Magical Shop in Gruyeres

A couple of years ago, when visiting Dweezeljazz and her husband, we traveled to Gruyeres, Switzerland - home of the famous cheese. Now it is also famous to me for a very special shop called Terre qui Chante. I've included the link to the shop, as the site is also lots of fun to check out (it is in French).

A couple run the boutique and are artists, who specialize in making ceramic animals, many of them musical. They have lots of ocarinas in bird and animal shapes.

The shop is just magical - something you'd imagine you'd find in a fairy tale - and the couple there are very kind and gentle. I was quite enchanted. I was given the gift of an ocarina shaped like a titmouse.

Gruyeres is a beautiful village with a medieval castle in rural surroundings. The town is flanked by the pre-Alps Mount Moleson, which you can see peeking out amoung the town's eaves here.

The little village was relatively quiet in April, with lots of scudding clouds and bright sunshine. It is squeaky clean and orderly, as most places are in Switzerland.

Here is one of the many lovely flower pots adorning someone's window ledge. I love the deep cobalt blue of the pots against the cream of the building.




We had a picnic lunch outside the castle walls that were being renovated at the time.

Then we packed up, reluctantly left Gruyeres (with a pound of cheese for my father), and traveled on to Fribourg to see the sights there.

Lac Leman

Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) has many different moods during the year. In spring, it's bursting with life. There are a number of areas where the general public can walk along the beaches or walkways. There are many areas off-limits to people who can afford living right off the Lac (that is: they are very rich!).

Switzerland and France share the Lac, adding to a bit of confusion for a new visitor.

It's beautiful. I've now seen it during the the very early spring, late spring, and the fall.

This wisteria was blooming in the small town of Hermance, Switzerland. It is a lovely quaint place, full of artistry and beautiful old buildings. My friend and I had taken the bus from downtown Geneva to the end of the bus line at Hermance (the Swiss bus line stops at the border near France). We had walked all morning around the city and were famished, so we found an auberge with seating outside near the Lac, had the plat du jour, and it was fantastic!

All along the beaches of the Lac you will find nesting waterfowl in the springtime. There are many swans nesting - and it's a real treat to watch them flying over the Lac. So graceful.

Here is one mother who did not allow us to approach any closer than this.


I will show a few more photos of the Lac in future posts. It is a very large lake and there are many sights to see along its curves and inlets.

Le Saleve

Le Saleve (or Mont Saleve) is the first ridge of the Alps rising southeast of Geneva, Switzerland. It looms near the city of Geneva, even though it is in France. (One of the most confusing things to get used to in traveling around Lac Leman is is how often one switches from France to Switzerland to France and back again.)

In this first photo, you can see a small portion of the old town of Geneva on the lower far left.

Le Saleve is a very popular place for weekend jaunts. There are lots of trails, and in the winter there is skiing.

In this next photo you will see down into the valley with Lac Leman spreading out from the city of Geneva. The fountain at the near extreme end of the lake (before it empties into the Rhone River) is called the Jet d'Eau and is one of the landmarks of the Lac.

One of the fun things to watch are the hang gliders floating gracefully over and around Le Saleve.

We spent quite a long time watching these gliders from the summit. Here's just a tiny snippet I took: