We decided to take a two-hour train trip from Montreux, a city along along Lake Geneva to the central Swiss village of Gruyere, made famous for its lovely cheese.  Before even pulling out, and even with the rain, it was going to be a fun day.  I could not hold back from taking this women’s picture.

A bus will pick you up by the train station and drop you at the steps of the famous Gruyere cheese factory. Price for admission is well worth it as they will give you several pieces of their famous cheese.

A number of board displays will tell you about the history and how they process this cheese.

Gruyere is the only place in the world which is allowed to make this delicious cheese. 

This is an excellent museum not only for adults, but for young children too.

It takes 8-14 months before Gruyere cheese is aged. 

Obviously, there is a modern café, particularly for these tour buses.  The bathrooms are good too.

One can take a bus up the hill to Old Town Gruyere, or you can walk it like most people do.  We were lucky that the rain had stopped for the most part.

The village of Gruyere dates back to the Bronze Age, as early at 300B.C. Old Town sits on a verdant hill that overlooks the Saane Valley.  It is in this valley where farmers produced the milk for the special cheese.

There is a large square. 

Around this square are a number of restaurants.  Each place would advertise with a special logo.

As you enter the castle walls, which is where the HR Giger museum is located. 

HR Giger produced special effects for such movies as “Alien.”  The team that he was on won an Academy Award in 1979 for Ridley Scott’s “Alien.”

Maybe it was the $13 for admission to the museum that us decide not go in.  Looking back, I think I was put-off that you could not take pictures in the museum. In hindsight, we should have gone in. Outside the museum are pieces that you could take pictures of.

We did use that $26 savings to go into the Giger Bar. The proprietors wanted you to have at least one drink before you could take pictures inside their pub. 

Taking the pictures, and drinking the beer, by far, was well worth the price.

I really did not think the prices were all that exurbanite.

HR Giger did die in 2014.  A picture of him is at the bar area.

Touring the Gruyere Castle is better than most castles you see.  The admission is well worth the price.  An introductory video should be seen.

A number of rooms are well decorated.

The castle is a haven for school trips.

We did come to one room dedicated to the art of Patrick Woodroffe who died in 2014, and same year as HR Giger died.

A castle isn’t a castle without at least one canon.

We came to the artwork of Baud-Bovy which is in another room.

The large hall was uniquely decorated.

 

We walked back to the big square and ate lunch at Hotel de Ville.  It was by far one of the better quiches I have ever eaten.  Kathie enjoyed the chicken plate.

We walked back to the square where the bus picked us up and took us to the train station. The usual touristy shops and activities were close by.  

 Along the way we did meet a nice young couple from NYC.  Some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet are Americans abroad.  The Swiss scenery was indeed beautiful.