Wednesday early afternoon we arrived to Montreux and checked into our hip and modern hotel- The Hotel Tralala. We had no time to waste, we got on a regional train to Lausanne and walked down to the beautiful Lake Geneva Promenade called D'Ouchy (Ry thought that was hilarious). Here, we visited the famous Lausanne Olympic Museum- a museum that houses every single Olympic torch carried during the Olympics. It was by far the most interesting museum we've visited! We even got to see Michael Phelps' goggles! We ended the day exploring Lausanne's old town and then we took a steam boat back to Montreux, where we found a great Italian restaurant on the riviera with the BEST pizza!
Thursday morning we boarded an old fashioned Swiss train and headed to the charming town of Gruyeres... home of where Gruyere cheese was discovered and is still made today. We visited the most beautiful Gruyere cheese factory and got to see how the cheese is churned, packaged, and aged- it was fascinating! At the end we got to sample a 6, 10, and 14 month-old Gruyere cheese, what a difference aging makes! After tasting cheese, we explored the actual town of Gruyeres- the cutest most charming little village with a great castle.
We then had a picnic lunch and headed off to Broc, home of the Callier/Nestle factory- yes, it was definitely a culinary-filled day for us! The minute we stepped off the train, we were hit by a cloud of sweet-smelling chocolate... it was amazing. We took a tour of the chocolate factory, got to sample the roasted nuts and cocoa nibs they put in their chocolates and last but not least... we entered a tasting room filled with platters of all kinds of amazing pralines, nougats, truffles, white, dark, milk, crunchy... just about everything you could want in a chocolate! We lost count of how many we tasted but every bite was well worth it. After chocolate paradise, we headed for our last and final stop for the day, Chateau Chillon, a beautiful castle on Montreux's riviera that serves great significance to Swiss history. We got stunning views of both the Swiss and French rivieras as well as Lake Geneva.
After our event-filled day, we took a seat on one of the lake-side buoys next to Freddie Mercury's statue (singer from Queen, he was buried in Montreaux) and watched Montreux's stunning sunset, all while enjoying a great local bottle of wine... what a day! After the sunset, we couldn't resist going back to the same Italian restaurant for our delicious pizza- the perfect nightcap.
Friday morning we said Au Revoir to Montreux and headed to Zurich- our last day before our flight home. On the way to Zurich, we got to experience having tea and pastries on our trains' dining cart... made the trip go by so fast! We arrived to Zurich, checked into our beautiful hotel... The Courtyard Marriott (nothing like the Marriott's in the U.S., this one was like a St. Regis!) We got to explore the busy and fancy streets on Bahnhofstrasse and pretend that we were one of the high-profile Swiss bankers! What a charming city.. we both just fell in love with it. Saturday morning it was time to pack up and head home... what an amazing trip... we were able to see so much and truly experience the Swiss life- we were so sad to leave this beautiful country but we vowed to be back soon!
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