Soirée Raclette

Raclette is a Swiss tradition (also seen in the Savoyard region of France) where cheese is melted under a grill or on a heated metal plate. The melted cheese is then scraped off onto a plate and served with boiled new potatoes. While my description doesn't sound terribly appetizing, hopefully the pictures will appeal. Raclette is a special type of cheese and the entire meal is delicious. Often served along with regional dried meats, gherkins, pickled onions, pickled courgettes, and bread, the cheese and potatoes are a great combination!

The Raclette at the beginning of the evening.

The Raclette at the end of the evening
(keeping in mind there were only about a dozen of us eating!!!)

This particular evening was at the restaurant in Champoussin. One server was responsible for melting the cheese while the other server delivered the cheese, plate by plate, as much as you could eat, and made sure that everyone had drinks, bread, and anything else they needed.

Switzerland, part 3

Le lac Lehman / Lake Geneva

Switzerland, part 2

The chapel in Champoussin. Inside, above and behind the platform is a wall of windows, so looking out during a service, you would see the mountains and be able to reflect on God's handiwork.

Goat cheese, anyone?

Les Dents du Midi - seen from Champoussin (and out my front window!)

Switzerland

Champoussin - the resort.

My apartment is the window on the far left, above the grocery store (the first level in the wood portion of the chalet).

The mountains as seen from the road in front of the resort.

Surviving the flood . . .

The song by Jars of Clay comes to mind: If I can't swim after 40 days . . .

It's been raining in Switzerland for three days. The worst of it is west of where I've been, thankfully, but I'm feeling a little waterlogged nonetheless!

Being up on the mountain when the rain came in was very cool - the clouds seemed to rise to cover us and we could stand in them! Very cool.

I'm back in the train station in Geneva waiting for my train back to France. With about two hours between arrival and departure, I'd decided to go explore a little . . . got about two blocks from the train station and the deluge started again. Ok, deluge is a little strong, but walking around in the rain when I've got limited time as it is - not my idea of fun.

Tuesday was a relaxation day for me and it turned out to be a good choice as the rains came in and made doing just about anything else unimaginable! I spent the day writing postcards, watching TV, and napping. In the evening, the restaurant had a raclette evening. What a great way to end the day. I ate with a couple from New Zealand I had met the day before. Raclette is a Swiss tradition where a massive round of cheese is put beneath a heating element. As the top layer of cheese starts to melt, it is scraped off onto a plate and then served. There was one guy taking care of the raclette and another serving. Tables were given a basket of boiled new potatoes, a plate of dried meats, bowls of gherkins, pickled onions, and pickled courgettes, and a basket of bread. When the cheese was delivered, you took a new potato and ate the two together - was it ever delicious! As you finished, your plate was wisked away and more cheese was scraped onto it. After the main course, we were given a bowl of rum and raisin (quite strong!) ice cream with chantilly.

Yesterday I went on an RCI trip to Gruyères and then to Broc. Gruyères you may recognize as the hometown of the cheese typically used in Fondue. We had the opportunity to see how cheese is made in a little restaurant / fromagerie. After the demonstration, we got to try a cheese fondue and three types of cheese typical of the region. We also explored the château de Gruyère.

The best part, though, was Broc. The name may not mean much to you, but Nestlé probably does! Broc is the hometown of Nestlé chocolate and in particular the Cailler brand only available in Switzerland. Two words: free samples!! Four more words; All you can eat! What more can a girl want? Oh, right, a discount store where chocolate is more than half the cost in the regular stores!!!!! Woohoo!!

Happy trails! Beaux chemins!

Champoussin, Switzerland

Champoussin is a little village high on a mountain (foothill?) in the Swiss Alps. From the window of my apartment (thanks Mom and Dad and RCI!!!) my main view is the Dents du Midi range - a range of the Alps that ressemble teeth (hence the name).

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous - sunny and hot, cool in the evenings.

I arrived here on Thursday. Getting to Champoussin from Geneva was an experience in itself. From Geneva, I took a CFF (national) train to Aigle. In Aigle, I got on a little 2 car regional train. This train (AOMC) works a little like a bus - you must request your stop - except that the upcoming stops are not announced or even posted. This train climbs the mountain using a cog rail system as the climbs are very, very steep at times. Amazing views of the valley and of the mountains. Thankfully the controlleur on the train found someone else getting off at Val d'Illiez and pointed them out to me so that I could tell when to get off. In Val d'Illiez, the bus up to Champoussin was waiting for the train's arrival. The bus climbed up and down and around the switchbacks leading up to Champoussin.

The village itself is quite small but very charming. There is a small grocery store connected to a small restaurant.

My apartment is above the grocery store (thankfully I didn't have to haul my suitcase up another hill to get to my unit!). After exploring the apartment (which is larger than I expected - could hold up to 5 people comfortably), I had dinner down in the restaurant, called Le Caveau. I had a fondue with potatoes and bread - yummy!

The grocery store offers just about everything you could want, including souvenirs and fresh-from-the-oven bread - so fresh that I saw the cashier take the bread from the oven. I'm not sure I should call him the cashier as he also works at the restaurant!

On Saturday I got up early and took the first bus out of Champoussin (there are 3 buses to Champoussin and 3 from Champoussin each day). From Champoussin I travelled to Monthey and on to Martigny where I caught the Mont Blanc Express. The Mont Blanc Express is another cograil that climbs over the Alps and down to Chamonix, France. Again, absolutely breathtaking views and the steepness of the track was crazy at times.

Descending from the train in Chamonix, the first thing I saw was a sky filled with hang-gliders floating down from the mountain top. Turning around, I saw Mont Blanc towering over the town.

Chamonix was an incredible town - despite being absolutely jam-packed with tourists. I took two cable cars up to the top of l'Aiguille du Midi mountain peak and then another over to Helbrunner, Italy. There were people camped out on the snow, others were hiking the glacier, and others were rockclimbing at incredible heights.

I returned to Champoussin the next day and spent some time relaxing and journalling. I then climbed (walked) up to the top of the mountain (about 20 - 30 minutes) where there is a chèvrerie (a goat cheese factory) where you could taste several cheeses and see the goats that produced the milk. There's also a restaurant where I had a slice of pie and listened to the live music. The first group was an oompah style band - you've never heard "Achy Breaky Heart" until you've heard it performed by an oompah band! Next up was a men's choir in traditional costumes from La Gruyère - absolutely amazing voices.

Today I took a trip with RCI over to Montreux. After crossing Lake Geneva on a paddleboat, I wandered around the town with a couple from New Zealand. We ate lunch at a brasserie on a porch overlooking Lake Geneva. The view was as good as the food! I had a rösti paysan - like a large hashbrown with bacon and fried onions on top, served in the frying pan it is cooked in.

After Montreux (beside some beautiful views and a statue of Freddy Mercury, Montreux doesn't have a lot to offer), we headed over to the Château de Chillon. This château is amazing - one of the best I've seen. Lord Byron wrote a poem about a prisoner who was kept here for years (The Prisoner of Chillon) and even carved his name in one of the pillars in the dungeon. Very cool.

No pics this time - the computer is too old and won't recognize my card reader. Maybe when I'm waiting in the Geneva train station on Thursday!

Happy trails!

Travelling

The St. Denis Basilica was breathtaking!! I'd never been there before. The tombs and memorials to the different kings and queens of France were incredible. Perhaps more incredible was that these all survived the Revolution and that they made a tomb / memorial (not sure which) to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette after the Revolution!!!

Got up early to try and beat the hords at the Eiffel Tower - but not early enough. It took over two hours from the moment I joined the line to the moment I stepped off the elevator at the highest floor. However, the view was worth it.

Spent some more time sitting by the Seine yesterday, this time across from Notre-Dame. Paris in August, at least this August, is beautiful. The weather has been perfect - warm but not overly hot and beautiful sunshine every day.

The bridge closest to Notre-Dame was closed as they were filming a musical - fun to watch it all.

Climbed the towers of Notre-Dame again, trying to get some good shots of the gargoyles for my grade eleven students who read Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame). The stairs are absolutely killer!! By the time you set foot on terra firma, your legs are shaking and continue shaking for quite a while.

The view of the Cathedral from the tops of the belltowers is incredible - it's hard to believe the effort the masons put into the gargoyles and all the detail on areas of the cathedral that can't be seen anywhere but from the belltowers. Amazing! And, again, great views of Paris.

Got some of my favourite treats from the grocery store and called it a fairly early evening as I needed to get up early to get to the train station. Three metro / RER changes later, with my heavy suitcase and backpack, I finally got the the Gare de Lyon. I sat next to a lady from Paris who is also a language teacher and had the opportunity to converse with her on many topics: since speaking French was the main reason (ok, one of the main reasons!) for this trip, it worked out great.

I'm sitting in an internet café at the Geneva train station, waiting for my train to take me on the next stage of this journey. A week in the Swiss Alps should be relaxing after the craziness of the last few days!

Happy trails!

Paris Pictures!!!