The Open Border

Good morning all!  I'm writing to you from my hotel room in Tallinn, Estonia. Supposedly this is actually a really nice place, but I don't know if I will be able to see much of the sights, as I'm leaving on Wednesday night.  A quick trip!

In the past 48 hours, I've gone from Poland (more to come on that!), to Switzerland, to Germany (layover), to Estonia.  And I've shown my passport a total of zero times.  The open border is still a totally interesting concept to me.  I can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing haha. Have a happy week my friends! I'm thankful for all of you!

Day trip to Gruyere

Hello my friends!  Sorry for the long silence.. things have been busy / I have not been very motivated to spend time on the computer when I am not at work.

Since Friday, Lena has been visiting!  She left Geneva earlier today, and I will be meeting her in Krakow, Poland Thursday night.  After quite a stretch of time spent at home, I'm ready to get out and do some exploring!  (I actually have quite a brutal travel schedule coming up here, and while I'm looking forward to it all, I have a feeling it will leave me wiped out.)

Presents from Target... woooo!!

After Lena got in on Friday, we took advantage of the mild weather and walked around town for a bit.  We stopped into several chocolate shops to pick out a few pieces, then sat at Globus and had a glass of wine and a self-made chocolate tasting before heading to bed early (the jet lag got to her!)

Saturday was a super rainy day, but it was nice to just sit around in our pajamas and catch up for most of the day!  We finally left the house when we met up with a new co-worker and his wife for lunch.  Then we did the quintessential European rainy day tourist activity - visited a museum!

Patek Philippe is a Geneva based luxury watch maker that has a museum dedicated to watches.  We were lucky to be there for the opening day of a new exhibit, and the museum itself was really cool!  Lena and I both left the museum wanting to get watches, but a quick Google search at home verified that I definitely cannot afford a Patek Philippe!  Seriously though, the details and the complications are unreal.

Saturday night fondue!

Sunday, we got up early to get on the train to head to Gruyeres.  I was a little worried because the forecast earlier in the week didn't look that great, but my friend Lauren assured me that it would still be a good way to spend a Sunday with visitors.

I was so happy when we woke up and the sun was shining!  The train ride is a little over two hours from Geneva, and we had some incredible views of the lake, the vineyards, and the mountains along the way.  iPhone pictures could never do it justice!

We had to change trains at one point, and this was one of the advertisements in the hallway of the train station.  I just found this to be hilarious.  And creepy.

When we arrived in Gruyeres, it was the perfect day!  A little cool, bright blue skies, and snow on the tops of the mountains.  Our first stop was meant to be the Chateau, which is about a ten minute walk from the train station.

Lovely day!

Uphill walking path

Cute little town square

We stopped for some hot chocolate along the way

Chateau!

Seriously - these views!

This little map helped you identify what mountains you were looking at

Stopped for a meringue on our walk back through town 

Too bad that damn trashcan photobombed me

I don't know if you can really see it, but this fountain was made in 1980.  I just found that really ironic - it seems so old!

We climbed down the hill and stopped for some lunch before heading to the Gruyeres cheese factory.  The cheese making process was supposed to last from 12:30 to 2:30, and I was pretty interested in seeing that!

Cheese

For 7 CHF, we got entrance into the factory museum and some samples of cheese!  I liked the 10 month cheese the best.

Cheese making

The museum is pretty basic.  You walk around learning some stuff about cows, cheese, cheese making, etc.  I learned some stuff, but it was nothing life-changing.

The cheese making itself was kind of a bust.  This guy just kind of walked around this vat and stirred it every now and again.  We didn't stay the whole two hours, so maybe it got way more exciting, but I just couldn't stay there and watch this guy wander around any longer.

We hopped on another short train to get to Broc Fabrique to visit the Cailler chocolate factory!  I had actually never heard of Cailler before I moved to Switzerland, but it's a division of Nestle (which is also a Swiss company - didn't know that either!).

Train station - so cute

We're here!

I'm not really sure how to describe the factory tour.  First of all, when we arrived, it was packed!  We actually had to wait about 45 minutes before we could start our tour.  Luckily, there was a little theater where we could watch short films and commercials about Cailler until it was our turn to line up.

In the "staging area", we saw a lot of vintage posters and had a little history lesson on Cailler.

When the tour actually started, it was totally not what I expected.  There were Disney-style sets with narration of history.  It was kind of interesting, but just not at all what I had imagined.  There were props and skits to teach us about the history of chocolate.  The first 20 minutes or so was like this.  Then we moved into an area that actually had information about the chocolate making process.

The proprietary recipes are kept secure!

We watched some chocolates being formed and packaged.

And nibbled on a few.

Then we turned a corner, and there was an entire tasting room of chocolates!!  We were able to sample all different types of Cailler chocolates.  I took my time and tasted every single piece, and I walked out feeling like I definitely got my 10 CHF (admission price) worth and like I had a stomachache!

One last look at the beautiful scenery

And with that, it was time to head back to Geneva.  Overall, it was a great way to spend a Sunday!

Short hello

Hi friends.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  I am currently enjoying a relaxing Sunday - a trip to the market, some reading, some cooking, some chores.  It's been cold all week, so I'm happy to spend some time at home staying warm today!  Hope you are all doing the same :)

A surprise holiday weekend

Hello all!  Hope you all had a good weekend.  I was lucky to soak up lots of sunshine and fresh air in Munich, but it seems that Geneva has finally seen summer come to an end (on 3 November!) as today was gloomy and cold.  Not the best way to start the week, but I guess it had to happen sometime.

As I mentioned before, I was able to go meet Stephanie in Munich over the weekend!  This trip was just the thing I needed, and I couldn't have been more excited.  I count this trip as my first real adventure since moving to Geneva even though I went to London in September (I've already been there before) and did a shopping trip to Italy in October (it was only a day trip).  It was my first time in Germany, and I was so glad to be reunited with my old travel buddy.

We got into Munich on Friday night, and after a few minutes of chit chat at the hotel lounge, we headed out to experience what Germany does best - beers!

We headed straight for the famed Hofbrauhaus

Reunited!

Hofbrauhaus actually kicked us out pretty early - I think it was before midnight? - so we wandered around a bit until we found another bar and stopped in for beers and pretzels.  Yum!!

Saturday morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies.  We had booked a bike tour with Mike's Bikes that day, so we headed over to meet our group.  On our way, we noticed that a lot of shops weren't open yet, but we just figured the Germans might get a late start on the weekends.

We met our tour guide at the Old Town Hall, right by Marienplatz.  He pointed out some cute little shops but then informed us that they would be closed all weekend because Saturday was a public holiday (All Saints Day) and Sunday was.. Sunday.  So that explains why everything was closed!  We were a little bit bummed to find out that the shops would all be closed during our stay, but our guide assured us that we would have plenty to see and eat and drink during our stay.  Plus, with the amazing weather, it would be a shame to be cooped up in shops anyway!

I loved our bike tour.  I have definitely found that it is well worth it to hire guides to show you things, and more importantly, tell you why they are significant to a place.  I felt like I learned a ton about Munich on our tour, and it was fun to ride around the city on bikes!

Rubbing the lion for good luck

No visit is to Europe is complete without a church

Two lions.. our guide pointed out that one has his mouth open, while the other has it closed.  The one with the open mouth faces the governmental palace, while the one with the closed mouth faces the church.

Government building.  The center portion is original - you can see some bomb damage in the columns - and the rest of the building is glass.  Our guide told us it was really common to do this after the war because the people wanted to symbolize transparency in the government.

A lovely river runs right through the center of Munich

After the tour, we stopped for some food and watched the football match (Bayern v Dortmund).  Funny enough, we ended up watching the game in the lobby of our hotel because we had a hard time finding a pub or bar that had televisions!  

Pork knuckle.. this meal made me physically exhausted!

Sunday, we just spent the day wandering around.  We explored a museum, a church, and just walked around enjoying the sunshine until it was time to head back to the hotel and onto our next destinations (I headed home, but Stephanie took the train to another city in Germany).

Everyone is outside the (closed) Apple store to mooch the wifi :)

It was a really lovely weekend, and I definitely would come back to Munich.  Time spent with friends, fresh air, and a lovely city make for great weekends!