June 23

Woof-woof and I got up early.  There weren't enough beds left in the temple hostel for her to have her own, so she shared with me.  So I admit that we didn't sleep well, but we slept so we were grateful for that.

I was trying to be discreet while taking this picture of the eating area, but I wanted to show what it looked like.  The Bern Temple serves people from Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy.  Most of the people we met were there for at least a week.  So they bring all of their food, kitchen linens, and cooking pots and put it in bins that line the walls.  It made me amazed at what people will do to spend some time at the temple.  And it made me grateful that I only have a 1-2 hour drive(depending on traffic) to get to the temple.

One last picture of the temple and The Little One.

From Bern we headed southwest to Broc.  We had to visit the Cailler chocolate factory.  

Playing on the playground outside.

Playing with the mirrors on the playground.

The Guy smelling the different cocoa nibs.

Trying out the chocolate that we watched being produced.

At the end of the tour they had this wall where you could write down(well, I'll let you read what you could write in the next picture.)  Woof-woof really wanted to write something.

Here's what she wrote:

We thought we'd already gotten as much chocolate as they would let us taste.  Then we walked into this room where they had dozens of different types of chocolate that we could taste.  By the end of the room everyone was chocolated out.  Sweetie said, "I think I'm done" and spit what was in his mouth into the trash.  (I started putting the chocolate into my camera bag to save for later.)

Even after getting too much chocolate to eat I still managed to buy a bunch to take home with us(and send to some of you winners).

After the chocolate tour we had to head off for a cheese tour, so we headed to Gruyere to see where and how they make Gruyere cheese.

Watching how the cheese is made.

Outside the cheese factory the kids wanted to play on the playground(that they had - so amazing).  After a few minutes we heard a cry of help from Sweetie.

This is how we found him:

I had to take a bunch of pictures before letting someone help him.

After leaving Gruyere we headed towards Geneva.  On our way we stopped at the Chateau de Chillon.  This castle was built a long time ago - the first written records of it are in 1005.  

Quiz of the day:  What two authors have written about this castle?  

(Once again no cheating with google.)  

Sweetie wanted to be let in the front gate.

Sweetie and Woof-woof in the first courtyard.

Woof-woof was really excited to see the knight.

Who's torturing these kids in the prison cell?

The views from the castle over Lac Leman are gorgeous.

Checking out how the toilets work(they dumped straight into the lake).

Walking along the battlements to get up to the keep.

A view from the keep.

Another view from the top.

Proof that I was there.

A great picture of the outside.

The kids playing outside the castle.

After we finished up at the castle we kept on our drive towards Geneva.  We drove along the south side(the French side) of Lac Leman and enjoyed the view immensely.

Our dinner was no exception of the view.  We had pizza at this lovely outdoor spot.

And we got to look at this while eating dinner.

All in all another wonderful day.