Today was a big day. So much fun and such gorgeous scenery, oh...and CHOCOLATE. We were gone for a full 12 hours and were busy the whole time.
-Missed our first train, no big deal though, we hopped on the next one and took a different route.
-Made it to Monthreux and walked along the lake to get to the castle.
-After walking a while, we stopped and asked a man if we were for sure on the right route. This guy talked our ears off and was speaking in each of our languages (Russian, Slovakian, Greek, and English) Which was cool, but he just kept talking, and talking... then he started lecturing us, don't drink alcohol, it does nothing but harm your body, quit smoking, play sports, believe in only 1 God. Ok, sir, thanks for the advice, but really we don't have all day and we have patiently conversed with you for the last 15 minutes. Where's the castle?
-We made it to the castle, which was situated right along the lake. Sadly, there wasn't enough time to go in because we had to catch the next train, but it was still really neat from the outside.
Riding the train through the Swiss countryside was so beautiful. I wish the trees would have been a little more colorful and fall-like, most of them were still pretty green. But, theres no way i can complain. About anything.
I still really want to get up close to some Swiss cows. I'm not sure why but I want to see one with a huge swiss cowbell around his neck.
Swiss cows are happy cows, right?! Actually, maybe not. I read this article a few weeks ago that studied the relationship between cows who wore bells and the chances that their hearing was impaired because of it. The video below is pretty interesting. Hey, I'm all about educating you fine people on Swiss news, and hearing impaired Swiss cows is important news.
Since we're on the topic of cows. Iowa has the butter cow, Switzerland has the....yes, CHOCOLATE COW!
I don't know about you, but I'd rather eat a chocolate cow than a butter cow. The choice is yours, though :)
Ok, I got way ahead of myself and kind of side tracked on the whole cow topic. So, we saw the castle and then went back to the station to get on our next train. Which happened to be this adorable and vintage-everything train called the Golden Pass.
My friend Marianthi and I were just loving life. Such comfy chairs compared to the last train and everything was just perfect in there, like the train literally didn't age a bit! Then the nice man working on the train came by to check our tickets, which we handed to him. He looked at them and said, you are sitting in first class right now, your ticket is for second class. Oh. We apologized and he said it was really no big deal in the nicest way. But I'm sure he was really thinking "first-timers, get outta here."
We did have time to snap a few pics first, so we could tell everyone that we rode first class in a train. :)
We were on this train for about an hour before we arrived at a different little village station in the mountains and switched trains. The train stops were so cute.
It seemed like the perfect setting for a movie. I'm picturing a plot where a girl just misses the last train and the next one doesn't come for like two days. Oh, its probably freezing cold and raining too. So she walks to a small swiss farm nearby and milks dairy cows in exchange for a shower and a few meals. But, there's a twist because she ends up falling in love with the handsome farmer and never gets back on the train. Living happily ever after in the swiss mountains on a dairy farm. <3 so romantic
Maybe I should be an author. Haha. Kidding, probably not.
This is the photo we were going to send to our parents saying "We're in Montbovon, Switzerland and just missed the last train. Help"
We really didn't miss the train, though.
We arrived at the chocolate factory! The tour was pretty quick and we went through an automated introduction that taught us all about cocoa plants and the ancient Aztecs. Finally, how cocoa got to Europe and how the Cailler company started and survived even in horrible economic times.
It was really interesting and presented very well I can't explain it well enough and it was hard to take photos, so I guess you will just have to visit it in person!
Then, we got to the "tasting room". What a deal. 8 francs to eat all the chocolate you could possibly stomach. There were so many different kinds it was overwhelming, I think 17 exactly. My favorite was one with honey and the coffee chocolate. :) I will say, none of them were bad though.
It really was amazing. In comparison, Hersheys chocolate now seems like it tastes like overcooked wax. If that is even a real taste. It's hard to explain, just trust me on this one.
We'll see if I dream of chocolate tonight. :)