Babbo Goes to Switzerland -- March 3-9, 2007

What better excuse to live out your "Heidi" fantasies than to visit a child in Switzerland?

Looking to escape the fantastically exciting world of surgical coding, Steve's mom Barb took a week to come visit us here in Geneva and put her boots down on a new patch of earth. Of course we weren't going to let her go the guided tour and posh hotel route, but we did promise her good amounts of chocolate-filled pastries which seemed to take care of any problems in advance.

As she arrived on a Sunday, our touring options were limited as just about everything was closed. So we decided to spend the day taking a short boat tour of the area, heading out to Hermance on the French border for a look at a typical little country town and enjoy the ride. (Regular readers my remember our own bike ride to Hermance our first week in town, documented here).

The day was perfect, sun shining overhead and calm waters. After a short game of "Did Stephen screw up and misread the boat schedule" (one of America's most popular past times according to the two women who know me best), the boat indeed came and we headed off.

Jet d'Eau from the port
The ride was pleasant and in no time we arrived.

Hermance really is as advertised - small and old. We took a walk to the medieval tower, had a bite and took the afternoon boat home, where Jaren made a fondue dinner and we settled in for the night.

Monday threw us a curveball in the form of torrential downpour. Steve had French class that morning, and the plan was for Barb to walk around the big commercial area, followed by the two meeting up for a tour of Old Town. Well, you can imagine how well all of that went in a thunderstorm. Barb, however, was a great sport and made the best of her time by using the shops as a way to stay dry. That afternoon, the two toured all of the left bank as the sky finally cleared. Dinner with Jaren, called it a night.

Tuesday was a travel day, and the pair headed to the Valais region to take in Switzerland's instantly recognizable natural landmark, the Matterhorn. Getting up at 6AM, they caught the early train to Visp where they transferred to a local train to Zermatt, which them took them to a cog train up a neighboring mountain (along the precipice I might add, one that all agreed would give both Bob and Greg - specifically their respective fear of heights - a fit.


We finally reached the top, and the views were as advertised. The picture doesn't even do the view justice - the smell of the air and the movement of the clouds all add to the majesty of the view.
We asked another viewer to get a picture of us in front of the mountain. Just three simple elements to the picture - woman, son, giant shark-tooth shaped mountain top. What a great souvenir, something that would be treasured always. Easy, right?

Moron. Somewhere to the left of Steve is the Matterhorn. At least we got the side of the information building, right?

As for our own photographic adventures, I just couldn't resist this one:

Instant classic. The rest of the day was spent on the Swiss railroads taking in the country side and making our way back to Geneva.

Wednesday, much like Monday, was a French class day in the morning. With better weather this time, Barb did a bit of sight seeing on her own, followed by an after lunch trek up International Hill to see the UN and surrounding buildings. Also included was a tour of the International Red Cross museum - a highly stylized and moving tribute to the relief organization and its good work all over the world. Interesting, yes, but not exactly happy stuff. Luckily, Jaren was able to spring out of work an hour early and met up with us for a trip to everyone's favorites, Manor and Migros. The ladies did some shopping, Steve pushed some little kids out of the way to play videogames, and Barb loaded up with souvenirs (read: chocolate) to take home.

Thursday was another travel day, this time to the capital city of Bern and the medieval cheese-making region of Gruyeres.

For a more in depth description of Bern, check out the post from Aaron's visit. Much like the boys before her, Babs enjoyed the town, the views and people. Of particular interest was this statue of a man eating babies. For those who haven't heard it, there's a great story about Aaron making a VERY ill-timed comment about eating babies at the christening of one of our father's colleagues. To see this, well, it gave Barb and Steve the giggles.

This one, well, kind of just explains itself.
After a long morning in Bern, we took off for Gruyeres, which was an adventure in itself as it involved changing a bunch of local trains in off-the-beaten-path-places at funky times. Considering that we weren't travelling that far, its seemed like an arduous production, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Arriving in Gruyeres, we headed straight for the creamery. Taking our audio guide on a tour of the facility , we learned all about the cheesemaking process and the traditions of the area (did you know the word Gruyeres comes from the French word for crane)? Our guide that day was "Cherry," a local cow who if she doesn't check her attitude is on a one way road to flank steak town. But I digress, and after some samples, it was up the hill to the castle.


This is the view from the top.

And this is the hill where Barb damn near killed Steve


The castle was very cool, complete with all the medieval accoutrement. There was even a room dedicated to baroque art, which gave the opportunity for a chorus of "If it ain't Baroque..." jokes.

With the tour completed, we took in a bit more of the town, picked up some meringues made with the local cream and a bag of caramels, and headed home (of course, on the way, every time we achieved something such as finding the train station, getting on the train, switching trains, etc..., we rewarded ourselves with a caramel).

Arriving back in Geneva, it was one last dinner together which could only mean one thing -- more cheese. On the menu was dried beef and raclette, which is nothing more than melted cheese scraped off a block onto potatoes. And of course, it was excellent. Sitting under a painting that eerily resembled the late Bruno Kirby, we enjoyed the rest of the night and prepared to send Barb off the next morning.

Good time all around, and great to give Barb the opportunity to get away from the coding books for the week.