This is Long Overdue

This post about my adventures to the Cailler chocolate factory, Gruyere and my first experience snowboarding in the Swiss Alps is long, long overdue! Because while students at home are beginning to bone up for their final exams, I just finished fighting my own battle against midterm exams here in Lausanne, and boy was it hellish. But just before this madness began, I had quite the adventurous weekend. 

On Saturday, March 29th I hopped on a bus filled with other exchange students for a tour and all you can eat chocolate buffet at the famous Cailler chocolate factory here in Switzerland! The factory is situated in the most picturesque little valley just next to the town of Gruyere. Our tour included a short history of chocolate and a insider's look into the entire chocolate making process. At the end of the tour, they led our ravenous group of college students to the tasting room, where we were able to eat as many delicious chocolate morsels as we could before exiting to the gift shop. (Needless to say, for most of us, "all you can eat" quickly turned into "all you can stuff in your mouth and your purse without the chocolate staff noticing.") Oh and on a side note, on the way out I milked a Swiss cow, and it is definitely real...

Next we walked along a wooded, riverside trail to the quaint little town of Gruyere, were we stopped to admire the castle, the cheese shops, and a particularly phallic museum dedicated to the "Alien" movie franchise. My personal advice when visiting Gruyere: stick to the castle and the cheese shops, and avoid the creepy extraterrestrial museum next door. Although, the bar adjacent to it sporting as similar alien theme is really interesting to look at. 

I am sorry to say that day two of this Swiss weekend of adventure began on the wrong foot. After missing the metro and attempting to run all the way to the train station while carrying skis, a snowboard and other miscellaneous gear, we finally arrived at the mountain. Verbier was absolutely breathtaking! Once there, we rode the gondola straight to the top. Being completely overwhelmed by the grandeur of the mountains, I failed to notice the signs warning off all not-so-advance skiers from venturing to this particular peek. Needless to say, I spent the majority of my first run in the Swiss Alps sliding down massive inclines covered in 4 feet of powdery snow on my butt. And, yes, that did hurt the next morning. But, "no pain, no gain" right! And in this case, the soreness and inability to walk... or really get out of bed... the next day was completely worth the view from the top! 

On the right, there is a rare shot of me actually on my feet while boarding in the Alps!





With love, from Lausanne

Mindy