Cheese and Chocolate

Yum... Our whole day was filled with eating. Traveling to French Swiss territory to the region of La Gruyere we visited a producer of Gruyere cheese and Cailler chocolate factory (the Lindt place is closed on weekends).

You can go through the exhibit on how Gruyere cheese is made and with a rather entertaining audio-guide with a cow as a presenter we discovered that milk from the cows in the Gruyere area can contain up to 86 different flavour coming from the combination of grasses and flowers etc that they eat in the fields. The same region is where the milk is produced for the Cailler cheese. The Gruyere cheese is matured for up to 12 months in 35kg rounds at 14C. A 35kg cheese needs 400 litres of milk (1 cow produces 25 litres per day = 100kg of grass and 85 litres of water). I learnt a lot on the tour. The cellar holds between 4000 and 7000 cheeses at any one time. Given our rough calculations (and I mean really really rough) we worked out that its about 5 million euros worth of cheese in the cellar at any one time.

Callier is in Broc-frabique, a village 1km away from Broc (other side of the hill from the cheese place). All raw materials are brought in by rail (the tracks go right into their offloading warehouses) and all products leaving the factory is also by rail (there are actual train loading stations at the packaging end with rails feeding straight into the national railway system). Callier is the combination of 4 chocolate pioneers in Switzerland that eventually amalgamated into 1 in 1929 under Nestle.



Taking the tour you are lead through a highly dramatic commentary on the history of chocolate making in Switzerland and then to the Centre of Excellence where you can see a mini production station (and taste the chocolate as it comes out). We stocked up on chocolate only to get to the final destination, an entire room filled with all the different brands produced and you can eat as much of it as you possibly can...I felt a little ill after pigging out on lots of dark chocolate.

We overestimated the time all of this would take and managed it fit in Fribourg in on the way back to Zurich. Fribourg is set along a few cliffs (we're still unsure how they were made or what they actually are) and is well worth following the walking tour of (in the clockwise direction...unlike us who took the anti-clockwise direction and hence had to walk UP all the hills).

Lucerne

Marco organised a full program for my weekend in Switzerland. In his words, "Zurich is not that interesting", so we proceeded to explore a few picturesque towns and villages across Switzerland. Transport in Switzerland seems very expensive (and Zurich even more so). We caught the train to Lucerne to view the lake, visit the transport museum and generally wonder around.
Traveling through the countryside is beautiful as grass covered hills whizz by dotted with cows. There are an abundance of rivers and lakes to see. Arriving in Lucerne we noticed that Pilatus, our intended destination was in fact hidden by clouds and would make viewing problematic.
Never fear, us geeks just spent longer in the transport museum seeing every exhibit, trying out all the options and critically analysing the various components of the trains, cars and space rovers. One of the coolest features was the car feature. Now I am not a car enthusiast but they have a robotic ladder-lift that brings that car you've requested down from the collection on the wall for you to view. This "Car Theatre" had vehicles from 1880 to the present including world record-holders.
Moving on to the "Old Town" of Lucerne we wondered around the pretty Swiss buildings and walked along the wooden bridges (described to us on our Google Map that other interns put together "old" and "very old") which are beautiful though required us to muse over the structural soundness and weird engineering contraption thing in the river it spanned (turns out it was for hydropower somehow).


Traveling back to Zurich I got to wonder around the city and see what they meant by "not interesting". I've decided that Zurich was a very average personality and they have perfected the art of "living normally" so that nothing goes wrong or causes inefficiencies and therefore loss of time.

Google visit

I didn't know much about Zurich other than its in Switzerland, there is Lindt chocolate and that Google has their European headquarters there. I arrived mid-afternoon to visit Marco at Google and discuss a project with another Google intern that may be useful to Umonya in the future.

The Google office is huge and is highly quirky. Each floor has a different theme, cool kitchens that are fully stocked and their restaurant has a slide... New interns are made to go down the slide on their first TGIF (I visited on a Friday) but thankfully I got to go down without everyone watching.
I did manage to stay for TGIF Pub Quiz (which allowed Androids...cheating!!!) and then hang out with the interns in the evening, first to play Rock Band and then to dinner. Chatting to the various interns Marco and I expanded on Umonya and the logistical problems of following up post courses. As nearly every intern is an ex programming competition participant (between IOI and ICPC) they understand how much the mentorship and sustained training helps. Exciting things are happening :)

Verona

Verona is an hour away from Venice (by train) but that hour makes all the difference. Nestled in the bend of a river its a beautiful setting with the Alps as a backdrop. The churches are of Italian Gothic Architecture, very different from the abundance of the Baroque style. I much prefer the beautiful arches, frescoed walls and quiet celebration of religion.With one day to see everything I followed the recommended walking tour that took in all the sights. I was thwarted by the Italian long lunch (12.30-3) to see some of sights in the 'correct' order but it meant I got to explore all the side streets and soak up the sun on the rivers edge.
My first stop was the Verona Arena that hosts the opera in Summer (I missed it by 2 days). Built in the first century AD its all pink marble and huge (466-by-400 foot if you believe the guidebook) with 72 aisles. From the outside it doesn't seem that large but it is in fact sunken like the Colosseum.Moving on down the "shopping" street you can still see various Roman era pillars and Medieval reliefs. Moving on past Piazza Erbe with its hustle and bustle and gazebo in the centre with manacles still attached I visited probably the most well-known Verona sight, Juliet's house with its infamous balcony. The walls into the house are covered in graffiti from years of messages from young hopefuls. In the courtyard people line up to get a photo rubbing Juliet's breast, apparently to bring you luck.The Scaligeri family ran Verona and you can see this in their buildings (they made everyone else chop off their towers so theirs was the highest) and especially in their tombs which are beyond extravagant. There is a really funny story that I will have to look up later about some fortune of Khan being thought of as "cane" for dog and that is why there are dogs on their tombs.

Sant' Anastasia is one of the Gothic churches I mentioned earlier. It has two very interesting figures holding up the holy water bowls, a hunchback and a "easter figure". I really liked this church and the ceilings. I've also learnt why there are paintings in Venice instead of frescoes. Frescoes are painted into wet plaster which would melt(?) or fade with the high humidity in Venice. I now understand the abundance of canvas covered buildings.
There are many viewing points along the river that encloses Verona's Old Town but the best view I got was from Castello San Pietra on the hill across the river. I walked up the numerous stairs into lush gardens with spectacular views. I wish I had taken a picnic up there.



S. Maria Matricolare was the last major sight on my list and is yet another church, also Italian Gothic with frescoes. What made this rather interesting was all the different outfits displayed at each altar depicting the various ceremonial robes of the church. Definitely one of the most comprehensive collections seen outside of a museum. I'm currently writing this post from the train to Zurich (via Milan) to meet up with Marco and hangout with the Google interns. It should be a geeky adventure, I've heard rumours of an indoor slide... The countryside is swishing by with vineyards, beautiful farm houses and the Alps to complete this tranquil scene, there is even a massive lake (which I should probably know the name of but don't)

Venice on high

My last afternoon and evening were spent between two bell towers, one attahed to San Giorgio Maggiore Church and directly across from the Doge's Palace and the other the Campinale on St Mark's Square.



San Giogrio Maggiore Church is a sort boat ride from St Mark's and delivers you to the church stairs. The church itself has yet more Tintoretto's and a really cool wooden statue that used to sit on the steeple but was struck by lightning a few years ago (even churches can face the wrath of the gods). The bell tower offers a 360 degree view of Venice and all the surrounding islands (and the Alps in the distance) without fencing in the way (like the Campinale).




The Campinale closes at 9pm offering a beautiful view of Venice at sunset/twilight. The sun is still setting over the Alps and the markers in the canals are all alight to guide boats through the shallow waters. St Mark's Square looks sort of like a cake full of candles with its hundreds of lights. The music from the duelling musicians floats up to provide the background music as the camera pans over the scene :)



Next stop is Verona (which I am currently on the train to) which is an hour away from Venice and the home of Romeo and Juliet, the Verona Arena and gorgeous Italian fashion (and shoes) :D The train trip through winelands region reminds me of home and I am eagerly awaiting a wine trip once home (at least to Stellenbosch for the Python course in September).

Churches galore

My last morning was spent gawking at paintings by Tintoretto and Titian in the various churches in the Frari district.

Frari Church was built in about 1492 and in some ways seems like a monument to Titian and Canova (artists of Venice) with all the art they produced specifically for this church.

The same could be said for Scuola San Rocco, the only brotherhood to survive intact during Napoleon's reign. Its a homage to Tintoretto and I actually bought an audio guide to listen to the history of each painting that literally lines the walls and ceiling. You may not take photos within (wiki the paintings or artists if you are that interested) the building though I'm not sure my camera could capture the sheer size and colours of the canvases anyway.

It felt like the churches were groaning under the weight of the art attached to their walls and if Venice would float better without all the art on its walls.

Following this rather history of Venetian art tour I set off to the Rialto Fish Market and my real destination of Arsenale, the old ship building factory at the tail of Venice. It is not listed in my guidebook but I saw an architectural plan in the Correr Museum. Arsenale is guarded by 4 lions at its main entrance and it seems is now a military area and not visitable. I had to make do with sneak peaks through the doors and later from the bell tower.

My lunch was spent in the beautiful gardens on the very tip of the fish's tail basking in the sunlight, watching the cruise ships go by and eating ham and mozzarella paninis. Sometime being a student is so tough :P

Burano

I was contemplating skipping Burano after almost 5 hours on Murano but I am very glad that I didn't. As you arrive by boat you are bombarded with colour, each house is painted a different colour, very similar to Bo-Kaap, in fact the colours are similar too, none of this pastel stuff. Lime greens, burnt red, bright orange, luminous yellow, the range is endless. I couldn't stop wondering down side alleys into courtyards to get the full effect.



Burano itself is tiny, you can cross it in 10 mins (if you don't stop to shop) but it has amazing character, far more so than Murano. The main attraction in Burano is the lace-making (notice how I mentioned the buildings first). Here they produce the most intricately detailed lace table linen, bedding, clothing and these cute umbrellas (which I'm not sure what their use it, sun maybe?).







I ended up exploring a few stores while watching the lace-makers at work and I have decided I do not envy them in the slighest. The stitching is minute (you practically need a microscope to see what you are doing) and it is painstaking slow to produce. If I actually had a dining room table I would have bought a tablecloth, it would be a talking piece for years.