Strasbourg, France

Despite our rainy road trip to Strasbourg, we made it to the hotel in about 4 hours.  There was little time for resting since we were just spending one night.  So we dropped off our things and headed out to see the city.  It was a little dreary but it didn't keep us from spending a few hours walking the town.  When the rain picked up we went into the Cathedral de Notre-Dame.  When the rain slowed we walked the streets and found a few shops to check out.  And after that we found a Belgian bar to relax and have a few drinks before heading back to the hotel before dinner. 

I think Strasbourg is one of my favorite cities so far. Even though it was cloudy and rainy the German style architecture and the massive Gothic Cathedral were beautiful. And since it is France everyone speaks French which for me was great. German confuses me and I barely know 4 words. At least I can work my way around with French. The region is also famous for some really delicious wine like Rieslings and Gewurztraminer and I hear they also have a wonderful Christmas market.  We don't have any plans to visit Strasbourg again, but I highly recommend it if you get a chance.

The Road to Strasbourg

Our road trip to Strasbourg, France included lots of snacks, lots of rain and 3 countries.  Because I had never been to Germany, I demanded we drive north through Germany then hang a left to France.  Germany was not as eventful as I had hoped because of the weather; and there isn't much to see when you are only on a highway. 

Essence = Gasoline

Craquantes = rippled chips

My favorite German word.  Ausfahrt = Exit

Entering Deutschland

St-Cergue

On the first day of October we headed out for another hike.  This time we stayed a little closer to Geneva and tried the hike from St-Cergue to La Dôle.  We weren't very successful at making it to La Dôle, but it was still fun.  And our friends Ed and his girlfriend Aoife came with us, which was even better.

Here was our intended route.  We started in St-Cergue on the right and followed the path to the left of the picture via the red dots.  3 hours later when we were only at Chatel la Dôle.  We ran into some English speaking hikers who said they had come from the other side of La Dôle.  They said probably had at least another hour of hiking to do to get to the top of La Dôle.  So with the prospect of potentially being caught in the wilderness after dark, we decided to head back. 

La Dôle!

I love these stairs.  You can be walking through fields or up hills and then all of the sudden, stairs.  Sometimes there aren't even walls on either side.  But apparently cows don't like them, so I guess they do the job of cow fence pretty well.

On the way back to St-Cergue we took a different route which brought us to an over look.  Unfortunately there was so much fog you can't see the glorious mountains.  C'est la vie!

The Y-Files: Yaourts Fermiers

 

Brand: Yaourts Fermiers aux Fruits

Flavors: fraise, pêche, framboise, cerise, myrtille (strawberry, peach, raspberry, cherry, blueberry)

The missing one was 3 fruits - framboise, mûre and myrtille (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry)

I was really excited to try these because I knew I would like all the flavors.  However, they weren't the greatest.  They were good, and I even tried two before I considered giving them to Jim.  I think the problem was they were a little thin and sweet.  Not exactly how I like my yogurt.  
In the end I decided to freeze them, and have frozen yogurt.  This was genius!  In frozen form they were so much better.

Cheese Please

The last Saturday in September I forced Jim off the couch and we went for a road trip.  Our destination was Charbonnières.  A little town in Switzerland that holds the Vacherin Mont-d'Or cheese festival every year.  Vacherin is only produced between mid August and the end of March which makes it exclusive to the winter months.  When fully ripe the inside is aromatic and runny.  One common way to eat Vacherin is to wrap the cheese in its wooden box in foil and heat it in the oven.  After 20 min remove the foil and the top crust and dip bread or small steamed potatoes in the warm runny cheese.  We did this later when we returned home and it was fantastic!

The festival also includes a parade where the cows are brought down from the mountains for the winter.  We missed this part since they usually bring the cows down at 8am.  But we were there by early afternoon to enjoy cheese, Alpen horns and synchronized whip cracking. 

The route to Charbonnières, about 1hr 45 min from Geneva.

Our route brought us into France for about 15 min and then back into Switzerland.  This is the border to France.

Charbonnières and the Mont d'Or

Jim surveying the Absinthe table

This lady is making the wooden boxes for the Vacherin cheese

Alpen horns!

And finally the cheese.  We had some at the festival but also bought a wheel and heated it up when we got home.  So tasty!