yyymmmgoood -- Trip to the Chocolate Factory

While America is the number one chocolate producer, the Swiss consume more chocolate than anyone else. With the American Women’s Club, Mary Helen toured the Frey chocolate factorylast week. A double treat as we were encouraged to try more chocolate than anyone should consume in a month and were given a rare opportunity for a glimpse into the Swiss working world. The Frey Brothers began making chocolate in the 1870’s and in the early 20th century were bought out by Migros, the Swiss grocery conglomerate. Not surprising that we weren’t permitted to take photos, nor was the emphasis on hygiene. It was interesting to see the facility's tranquility; this is not the busy season but the early days of making chocolate for the 2007 Christmas season! The biggest chocolate season in Switzerland is Easter; Frey makes 30 million bunnies! Preparing for the Christmas season in March is necessary because so many workers take a month of vacation each summer. For quality control much of the work is still done by humans though there are new robotic arms for packing the candy boxes that are so speedy that the workers have had to significantly change their procedures to accommodate the robots.
The Swiss contribution to the making of chocolate includes the first milk chocolate and the “conching”, mixing and refining of the chocolate that gives it the smooth texture.
If all this makes you hungry for chocolate, you can find Frey chocolate at Target. It may not say Frey but if it says made in Switzerland and has only natural ingredients, it is Frey.

Visiting the Swiss Engadin
Because 10,000 visitors were expected for the annual cross-country ski marathon in the St. Moritz area last Sunday, we decided to explore further to the east of the Engadin, the southeast part of Switzerland which is home to those who speak the Romansch language. Were we ever lucky as we discovered an idyllic, unspoiled, sun-filled area with incredible mountain vistas and views. We stayed in Guarda, walked 17k to Scuol, a small ski town and couldn’t wait to return to the much smaller, more unspoiled Guarda, which is situated partway up the mountain on a glacier created terrace. Guarda's architecture includes scraffito, etchings on the outside walls and homes that often have the barns in the basement. The Engadin is a long, mountain valley in the Graubunden Canton that follows the route of the Inn River and is known for its sunny weather. As in all Switzerland, there are wonderful walking/biking paths tough better cross country skiing areas are closer to St. Moritz. We spent the night in the lovely PizBuin Inn and the next day walked one station back towards St. Moritz. We had reservation for dinner in an old-fashioned dining car on the train trip back to Zurich where the spectacular views provided a great backdrop for dinner. We had traveled with just Larry’s postal card and not enough cash for the excursion and Larry couldn’t remember his pin number. Waiting for the train in Samedan we asked if we could get money without knowing the code and were surprised to find we could for a token service fee. They didn’t even ask for a photo id!

Exploring more of Switzerland
The Swiss are different from the rest of us – even their dogs don’t bark as much! I was so surprised to hear a dog bark twice this morning! The Swiss are quieter folks – not rowdy on the 2:00 a.m. train to Basel for Fasnacht’s 4:00 a.m. parade of lanterns Monday February 26. The 2:00 a.m. fairly full train from Zurich and the crowd were fairly quiet as well. There are broken, empty bottles on the streets, but not a great deal of noise at the parade. Basel’s official Fasnacht website includes general etiquette rules. Basel celebrates Fasnacht the week after Ash Wednesday as the liturgical calendar wasn’t adopted because it was set by the Pope. Have I mentioned before that the Jesuits were expelled from Switzerland and not permitted to return until 1973 – around the time women were given the right to vote.

Last Friday we went to Luzern, a lovely city on a lake and river ringed by the Alps a 45 minute train ride from Zurich. The weather was hazy but rain was predicted for Saturday so Larry traded a Friday play day for a Saturday work day. We enjoyed the somewhat hokey, but scientifically interesting Glacier Gardens, an operation started in the 19th c when Amreins, the land/villa owner digging to build a wine cellar, unearthed huge potholes. I was impressed that he recognized the importance of his find. The museum began the following year and now includes the Amrein’s Villa, a Hall of Mirrors, a tower walk and more. We also saw a 19th century panorama about the Swiss care of French refugees during the Franco-Prussian War. It was one of the Red Cross’ early involvements and the panorama expresses the Swiss anti-war sentiment. There are only 27 panoramas left in the world.