We love it here!

After a brilliant bottle of Italian red wine (danke sehr Herr Schlichtmann!) and a really good fillet steak courtesy of M. Boucher at the local C0-0p, Switzerland is looking even better than it did a few hours ago.

This is a great place. Don't believe all the stories about it being expensive. Food generally appears to be much cheaper than the land of the Euro. Wine and beer are also very well priced compared to home, considering the quality you get. Petrol is significantly cheaper than Germany (not sure about France). Mind you, I'm talking about the French-speaking part of Switzerland - it's not too touristy here, and it may be different in the more touristy sections, many of which are in the German-speaking cantons.

If anything is expensive, it's possibly services and accommodation. Fortunately we haven't had to use much of either, so are happy campers. If you stay away from the big cities, Switzerland seems a very well priced option in Europe.

Thanks to M. Brunner for showing such openness in inviting us out for a visit to his bunker - and the tasty aperitif. We enjoyed that very much. Thanks also to M. and Mme. Debely for a wonderful afternoon at Chaumont - most enjoyable.

Special thanks however to Daniel and Nicole for agreeing to this exchange - we hope you had a brilliant time in Oz, and that you enjoyed yourselves there as much as we did here.

Our last Swiss excursion - Part 2 - Gruyères

Part 2 of this very hot day was spent at Gruyeres after visiting the Fromagerie d'Alpage in Moleson nearby for lunch.

For Aja - the sheep wear bells too.  This is a black sheep near where we had lunch in Moleson.

How they lived in the old days - it must have been sooooooooo cold in winter!

Cheese making - the old way.  This cheese maker thought nothing of plunging his arms into a vat of 55° milk to lift out cheese.  They breed 'em tough here!

Aja - Nanni being a bit silly :)

Where we had lunch.

Cow for Aja :)

Gruyères is beautiful - if a little touristy.

Classic Swiss scenery.

When we eventually got home at 6.30 it was still 29°!    Don't ever try to tell me that Switzerland is a cold place.

Our last Swiss excursion - Part 1 - Fribourg

Our last day of touring in Switzerland 2009 :-(

Today's the day my 1Gig camera card ran out of room the day we finally got to Gruyeres, and anpther day when it was bloody hot in Switzerland!

More info later.

The view from where we parked the car in Fribourg.

Schweizer-deutsch sign in Freiburg - the rear side of the figures.  I guess that says a lot about which language the person who made the sign spoke!

The other (French) side :)

They do covered bridges really well here.

Heading back to the car for the 12.33 deadline on the parking.  It was 35° in the car when we got there (at 12.33 of course).

Déjeuner en France!

One of the brilliant things about MacJams, (my music site at http:www.macjams.com/artist/jiguma ) is that you meet people (virtually) from all over the world who share a common interest in music. Sometimes, and unfortunately for me, only rarely, do we get the chance to meet other MacJammers in real life.

Today Jan and I had the great pleasure of meeting and having lunch with Marc (Blaky Smith at MJ), and afterwards going on a "bit of a hike" down into the valley of the Doubs River. For us it was particularly cool to "go to France for lunch" - and what fine food and wine it was too. And a brilliant late summer day into the bargain.

We are staying in Switzerland maybe one and a half hours from Marc's place in France, but Marc suggested a restaurant closer to us and flew in on (in?) his ultra light aircraft. The restaurant: http://www.boisdelabiche.com/debut.htm

As I suspected from my MJ contact with Marc, he is a very nice guy, and we all got on really well - hopefully we can do a song together in the future. Marc's music is definitely worth a listen if you haven't already done so: http://www.macjams.com/artist/blaky%20smith

Thanks Marc for a really brilliant day (and for tolerating my French)!

Marc flying in in his ultralight plane.

"Marc? ........ is that you?".

As close as I'm ever likely to get to flying in one of these new-fangled contraptions!

Us at the restaurant "Au Bois de la Biche" - brilliant wine and food!

Marc et moi - I'm standing on a rock ;)

After lunch we went on a little stroll to "les Echelles de la Mort" ("ladders of death" I think is the rough translation) only a couple of hours, but steep enough to be a bit of a challenge on the way back up.

Aja, you would have loved meeting these friendly young cows on our hike :)

Marc et Jan.

Marc et moi again - difficult to do justice to the scenery with a camera.  Suffice to say that it was MUCH grander than it looks!

Anybody who knows me will know that this ISN'T me!  People appear to do this sort of thing for fun!

The ladder ("Echelle") de la Mort - very steep indeed.

The walk back was a little more challenging, but fun.

The sign - especially for Anne and Greg.

Marc preparing to leave.

Taxiing.

Up and flying home.

Cernier - Fête de Terre

Today the weather cooled down and the rain from last night stopped to give Cernier a great day for the Fête de Terre.  Lots of classy stalls from Neuchâtel and further afield selling everything from goats cheese to absinthe-flavoured caramels, from solar electricity installations to beautifully crafted woodwork.  Made Candelo look pretty average I have to say - but the prices were a different matter :)

For Aja - people went for rides in these two wagons pulled by lovely horses.

A fairly incredible garden mock-up in a special area showing off various types of garden designs.

A yak and two indeterminate cow-like animals.

Those horses again.

The garden expo section - some lovely garden furniture at incredible prices - 600SF for an outside chair.

One of the buildings at Evalogia - we had lunch here with Nicole and Daniel - and a very nice drystone wall.

View of the start of the market.