Geneva avec Famille

Switzerland brought with it familiar faces.

More specifically it was the first (and only) time on this trip I saw family.
My cousin, Gabe has been living with his wife Lauren and working in Geneva for almost a year now.

If I remember correctly, the two years working in Switzerland had come about via the same company he had worked for in America.
The two of them picked me up from the train station. This was another one of those rare occasions where picking me up meant with an actual vehicle.

We actually ended up going directly to the Swiss watch museum from the train station.  It might sound like we were rushing through things, but really it was great planning on their part.

I arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and I would be leaving on a Tuesday.  I hadn't realized it, but most museums in Geneva were closed on Sundays AND Mondays, so I just had a small window of opportunity to see some really cool watches.

I don't know if cool is the best way to describe some of these watches.  Jaw dropping might be more appropriate. I'm not even talking about the amazing accuracy of watches built over one hundred years ago.  The amount of ornamentation that went into some of these pieces was amazing.  Semi-precious stones with engravings, mother of pearl landscapes, tiny portraits of royal families and their crests. 
And those were just the traditionally shaped pocket watches.  They also came in so many varieties of different shapes.  Eggs, birds, flowers that opened, pendants, ladies' fans, any thing you could dream up.

Perhaps the most intricate were the larger clock pieces that had mechanical moving figures. Most impressive to me were the beautiful little mechanical birds that dances around while they sang in their beautiful little golden cages.  The museum was dedicated mostly to Phillip Patek watches, which is apparently still an expensive brand even today.

Afterwards, we returned to their flat, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I was actually expecting a smaller living space, given that we were in Europe after all, but this was more spacious than most of the American flats I have seen even.  First floor (meaning one floor above ground, which is 0), very welcoming open foyer/dining/living area, and even a guest bedroom (I'm always happy to take a vacation from my old friend the couch).

We ate dinner in that night and discussed the game plan for Sunday.  There were only a few limitations.  Firstly, Sunday means almost all normal shops and museums are closed.  And secondly, crazy amounts of walking were out of the question as well.

Lauren was currently in the recovery stages of not just foot surgery, but FEET surgery.  By the time I arrived in Geneva, she had graduated to walking on her own, but she wasn't about to win a marathon anytime soon.

There were several factory/museums within driving distance, so it came down to picking my favorite food group.

Either wine, cheese, or chocolate.
I had visited many many great wine regions in France.  One can never visit too many vineyards though.  I had been to the Lindt chocolate factory in Cologne, but this one sounded different.  Plus, Gabe and Lauren had not been to it either.  I'd never seen cheese made before.  That could have been interesting, but I figured flooding my system with gruyere would be something I'd regret later.

So chocolate and wine it was.

It took us less than two hours to reach the Callier chocolate factory.  Actually I wouldn't have been sad if the drive had taken us five hours.  Between the mountains, vineyards, and cute little towns, there was never actually anything to see, but it was all still so beautiful.

As we neared the factory (according to the GPS) the road got narrower and more winding.  We were sort of snaking our way down a very rural valley.  Gabe made the joke that maybe they needed all the cows to make the milk chocolate (turns out he wasn't far off!)

The Callier chocolate factory ran groups in rotations by language.  From what I could see, they were mostly in French, English, and Italian, with some German as well.  We arrived pretty much perfectly in time for the English tour.

Now, when I went to the Lindt factory in Cologne, I was promised the Willy Wonka of chocolate factories.  Sadly Lindt had fallen short, but I thought Callier hit it spot on.

The whole tour was automatic animations and voice overs that kept you in one room until it opened up to reveal the next.  It was all aimed at someone closer to half my age...which is probably why I loved it.
You started in the dark Aztec jungle, where chocolate all started.  Then we moved on to Spanish explorers, European royalty, and forbidding popes.

Eventually your brought to Switzerland, where they started adding milk to chocolate.

Apparently its not as easy as one might think to add milk to chocolate, make it stick together, taste good, AND not go bad.  It took several collaborating minds, including Cailler, to perfect the recipe.

The tour then moved into more recent times, capitalizing the huge business chocolate has become and the elaborate advertisements that came along too.

At the end, the tour talked about present chocolate making practices, including a machine you could watch through glass, as well as, what else but a tasting :)

There were probably thirty or so different chocolates laid out for tasting.  Anyone with a wrapper on got slipped into my purse for later.  I couldn't handle all the unwrapped ones though either.  We left feeling spoiled, but not uncomfortable at least.

Afterwards, we took a short drive south to Lavau.  There, the entire town was built into a hillside that overlooked Geneva Lake.  The sun wasn't shining, but it was simply gorgeous.

Amongst the cottage like houses and five-table cafes, were vineyards cut into tiers in the side of the hill.
We reached a winery at the very bottom near the lake, and it was like a movie. Lake and mountains on one side, waterfall cascading down the other side.

Really Switzerland? That's how you're going to be?

The winery itself wasn't huge.  It was rather like a wine cellar built into a cave with little high top tables to taste the wine.  The real specialty of this winery was the film it showed in the basement.

The screen was set into three long "steps"of screens, as to imitate the way in which the vineyards here were arranged. The story followed a local wine maker (or rather an entire family, as that's how many people it takes) through an entire year.
It was a very well done film, and such an interesting story. 

Wine making is a year long process.  Each plant is pruned and personally attended to several times a year, pre-grapes and with grapes.  Everything is tested and recorded.  The wine maker could tell you exactly what the weather was, and exactly what the vines were doing on any given day of any given year since he took over the wine making (it wouldn't have surprised me if he had his father and grand-father's records as well).

Pruning was a whole family event, as was harvesting. Only harvesting included a whole lot more sweat.  They showed teenage kids with these contraptions on their backs that looked like manual forklifts.  Each forklift held three or four crates that they would fill with grapes, then carry back to the truck.  Now I'm terrible at estimating volume, but these crates must have been 2x3x2 ft.
Can you imagine how heavy just one would be?

The film really pushed the idea that at any moment, an entire years work could be destroyed by the weather.  I don't think I could handle that type of devastation.

I come from a family of farmers, and weather has been unkind to us before as well.  I cannot say where our farms may be more or less work, I can say that we don't put that amount of love into our corn like these people do into their grapes.

After the movie, we of course had to taste this hard work for ourselves.  I had gone in skeptical of Swiss wine, but what I had was quite good, I thought (after willingly drinking one glass of Franzia, I think one loses all wine credibility...)

We returned to Geneva and went out to a local tapas/burger pub.  Apparently, in Geneva, it is difficult to find a good restaurant in the medium price range.

Oh yes, I haven't explained just exactly how expensive Geneva is.

Geneva is the third most expensive city in the world, next to Zurich and Tokyo.

Its impossible for me to explain, so using the "Big Mac Index"

USA=$4.20 Switzerland =$6.81

Now granted, the quality is much better here.  No GMO's, most everything is Swiss grown/made.  After WWII, Switzerland wanted to be completely self sufficient, that way they could survive even in the event of being cut off from trade during war.  You're not just encouraged to buy Swiss.  Its pretty much a rule and often your best choice anyways.

Switzerland seems like its really got its shit together.

Bonne Nuit Geneva
Tegs