Cheese Map of Switzerland

Cheese is such a part of Switzerland that this map is entirely apropos. In the morning we woke up and had tea and cheese with some grapes and dried beef for breakfast. Then lunch was a salad with cheese in it, and dinner was more cheese slices, plus some baked cheese, and a salad and some dried meats. Snacks were slices of cheese with jelly on them, and dessert was ice cream with double cream on it.

Each town is a kind of cheese. We went to Gruyere and had Gruyere cheese. (Which I have now become addicted to.) We visited Neuchatel, but didn't have any Neuchatel Cheese while we were there. (It's sort of like Cream Cheese.)

We didn't have any or even see any "Swiss Cheese" while in Switzerland, which is ironic, considering how much Swiss Cheese we ate, but none of it had any holes in it.

In Provence, the only cheese I saw was a big variety of goat cheese.

Switzerland has started growing wine grapes on every available surface now, just like California. But unlike California, the hills are so steep in Switzerland that's it's impossible to harvest some of them mechanically. We were there right at harvest season, and there were families out on the hills picking grapes the hard way.

Provence had the best Cote Du Rhone wine that I have ever tasted or ever hope to taste again unless I go back to France. (I guess this isn't news to most people.)
In Valance there was an apertif with a name that sounded like RinTinTin. I can't remember what it was really called, or find it on the internet, but it was local to the Valance area, and was quite interesting and delicious.

Of course, in Switzerland, I had the best Hot Chocolate (Chocolat Chaud) I'd ever had, and they served it everywhere.

So, by the time I got back home, I was completely spoiled for cheese, wine, cream, hot chocolate, and dried meat. I couldn't really find the dried meat around here anywhere, and I barely drink alcohol, so I went on a dairy-products rampage.

If I get over it, I'll let you know...

Until then, Bon Apetit!