My lack of organization defines my personality, I am known to fly by the seat of my pants!! In true form the plan was laid the night before for Petia, Anna and I to be in the car for 10.00am. Surprisingly we were in situ at 10.15am with sat nav strategically placed on my lap ready to go…vavavoom!
It took us about one and a half hours to get to Gruyère. The Swiss countryside is 
so outstanding even when I closed my eyes I could still see green! As you can imagine the castle was perched on hill. It was surrounded by cobbled streets leading to unique village houses, many had been turned into restaurants and suilvenier shops. On the pavements people were heating cheese in cauldrons for fondue.
Flicking water
Anna joyfully ran about these streets, she approached the central fountain and playfully flicked the water. There were no cars so we all felt safe to take lots of photographs in the mid day sun. If I had planned the day weeks ago, I could not have done better than this.
Essentially we parked ourselves at a restaurant and ate our fondue with a crisp glass of white wine. I thought it was fairly reasonable at 49 franks for a meal for 
two. While we were sat at the table a bright yellow Rolls Royce went containing a bride. The car stopped and the bride got out to be photographed. Anna looked on admiring the bride…and on the way to the castle we passed the church yard with all the smartly dressed guests waiting to enter. Anna kept saying ‘can I get married?’
The castle towered above the churchyard as we made our way up to the castle. We paid our 9 franks to enter, for this we were booked in to watch a film about the castle. The crux of this was that the castle started it’s life in medieval times, actually I found the film a bit sketchy, it was 
renovated in 17th century when it was aligned to Fribourg. Approximately 1837 it was auctioned off and the watchmaker Buvier bought it for his ailing artist brother. Henceforth there were lots of works of art adorning the castle walls. Apparently his friends had written graffiti on 
the walls. The most amazing thing about the castle was just how amazingly, lush, green and panoramic the views were. Words just can’t describe how outstanding it was from our vantage point. It was well worth the three-hour round trip we made to reach it. Fortunately we have taken plenty of photos to remember that day. Wine, cheese and chocolate I was in heaven!
The walk the cheese and a bit of chocolate had given me quite a thirst. On our return we stopped off at the bar opposite the HR Giger museum. If go to Gruyère, you must go to the bar, I can’t imagine the museum being better, everything is in the design of the alien set, the cavern roof, the chairs the bar, even the floor. To top it off the smoothies are delicious.
A sneeky play on the piano
As a mother the one thing that dictates how good a day you have, is the behaviour of your child. She was amazing, despite the fact that there was a lot of walking to do, and listening to the film which I could hardly make sense of never mind a three-year old. I made a point of rewarding her good behaviour with a book, when opened turns into a pop up castle. Since returning, she has never stopped playing with, I call that an investment!
In all it was certainly a day to be remembered, if you haven’t been to Gruyère, I urge you to put a day aside to go.
