Eat. All Day. We Love.: The hills are alive with the sound of...cow bells!

This trip, by way of nature and sheer experience, has obviously taught me many things. Too many things to delve into on this humble blog. However, one thing that I've had reinforced and will happily rhapsodise over is my love of the mountains. I can't tell you why, but I can tell you how I feel about mountains. I'm actually beginning to believe that I must have had some intimate connection with mountains in my past life.

Initially their sheer size is obviously what grabs your attention. For me, their colossal nature demands a certain amount of respect, a resignation that there are forces and elements to them that are so powerful and beyond our reckoning. Then there is their ruggedness. The jagged edges that from afar can look like symmetrical and clean peaks and slopes but up close present as dangerous serrated edges. In Spanish the word sierra or mountain range actually means the 'teeth of a saw.' The breathlessness at their beauty from afar is only rivalled by their breathlessness up close. The lack of oxygen and sharp ascents literally do take your breath away. Despite the enormity of these gentle giants, one cant help but be mesmerised by their inherent vulnerability. Themselves victims of force majeure, they effortlessly and beautifully get covered by layers of innocuous and delicate snow. Much like a beautiful woman; stunning albeit intimidating, the snow capped mountains easily capture your attention, but despite flirting constantly with it it's obvious that you will never become intimately acquainted!

Flying into Bern, Switzerland, I was like a kid on their first day of school. Both nervous and excited. Nervous, at the small plane and proximity of the mountain peaks. And excited, though not having adequate enough control over my vocabulary, to convey my utter joy. The views from the plane where a moment to savour and my inability to convey my joy was replaced by a child like grin and uncontrollable fidgeting.

The excellent view from our disconcertingly small double-prop propeller plane!!!!

Setting foot in Switzerland I immediately felt more at home than I've ever experienced in a foreign country before - with the imposing and ominous mountains like the reassuring eyes of a family member. Bern is the small but picturesque capital of Switzerland. The glacial river that flows through the heart of the town has the most brilliantly pristine turquoise water I've ever bared witness to. I was so drawn to the natural beauty of the water that had it not have been for the furious current, I would have braved the freezing waters for a swim. As the capital, patriotism ran strong through Bern with the streets adorned in Swiss flags. So strong was the nationalism that we felt compelled to purchase a Swiss army knife each. Conveniently, I'd lost mine the week before in Italy and although Switzerland is easily the most expensive place I’ve ever visited, Swiss army knives are the exception and are at least 40% cheaper than back home.

Brilliant!

Very quickly we learnt the Swiss do two things extremely well; chocolate and cheese. Unfortunately their prowess at cheese making was somewhat lost on us. Australians are not know for their cheese production so for our unaccomplished palates most of the cheeses we tasted were simply too strong for us to enjoy. Much to the disappointment of the lady we stayed with in Bern who actually worked at a cheese research lab and subsequently had a fridge full of cheeses for us to try. What we lacked in cheese tasting ability we made up for in chocolate tasting. And, speaking from experience, I can assure you that Swiss chocolate is the best I've ever had. If you're one of our regular blog readers, I'm sure you're well and truly satiated with food related anecdotes. Therefore you'll be pleased to know that the actual purpose for our trip to Switzerland didn’t revolve around food but rather hiking. However, conveniently we had two hikes planned that involved both chocolate, cheese and wine factories. Didn’t think you could get away that easily did you?

Photo A

Cailler chocolate factory

Oh I should also briefly mention that with three official languages; German, French and Italian, the proficiency of languages in Switzerland is very impressive. Our first host spoke German, English, Spanish and French. But most strikingly is the geographic language switch. In Bern, Swiss German is most widely spoken but after a one hour train ride to a town call Fribourg, French predominated. More than the verbal swap, the cultural swap is what surprised us. We could now see French street signs, French advertising not to mention the French conversations surrounding us. Truly quite astounding for an Australian, where language proficiency is generally quite poor.

Photo B - Please vote which photo, A or B, is better?!

Back to the hiking. Our first hike was broken up into two legs. The first leg ending at a chocolate factory, the second leg ending in Gruyère at a cheese factory - the home of Gruyère cheese. But to focus solely on those two deliciously happy endings would be irresponsible. The terrain and surrounds of our first hike where stunning in every sense of the word. Quintessentially Swiss, the 'pre-alp' area we were hiking in had it all; rolling hills carpeted in the most verdant grass I've ever seen, black and white dairy cows conspicuous by the chimes of their cow bells, air so fresh and crisp that my diaphragm egged me on to inhale more, more, and traditional wooded homes. The only thing missing from it truly being the scene of a Swiss tourism commercial was some yodelling in the background. Huffing and puffing up the steep tracks, we couldn’t have asked for better motivation than the very real thought of a Swiss chocolate factory. Quickly enough we arrived, enjoyed an interesting tour but the real reason we were there was for the tastings. No different to a scene straight from Willy Wonka, the tastings did not disappoint as we were surrounded by trays and trays of chocolate. I'm not talking plain milk chocolate but an assortment of luxurious pralines and truffles. Ironically as quickly as we had devoured the seductive goodies we were feeling sick from pure gluttony and vowed not to eat chocolate for at the rest of the day.

The town of Gruyeres

So much outrageous cheese!!

Our next hike was through the picturesque Laveux region. Situated adjacent to Lake Geneva, the rolling hills were literally covered with vineyards as far as the eye could see. When we averted our gaze from the unique scene before us and peered across Lake Geneva we were actually looking at mainland France. Quite simply walking through 12 kilometres of vineyards proved to be a fantastic day with photo opportunities galore. Needless to say that by the end of the hike we had developed quite a yearning for some wine and purchased a bottle to rehydrate ourselves later that evening.

Stop fighting, I love you both!

The view from our apartment. That's France on the other side of Lake Geneva!!

Our final stop in Switzerland was its most well known city, Geneva. Most famous because it is the home of the United Nations. Though as far as a tourist destination goes, Geneva was quite lacking. Nevertheless we embraced the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the UN and enjoyed an insightful tour of the premises. Rubbing shoulders with diplomats and dignitaries, it was easy to imagine big decisions and important meetings taking place behind the closed doors around us.

Our final memory of Switzerland is in contrast to the utilitarian ones we hold of the UN. Led by Julia and in search of some cheap food we took a wrong turn and ended up in the red light district of Geneva. Not that big a deal you sneer? Well I've never seen such scantily clad prostitutes roaming the streets, nor have I ever been hit up for drugs so frequently along a street not more than 80 metres long. Regardless, Switzerland as a whole was an incredible destination and we left with mild cases of wine, cheese and chocolate overdose.