This Week in Pictures

So, this past week my family came to visit. I took off work, and toured around with them. This is a small sampling of our comings-and-goings, complete with pictures.

Day 1: The Sings arrive.

I was in charge of feeding the family when they arrived. So, in an effort to find post-plane-ride-stomach-friendly food, I went to the market in the morning and bought a ton of fresh bread, strawberries, cheese (well, not fresh cheese, cuz it'd been aged for a few months), and tomatoes. They look pretty good considering they just got finished with a long plane flight followed by a stressful drive from the Zurich airport.

Day 2: Gruyere, Chocolate Factory, Cheese Factory

Walking from the parking lot to Gruyere.
We made it? I climbed up on the wall for a better view and nearly killed my mother. Schwoops!

We might have taken a break for some double creme with strawberries (a very Swiss dessert)...
Somehow we managed to find the chocolate factory. I found this part of the tour pretty sweet. IT'S AN EXTRUDER FOR CHOCOLATE!!! I think I've found my calling...
I think we drove here to do some sort of luge thing but it was closed?
We found the Cheese Factory! That is a bunch of 35 kg rounds of Gruyere cheese aging in a cellar.
Big stirrers for milk.
I think this is where the cheese chillaxes in a saline solution for 17 hours and is flipped around slowly.

Day 3: Bern

The weather was pretty bad again, so we opted for a walking tour of Bern. We then hit up a bar by our house for the Switzerland v. Chile game. The place was packed. It was pretty epic even though they lost.

Even Ghandi thinks you should get a Blackberry. By staying connected, you support non-violence.
The weather was so lovely, my brother and I decided we should play a game of chess. I ended up forfeiting so we could get moving again (it was actually incredibly cold). I was white (I stink at chess, so I generally avoid playing, buuuuuut I felt that the novelty of playing on a patio behind the Swiss Parliament building outweighed my aversion to the game). :P

We took a tour of the clock tower. Pretty views of Bern's old town followed.

Day 4: Zermatt (and thus, a wonderful view of the Matterhorn)

So, we put my dad's driving skills to the test and drove most of the way to Zermatt (you can't drive into Zermatt, only electric vehicles are allowed there - prevents pollution and such). A number of switchbacks and impatient tailgaters later, we made it.

Part of our journey involved catching a train in order to tunnel through the Alps. Except instead of getting out of the car and sitting, we drove the car onto the train and sat there.
The tunnel was really dark and kind of creepy. We might have seen Sasquatch.

Da Matterhorn!

Zermatt (and maybe my brother in there if you can spot him)!
Hehe, this was on the car train thinger. Courtesy of my brother. It kind of had to be posted.

Day 5: Fribourg

I tried to kill my parents by taking them on a bit of a hike. We wandered up to Chapel Lorette (sp?) for the view, then hiked down and back up through the old town.

We took a lot of breaks.They're still alive!
Stopped for lunch for a bit of a break.

Day 6: Interlaken

Well, actually Lauterbrunnen. Lots of cool waterfalls and such. We hiked around in the "hills" nearby.

Diverse sandwiches!
Before starting our trek, we had a bit of assistance from a cable car thinger.


I thought this thing was cool. Just in case you were wondering how they deal with all the mountains.
It's the Eiger!
Question: Where in this area is there a restaurant without a mountain view?

Answer: I'm pretty sure I saw none. Advertising fail.
OMG! Waterfall!
The Eiger (elevation 3970 m = 13025 ft) decided to be bashful and hide itself behind a cloud. However, the Monch (4099 m = 13448 ft) and the Junfrau (4158 m = 13642 ft) continued to be very photogenic. The Junfraujoch (in the divot between the Junfrau and the Monch) is the highest you can get in Europe (without hiking and/or being BAMF).

As I said, very photogenic.
So, we had to go to the WC. This particular WC was in this shady hallway with motion sensor lighting. This guy was facing the entrance. After my initial reaction (fear), I was rather amused.

Days 7 & 8: Zurich, Bern, & Fribourg

Friday we spent wandering around Bern and Fribourg before driving to Zurich. In the morning, my parents and brother hopped on a plane while I took a 3-hour walking tour of the city before catching a train back to Fribourg.

ETH is in the background (ETH is Europe's equivalent to MIT. Zurich looks kind of like Boston. I was amused). This is the view from some random park I walked through (I was following a walking tour I picked up in the hotel).
Fraumunster Church (lots of windows by Marc Chagall). I couldn't go inside the church until noon. I think this was around 9? Maybe 9:30. Soo, I just took pictures of the exterior.

This is the view from in front of ETH.

In closure (Charles, please don't kill me, but I had to...):

BON SUISSE!

So, in accordance with my earlier promise, I am putting in some pictures of various world cup related things I have taken pictures of since last Friday:

This is the view from the corner by my apartment. FLAGS! Pretty much anyplace with food here has a screen playing the games.

Even the local Tex-Mex place has flags in the window...
The lovely view from where we went to watch the US v. UK game.
Screen (the empty chairs filled up later in the evening).
The view again, only a li'l later.

That's all I've got. I've been a poor photographer. I can assure you that, for a small town, Fribourg went a li'l crazy when the Swiss beat the Spanish. My bus was late and the ride home took forever the traffic through town was so bad (everyone with a motorized vehicle whipped out their Swiss gear and drove around honking/cheering/waving flags out the window). I ended up watching the game projected on the wall in my mentor's office (I would have needed a poncho for the live viewing, plus I felt bad leaving work so early - would have had to leave at 2).

On another note, the local grocery store sells wasabi-flavored pringle-type chips (Frosty had a tube while we watched the game). They are deliciously mouthwatering AND sinus-clearing.

Tomorrow morning, the Sing family rolls into Switzerland! They are renting a car for the week, and my dad will get to utilize his 3rd-world driving skills (I know Switzerland isn't a 3rd-world country, but I really wouldn't want to drive here). Watch out!