Fromage et festival

Switzerland is home to about 450 varieties of cheese.  These include extra-hard, hard, semi-hard, semi-soft and soft cheeses, together with some that don't fall naturally into any of these categories.  But the two for which Switzerland is probably best-known, at least in the United States, are the hard varieties like Emmental from the Emme Valley (the Emmental region) in the canton of Bern

and Gruyère, named after the town of Gruyères, in the canton of Fribourg.   For my visitors' final excursion outside the Geneva area, a visit to this cheese-making center was in order.  So, after Friend G and I had finished our brief visit to the Sunday market at Divonne, we gathered up those who had slept in for an extra hour and began the trip to Gruyères.  Our first stop was in the tiny village of Pringy to visit La Maison du Gruyère, the dairy and cheese factory where visitors are escorted on an audio tour of the exhibition by Cerise (Cherry), the Talking Cow.  While the visits are happening, the master cheese-makers and their assistants produce up to 48 wheels of the famous cheese a day.  The cellars at the cheese factory contain up to 7,000 wheels of maturing cheeses.

As part of the tour, each of us received samples of the cheese in three stages of maturation:  mild, semi-salty and salty.  After tasting the samples, the Double Cs decided that they preferred their Gruyère in its melted form.  So, we headed up to the village of Gruyères for a cheese fondue luncheon, the climb helping to work up an appetite.

Arriving at Gruyères, we were surprised to see that there were several people in the village wearing medieval costume and acting in a completely natural fashion, such as here, at the main village fountain.  It was almost like stepping into a time warp,

particularly when there were soldiers marching through the streets.

When we asked our waitress what was happening, we discovered that we had fortuitously arrived for the midsummer St. John's Day Medieval Festival, where more than 140 actors in costume were re-enacting life in the Middle Ages with interactive daily activities.  What fun for my visitors to see!

There were mock battles taking place in the castle courtyard before an appreciative audience.

The older rooms in the castle were filled with people performing daily tasks

such as stoking the kitchen cooking fire

and doing needlepoint in the galleries.

This scene was practically out of a Vermeer painting.

Son B and Prince C provide some modern contrast.

For once, the castle garden was open to visitors.

In fact, Prince C tried the longbow there - and nearly hit the target!

With cheese-making, fondue and festival, our excursion to cheese country was a hit!