A trip to the land of cheese

These photos are from a few weeks back. The day after we picked up our car we got drunk with the freedom to go anywhere we wanted without having to wait for a train or a bus. I've lived without a car for four years, Anthony for over six so acquiring personal mobility is a pretty big deal. I am using the royal "we" here, as the car is a manual transmission so I am going to need some lessons before I can tackle the giant hill that is Lausanne. So far I can put the car into first gear, reverse and pull into a parking space. In the parking garage. When it's empty. I consider this outstanding progress.

We decided to head out to Gruyere. On the way we discovered the awesomeness of driving through mountains. Literally. If Anthony has gotten tired of me shouting "the miiiiinneeeesss of Moooorrriaaaa" every time we pass through a tunnel, he has not shown it. And that, internet, is why I'm marrying him.

Gruyere is pretty incredible from a distance. It sits atop a hill flanked by mountains on all sides. 

The town was lovely. Lots of little stores selling cheese. Lots of little restaurants serving cheese. The whole place smelled faintly of fondue aka melted pots of cheese. Do you see where I am going with this?

The Search for Delicious Cheese. (Note to self, file this away for future biography title)

We wandered up to the castle and spent some time enjoying the view. Along the way we passed really traditional Swiss things like the Tibet museum and the H.R. Giger museum. Just to make sure you are up to speed on the setting, let me break it down for you. We've got a crazy old town radiating with the smell of cheese and waitresses dressed like Heidi serving fondue to customers in the shadow of a building resembling a real, live cuckoo clock. Mere steps away we have a museum run by Tibetan monks complete with robes and prayer flags. RIGHT next door to that we've got a museum filled with stuff like this and paintings titled things like Birth Machine Baby. All in the shadow of a castle. 

Switzerland: land of enigmas. 

Opposite the Giger museum is a bar where all the furniture and decor are modeled after spinal cords and whale pelvises and whatnot (do whales have pelvises? I dropped out of pre-med prior to any sort of useful biology course so I'm operating under the Ignoramus Clause right now, allowing me to make sweeping generalizations on the internet after doing zero research.) Having been too big a wuss to ever see Alien, I was freaked out at the time but now I'm desperately curious and want nothing more than to go back and sip a cappuccino in the shadow of a futuristic shark jaw.

Back to pastoral scenery and the requisite "we were here" photo.

The whole time we were exploring, there was a glider drifting around the sky. It was a perfect day for it and the view from up there must be phenomenal.

After we had seen what there was to see, we headed back to the car determined to continue exploring the area.

But that's another post entirely.

Lonley House

Another photo from this weekend's drive. Edited with the specific intent to make it as creepy and depressing as possible.

You're welcome.

Minimal effort

Yverdon

After a busy week at work, we decided that Saturday needed to be a day of relaxation. So we hopped in the car and began driving into the countryside. 

We've been having days on end of rain so it was nice to see everything beginning to bloom. And mountains. Mountains have nothing to do with the rain, but there they were as far as the eye could see in either direction. I did my duty and took some panoramic shots that will join all my other well-intentioned panoramic shots in a folder on my desktop that is definitely NOT called 'unprocessed crap'. Because I am a professional and never use rude words to identify desktop folders that I am too lazy to sort through.

Cool cuckoo-type church steeple.

I want a donkey. Badly. LOOK AT THAT FACE. And the ears.....

And they come in Fun Size!

Someone can't keep his hoofs to himself and was taking a time-out in the far corner of the field. When my back was turned he trotted back to the momma donkey and started rehearsing for xXxrealdonkeysgonewildcollegepartypaloozaxXx.com. That girl donkey though, was so not into it and gave him a swift kick in the-

oh, right, my grandparents read this. Back to lovely old buildings!

This was in the center square of Yverdon, a cute little town in the middle of the farmland. We had a bit of lunch and walked around until we (I) began to get cold (about 5 minutes).

Terra-cotta has got to be the best roof material ever. And I am absolutely saying that because it makes my pictures look better. 

Guard cow. Came over to see what was up.

I want pet cows. I will name them Burger, T-Bone, Kobe, Fillet and Sparkle.

Rolling hill porn.

And we'll end this brief tour of the Swiss countryside with a castle. We wanted to go inside, but it was all like "I'm closed to the public" so we were all like "BYE." And then went home and ate pizza and watched The Last Waltz and marveled yet again at Van Morrison's bedazzled track suit.

Here's hoping that your weekend was equally relaxing!

Facts of Life

Friends of The Internet. Please take a moment to consider the following urgent question:

Will smuggling one of these adorable creatures into my home cause me to lose my security deposit?

P.S. Currently only acknowledging answers that rhyme with 'snow' and are followed by the phrase 'do it! name it Fred!' or variations thereof.

P.P.S. Moments after this photo was taken, I became witness to some donkey on donkey shenanigans initiated by that grinning fool in the upper left. Hilariously bothersome.

On the way home: Palleroso

On our last morning, the sun made it's first real appearance of the trip (of course) so we decided to stop at the little hilltop town of Palleroso on our way out of the area.

We had taken the drive up the day before, but the heavy rain made it impossible (and zero fun) to walk around.

The astonishing thing about Palleroso was how new it looked (well, new in the context of something that is clearly very old). It seems that Tuscany is heavy with these little towns only most are in various states of melancholy, quietly waiting for their glory days to return. Memories linger. I think it filled both of us with a little happiness that someone is clearly tending to Palleroso and looking ahead.

We waved at another charmingly small little hill town from atop our charmingly small hill town.

Views from Palleroso

The church in the small center "square." 

And then we headed homeward. Something I learned about Italian rest stops, the bigger ones have great food! The above feast is our lunch, purchased from a chain called Autogrill. Granted, our rest stop meal on the way to Barga was much...humbler, but still, a small nugget of info worth filing away.

Thanks for re-living our trip with me. I hope your Friday lets you off easy into the weekend.

Currently inspired by: The signs in Lucca

I ended up with quite a collection of sign photos from our excursion to Lucca. So many that they deserve their own post...which is, incidentally, what you are reading at this very moment. Enjoy!