I like food but HATE the term foodie with the fire of a thousand suns. It’s pretentious as all hell. I just like to eat, and sometimes I like to eat fancy food…and sometimes I just like to have a taco.
BUT I was super excited to try all this amazing European food. You know, French Women Don’t Get Fat and all that.
Grueye was floated as an idea, and I think my eyes immediately widened in excitement.
YES. YES. YES. I love cheese, and who does cheese better than the French and Swiss? (Maybe the Italians, but I will weigh back in on that after this weekend.)
The Swiss countryside seriously looks like it’s out of a storybook. HOW CUTE IS THAT HOUSE?
YES YES YES.
We started at La Maison du Gruyere and bought tickets for both the castle and the cheese factory.
The medieval castle was built in 1270, restored in the 1800s and opened as a museum in 1938.
Bo, Ashley’s husband, has been an awesome tour guide/travel buddy all week.
There have been so many cool little views like this—you walk down a hallway, through some doors into some majestic scene.
TO THE GRUYERE ROOM! Remind when I buy my first house that I’d like a Gruyere room.
How is this real life?!
Storybook downtown. Sad side note: I saw like 5 little kids fall from running too fast down the street :/
After lunch, we went to the Maison du Gruyere. UNE FROMAGERIE! I was really excited about it, but it honestly ended up being a bit underwhelming.
But they had a whole cheese cave, so there’s not too much to complain about. I was hoping we’d get to walk through it, but this is the closest I got. Crazy things we learned: the dairy cows in this region eat 100 kilograms a day of grass and drink 85 liters of water per day to create 25 liters of milk a day.
You ate a whole wheel of cheese? I’m not even mad. I’m impressed.
But the highlight of the day? THE CAILLER CHOCOLATE FACTORY. So, yes, I went to a cheese factory AND a chocolate factory in the same day.
The tour was split into A HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE at the beginning (which felt really Disney World-like but was super informative), a walk through the actual factory to see the magic being made, and it finally ended in a tasting room where we could eat as much chocolate as we wanted. My favorite was a dark chocolate filled with ganache. Chocolate on chocolate action? Hell yeah.
Tuesday, we went to Cote du Rhone and drove up through wine country, and we’re about to leave for Italy for a truffle festival and wine tour. So, yes, I am having one of the best trips of my life.
Best trip of your life? What kind of food are you dying to travel for?
If my rudimentary knowledge of the French language is correct, you went to a place that is basically called The House of Cheese. (or house of Gruyere, but whatever, House of Cheese is more fun) All the thumbs up emoji for that.
YES! See why I was in heaven?
Your trip so far looks pretty amazing! Enjoy yourself I am totally jealous of your cheese adventures (all of them actually but, cheese). PS – giggled at the anchorman quote – one of my favorites!
We are so happy you are having a good time, stay safe and come home
to us we miss you
OMG yes, please have a gruyere room in your future house. That seems pretty essential.
I think the best trip of my life was the backpacking trip I took with my husband to Yosemite. We fueled up on basic backpacking food, but it all tasted amazing because we were SO hungry! I was just talking to Ben the other day about how traveling will be very different, now that I’m following a vegan diet. We’ve always enjoyed tasting local food when we travel and often ask servers, “What’s your favorite thing on the menu?” I can live without cheese in my NYC life, but if I were on YOUR trip, I’d definitely be sad to skip the chocolate and cheese!
Looks like you’re having a ton of fun! I really want to have authentic creme brule at some point in my life. YUM! 🙂
I’m actually really starting to appreciate cheese a lot now! This post is making my mouth water!
Your trip looks okay. And by okay, I mean freaking amazing! I would like to be friends with you and Ashley. Have fun in Italy!
I thought you were in WI! 🙁 love guyere !