Gruyères

I had intended to have a really relaxed weekend this weekend and not travel --- but I did end up doing a little day trip to Gruyères yesterday with Jennifer and Jill to eat cheese, see the castle, and go to the HR Giger museum (more on that later!).

But first --- we went to La Maison du Gruyère for lunch. I had rosti again (sort of like hash browns) with Gruyères cheese, bacon, and an egg on top:




The dessert specialty of the house were meringues with "creme de la Gruyères" --- sort of a heavy cream that I imagine would taste amazing on a bowl of raspberries.

La Maison du Gruyère also had a working cheese factory that we were able to tour and see the giant vats that turn milk into cheese:

The factory gets enough milk to make about 48 giant wheels of cheese per day. Then the cheese goes into these cellars to age until it is ready to eat! As part of our tour, we got cheese samples that had been aged 6 months, 8 months, and 10 months --- the older cheese tasted much saltier but it was all delicious!

Me + cow:

Jill and I as Gruyères dairy farmers:

Then we hiked up to town of Gruyères itself, which is on a big hill, and saw the castle of Gruyères:
 

A view of the castle from inside the courtyard:
 

 The castle courtyard:

A banquet room known as the knights' room:

The castle gardens:

 A view from one of the castle balconies:

A view of the church below the castle:

 Then I (by myself) went to the HR Giger museum. Giger is a Swiss surrealist who designed the alien in the movie Alien (and also won an Oscar for visual effects for that movie). The museum itself was definitely surreal but also awesome. I got to see a lot of Alien-related artwork, but also some of Giger's original work. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is the front of the museum:

And here is the one alien statue out front:

Plus, there is even an alien bar across the street!!

 The center of the city of Gruyères is quite beautiful. Cobble stone streets, old buildings, fall colors... it was a gorgeous day. Here are several pictures of the town: 

And before we left --- I just had to get a drink at the alien bar... even if it was just a Coke.