Corseaux-Geneva-Gruyere-Corseaux, Switzerland Day 12

April 11, 2010

Day 12 Corseaux-Geneva-Gruyere-Corseaux

We got up and headed to Geneva to see how much we could fit in before heading to have a quick look around Gruyere and then heading back to Corseaux.  When we got into Geneva, things were pretty quiet.  At first we were just going to do either the Red Cross Museum or the walking tour that was in the Lonely Planet guide we had borrowed from Heather and Matt, but as we headed toward the museum, we stumbled upon the UN building where we noticed that they were giving tours, so we went looking for the entrance to see if we could do a tour.  It was a tricky thing find the entrance, but Trevor found it and we went in.  I got a lovely visitors pass (with picture and everything) and then we were told the next tour wasn't for another 40 min and it cost 10 CHF (Swiss francs) each.  If we did the tour, it meant we wouldn't see anything else.  We figured it would be pretty cool, so we said we'd do it, but since the Red Cross Museum was across the street, we figured we'd check out how much things cost over there and what we could do there.  So we paid for the tour, went to the Red Cross Museum, looked around the little portion that was free, a few archive pictures that were displayed, then ran back in time for the UN tour.  The UN tour was pretty neat.  We saw some of the conference rooms, including one where all the countries had their places marked.  We learned a little more about the UN and how it works and where the 4 headquarters are in the world (if you're interested they are in New York, Geneva, Nairobe and Vienna).  It was then off to catch the train to Gruyere, home of the Gruyere cheese.  It was such a cute little, typical Swiss town.  If you picture Switzerland with green grass and mountains and little villages everywhere, you have hit it dead on (at least the rural parts).  Gruyere was up on a hill with a cute little castle on the top.  Along the streets of this village, you could buy cheese, meringues and fondue (specialty of Switzerland).  It was awesome.  We explored a little, bought some of the meringues and bought some cheese at the factory before heading back to Corseaux.  Back in Corseaux, we finally saw Heather and Matt.  It was nice to talk to them and hang out.  We went to the grocery store together and Heather made us a wonderful fondue.  We ate and drank wine and talked until it was time for bed.  It was a lovely evening.