Canton Valais:
So where did I go today? Well I went out with my friend Marissa and others from the Philippine community on a coach trip from Bern – Gruyères – St. Leonard – Grimentz –
Velleneuve - passing through Monteux and back to Bern. From 7am – 7pm, a fun filled day with great food and fun company. The first stop was
La Maison Du Gruyères to see how the cheese is made with a sample taste and to smell all the different aromas such as flora, high pasture and hay, amongst many others. The exhibition was a real working dairy as you see from the picture. Next place of interest was 5 minutes away on the coach to the old town where there is a castle and the
HR Giger Museum in Gruyères.
A permanent home of works by
Swiss surrealist HR Giger, the Academy Award winning designer of the film Alien and his new fantastic bar, with excellent stone chairs. Check out the photos of this place, well worth the visit especially for my Dutch friend Bas who would love it! So having spent 30 minutes here, also checking out the castle it was time to get back on the coach to
St. Leonard to the magical underground lake (the largest in Europe), which was only formed in the 1960’s after an earthquake. We had a guided tour on a large rowing boat through the whole cave, looking through the crystal clear water, eluminated by lights and seeing the large fish (looked like pike) swimming in the cold water. Looked great for scuba diving. The boat trip just went up to the end and back again, a cul de sac, but quite amazing.
It was a constant cool water and air temperature throughout the year (cold)! And as this is a very religious region (Catholic) there was a memorial to Jesus at the far end. The lake is sealed so you can only go up to the end and back again. Check out the link as my pictures were too dark to see clearly. Next stop was up through the mountains to
Grimentz. Check out this beautiful ski region, although also fun in the summer to hike (nordic walking) as you see with the Nun’s, but 'I would have
nun of it!' I thought these were Nun's on the run, but they were pretty slow and with those big boots I was not going to upset them as you should never insult a Nun with big boots, my Mum used to say. The
small houses are for storage of wheat and grain and as you see they are built on wooden stilts with a stone disc in each corner to stop the rats/rodents getting at the food. After a good walk up and down the steep hills in the small town an ice cream was in order as it was very hot. After a 5 minute break it was time to go further round the mountain to the other side. The path through the mountain was not one for the squeamish as it had some tight bends. All I could think of was the movie
'The Italian Job' with
Michael Caine, yes the original version (1969) and not the crappy American copy (2003). Remember they were escaping out of Italy on the coach full of gold bullion when the driver lost control of the coach and they all ended up hanging over the cliff. But luckily Charlie Croker 'Michael Caine' had a plan....and that's where the movie ends to the Theme tune "Get A Bloomin' Move On" (better known as the Self Preservation Society). An excellent film, well worth watching time and time again, a real classic and one of my number 10 movies of all time. Anyway luckily for us we did not have a drunken driver and although we were close to Italy we were in the Swiss Alps and we made it home, Ok without the GOLD! So with some big drops before us we descended the mountain, but it was fun leaning over the edge of the cliffs when we went round the corners, but we made it to
Villenuve and
Montreux before returning back to Bern. A great day out, excellent weather and very good company.
Canton Valais:
So where did I go today? Well I went out with my friend Marissa and others from the Philippine community on a coach trip from Bern – Gruyères – St. Leonard – Grimentz – Velleneuve - passing through Monteux and back to Bern. From 7am – 7pm, a fun filled day with great food and fun company. The first stop was La Maison Du Gruyères to see how the cheese is made with a sample taste and to smell all the different aromas such as flora, high pasture and hay, amongst many others. The exhibition was a real working dairy as you see from the picture. Next place of interest was 5 minutes away on the coach to the old town where there is a castle and the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères. 
A permanent home of works by 
Swiss surrealist HR Giger, the Academy Award winning designer of the film Alien and his new fantastic bar, with excellent stone chairs. Check out the photos of this place, well worth the visit especially for my Dutch friend Bas who would love it! So having spent 30 minutes here, also checking out the castle it was time to get back on the coach to St. Leonard to the magical underground lake (the largest in Europe), which was only formed in the 1960’s after an earthquake. We had a guided tour on a large rowing boat through the whole cave, looking through the crystal clear water, eluminated by lights and seeing the large fish (looked like pike) swimming in the cold water. Looked great for scuba diving. The boat trip just went up to the end and back again, a cul de sac, but quite amazing.
It was a constant cool water and air temperature throughout the year (cold)! And as this is a very religious region (Catholic) there was a memorial to Jesus at the far end. The lake is sealed so you can only go up to the end and back again. Check out the link as my pictures were too dark to see clearly. Next stop was up through the mountains to Grimentz. Check out this beautiful ski region, although also fun in the summer to hike (nordic walking) as you see with the Nun’s, but 'I would have nun of it!' I thought these were Nun's on the run, but they were pretty slow and with those big boots I was not going to upset them as you should never insult a Nun with big boots, my Mum used to say. The 
small houses are for storage of wheat and grain and as you see they are built on wooden stilts with a stone disc in each corner to stop the rats/rodents getting at the food. After a good walk up and down the steep hills in the small town an ice cream was in order as it was very hot. After a 5 minute break it was time to go further round the mountain to the other side. The path through the mountain was not one for the squeamish as it had some tight bends. All I could think of was the movie 'The Italian Job' with Michael Caine, yes the original version (1969) and not the crappy American copy (2003). Remember they were escaping out of Italy on the coach full of gold bullion when the driver lost control of the coach and they all ended up hanging over the cliff. But luckily Charlie Croker 'Michael Caine' had a plan....and that's where the movie ends to the Theme tune "Get A Bloomin' Move On" (better known as the Self Preservation Society). An excellent film, well worth watching time and time again, a real classic and one of my number 10 movies of all time. Anyway luckily for us we did not have a drunken driver and although we were close to Italy we were in the Swiss Alps and we made it home, Ok without the GOLD! So with some big drops before us we descended the mountain, but it was fun leaning over the edge of the cliffs when we went round the corners, but we made it to Villenuve and Montreux before returning back to Bern. A great day out, excellent weather and very good company.
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