this weekend and find some chocolate factories?" I'm not sure what reaction he was looking for but in my mind he just spoke the ultimate words, whenever chocolate is involved it's guaranteed to be great! Since the husband has been having long weekends we figured it was the perfect time to drive to Switzerland, yes drive! 

  The drive to Switzerland was gorgeous, amazing, breathtaking and I could go on forever. The scenery was that out of a book or magazine which made the 5 1/2 hour drive completely worth it! Dave and I left early Friday morning for the trip. We drove past Milan, through the mountains in a 6 mile tunnel, crossed the border in the tunnel and came out in Switzerland. Even on a rainy day Switzerland has a beauty that cannot even be described. Here are a couple of the "landscape" pictures I took:

  Isn't it gorgeous? Everything was so green, the sky (well on Saturday) was the bluest I've ever seen and I decided that's where Dave and I are retiring some day. Well actually probably not because Switzerland is EXPENSIVE! Dave and I ventured to a pub on Friday night and paid 14 CHF (swiss francs) for 2 tap beers! But the outrageous prices didn't stop us, we continued on with our journey. 

Chillon Castle

Cheese Cellar

 CHOCOLATE Factory :)

  The husband and I did quite a few things in our short day and a half trip. We stopped on the way to the hotel and toured a 12th Century Castle, the Castle of Chillon. We then continued on the next day to tour a cheese factory, another castle and medieval town and finally (the best part!) a CHOCOLATE factory!!

  The cheese factory was pretty interesting, we were surprised to learn that cheese (at least the one made at this factory) didn't take forever to make. We watched a video on the process while eating samples of the cheese at different stages. Finally we ended our tour looking at the cheese cellar, it's really amazing how the cheese wheels look so different throughout the aging process. 

 And finally, the best part of the trip we saved for last! The Nestle/Callier chocolate factory was our last stop of the journey. Husband and I took the tour of the factory, which is an automated tour through the history of chocolate and the factory. One of the things we had been pondering was why Switzerland is so famous for chocolate when cocoa plants are not grown in the country. The answer to this question is because Switzerland was the first country where chocolate was produced for everyone, not just the royals. Due to the abundance of milk that Switzerland produces, chocolate makers found a way to mix milk with the chocolate and sell it at more reasonable prices. Hence the reason why Switzerland is famous for chocolate! And I can personally say that the chocolate is AMAZING! At the end of the factory tour there is a chocolate tasting included. Yes a chocolate tasting, that we were told we could eat as much chocolate as we wanted! Sadly after about 10 pieces of delicious Swiss chocolate our stomachs started to ache but that didn't stop us from bringing home a few bars! 

 Here are more chocolate factory pictures:

  Don't we look happy?? We should since we left the chocolate factory with a bag full of chocolate! Sadly after we left the factory we headed home. I hope that we get visitors someday who want to visit the chocolate factory so we have an excuse to go back! And as for our chocolate that we brought home, well let's just say that breakfast has never been better in the Smitt household!!