2004 Europe

Gruyere Main Street



June 3 – Up early to catch the train from Zermatt to the parking lot where Michel will pick us up with the coach. It was very nice in Zermatt. No cars at all, only bicycles and electric vehicles. Our luggage was taken by little electric trucks to the main road and loaded onto bigger diesel trucks for the trip down the mountain. It was reloaded onto the bus and we’re off to Stein am Rhine, Switzerland.



On the way there we stopped in Gruyere (above) for lunch. Yes, it is the place with the famous cheese and we had cheese fondue for lunch in a restaurant (below) built right into the wall of the city overlooking the Gruyere Valley below. Now you have to understand that I am, by nature and breeding, a carnivore. A meal without meat is generally, well… just a waste of time. However I will make an exception for this place. The cheese was absolutely wonderful and even though we only had bread and potatoes to dip in it, it was a great meal and I was stuffed at the end.



It was the strangest thing, here I am innocently walking down the street, uphill actually, in Gruyere and what do I see on the side of a medieval building but a cut away model of a semiautomatic pistol (apparently a Colt Government Model 1911A) loaded with little men who are armed with ray guns (below). I had a momentary disconnect at that point. Turns out the man, HR Giger, who designed the alien for the Alien series of movies has a museum here; and the cut away on the wall is one of his sculptures. Giger is Swiss and his museum is in the Chateau St. Germain here in Gruyere. Directly across the street is a bar that uses alien skeletal structures as part of its design. Pretty weird. After walking around the town we reboarded the bus and headed for Stein.



Stein am Rhine is a beautiful city. It’s right on the Rhine, as its name would imply. The buildings are painted with frescos and many have half-timbered upper floors. We arrived late and didn’t really see the town until the next day.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger