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!