as we were driving to our next trekking route -- a walk in the alpine meadows this time -- we came across a signboard that said "Gruyère". Gruyère, in case you don't know, is the all-purpose Cheddar of the French-speaking world. It is used in slices in burgers, grated and strewn on top of pizzas before baking, folded into omelettes and quiches, and so on. It is a bland, faceless kind of cheese. This is what it looks like...
Our fridge is always full of packets of grated Gruyère for Blandine's quiches and omelettes. So this was the place where that darn thing comes from. So of course we had to stop for a look. The cheese gets its name from the village of Gruyère around which it is made, and Gruyère castle that looms above the village on a hill. The village itself wan't anything much so we trekked up the castle. From a distance, the castle looks imposing. But come up close, and it turns out to be a disappointment. The whole place has been renovated out of existence. It looks bland, artificial and ... cheesy. No other word for it. Not a patch on the painstaking restoration work on historical monuments that one sees in France, taking care to preserve as much of the original as possible.
Anyhow, the place makes for great pics, with the surrounding Swiss countryside. Check it out...
