M&M chocolate “Smarties” used to be a favourite of mine and those who like me have enjoyed these colourful candy-coated chocolate treats will be familiar with their marketing slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”.

Well, Swiss food engineers have developed a chocolate that’s supposed to be heat resistant to 55 degrees, so it won’t melt in your hand and, what’s more,  it will be 90 per cent fewer in calories!

Swiss chocolatier Barry Callebaut has named this chocolate “Volcano” because it is “like volcanic rock” – it can be eaten in hot weather, it’s airy and full of bubbles….like volcanic rock.  As well as being highly melt-resistant and will not leave a sticky mess if left somewhere warm, it also claims to be low in calories.

This is fantastic news for a whole range of people:

• most of us concerned with calories
• people on diet plans and those who are only allowed diet chocolates
• chocolate lovers in the hotter climates
• travellers who want to buy the genuine Swiss chocolates during their Swiss holidays but are concerned with the chocolate going gooey before they arrive home

Unfortunately, we have to wait for up to two years for this Swiss chocolate to be available in the shops.

Barry Callebaut is a major manufacturer of chocolate products and supplies clients like Nestle and Cadburys. This Swiss are great engineers and I have no doubt the chocolate will taste good.

Bring them on!

Travel Signposts Blog

When the weather is cold and you feel that you need energy food to ward off the cold, a fondue might just do the trick. This most typical of Swiss food is quite easy to prepare and good for dinner parties as you won’t have to slave in the kitchen the whole day, as can be seen from the following recipe:

Ingredients and utensils:
-   allow 150-200 gm. of cheese per person, made up of half gruyere and half emmenthal
-   a clove of garlic
-   a knob of butter
-   a teaspoon of potato flour or corn flour
-  100 ml. of dry white wine per person

Preparation:

-  Dice crusty bread into 1 inch squares
-  Crush the garlic and leave in the bottom of the casserole
-  Add a knob of butter to cheese mixture
-  Place the casserole over a moderate flame and stir with a wooden spoon.
-  If the cheese forms into a thick mass, continue to stir and it will re-absorb.
-  As soon as the mixture commences to cook, stir in a liqueur glass of good kirsch in which you have dissolved a  teaspoon of potato flour or corn flour.
- Add a little grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
- A knifepoint of bicarbonate of soda at the last moment will make the fondue lighter.

Place the casserole on a spirit lamp which can be regulated, with the flame just high enough to keep the fondue cooking gently during the meal.

Serve with crusty bread that’s been diced into squares.   Spear a piece of bread with the fork and dip into the fondue.

We would think that cheese goes with red wines, but when we were dining at the Fondue House in Lucerne, the restaurant manager assured us that white wine goes better with fondue.  After taking his recommendation, Tony agreed with him.  If you’re in Lucerne and wish to try some raclette or fondue, the Fondue House is a good place to go.

www.fondue-house.ch
Eisengasse 15
6004 Luzern
Tel: +41 41 4123737

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Switzerland, as everyone knows, is noted more for its Swiss accounts and very strict banking secrecy laws rather than its rock culture.  Yet, it’s these Swiss accounts and its Fortress Knox privacy protection laws that have attracted celebrities, top sports personalities and the super and mega rich to its shores.

Freddie Mercury - Montreux, Lac Leman

As our tour coach cruises around Lac Leman and our guide tries to point out the residences of the rich and famous, any attempt at celebrity-spotting is totally futile.  Apart from the strict banking secrecy laws, Lake Geneva’s trees also conspire to grow so tall and compact that you’ll not even manage to see a gate or driveway.  I think these highly rich individuals must have secret passages out of their estates so that they’re sheltered from the inquisitive gaze of ordinary folks.

One very famous past resident of Montreux was Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen.  Montreux was Freddie’s second home and it was here that he sadly died of Aids in 1991.  A commerative statue of him can be seen on the lakeside of Montreux, an upmarket resort town on Lac Leman.  Well done Tony for having captured this shot as our coach whizzed past the statue.

Another rock trivia involved a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mother of Invention in December 1971.  A rocket-flare that was fired into the ceiling went horribly wrong and the building was quickly engulfed in flames.  Ian Gillan from the band Deep Purple was in his hotel room across the way and saw clouds of smoke billowing above the waters of the lake.  This apparently inspired him to write ‘Smoke on the Water’.

Well Queen and Deep Purple were favourite bands of mine and how interesting it was to come across trivia about them on our travels.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

When I read that there are more than 400 varieties of Swiss cheese, that astounded me.  Most non-Swiss people would know of a handful only, the most popular ones being Emmenthal and Gruyère.

When we visited the wall city of Gruyère, we of course visited the Gruyère factory which is in the AOC Production area.  The AOC designation, or Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée, is an official stamp of quality that is reserved only for certain regional products. The label is a guarantee of the authenticity of the products and certifies that traditional methods and know-how are used in their production.

Gruyère maturation cellars

Gruyère is a hard cheese with a distinctive texture and flavour.  The cheese is mild or ‘doux’ when its young and when it gets more matured, it develops into a more intense flavour or ‘salé’. The cows that produce the milk for the AOC Gruyère cheese are fed on natural fodder and special care is taken during the milking process to ensure that a high quality of milk is maintained.  The milk is processed quickly in giant copper kettles. The cheese maker adds fermenting agents and natural rennet to cause the milk to curdle. The curds are then cut into grains and the grains and whey are heated to 55C for 40 minutes under the watchful eye of the cheese maker.  The mixture is then pumped into moulds that retain the grains but allow the whey to drain away.  

As with everything Swiss, the production of Gruyère AOC cheese is very precise.  Each round of cheese is uniquely identified with the aid of a natural casein mark. 

Gruyère Réserve

The round is compresssed using up to 900 kg. pressure and it is turned regularly for a period of at least 20 hours.  Following this, the rounds are removed from the moulds and then soaked in salt baths for 24 hours.  The next stage is the maturation of the cheese.  Before delivering the rounds to the maturing cellars, each round is marked with a branding iron.  They are left in the cellar for four and a half months before being tested for quality.  Meanwhile the rounds are turned regularly.  All Gruyère AOC Swiss cheeses are cave matured with the Classic taking 6 months, Réserve 10 months and the Special Reserve taking more than 14 months.

I must say that I’ve neglected the Gruyère in the past years, prefering the French cheeses.  Having tasted quality Gruyères recently, I’m reminded of the great taste of this cheese and it’s back in vogue with me again.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Lake St. Moritz, or Lej da San Murezzan in Romansh, is a beautiful area for that summer morning or afternoon walk.  The lake measures approximately 1.6 km long and 0.6 km wide and depending on how fast a walker you are, it may take 1 to 1-1/2 hours to circumnavigate.  Photo enthusiasts will want to allow for additional time as the scenery is stunning and there are lots of picturesque scenes to be captured. 

The walk goes in a whole circuit and once you decide to embark on the track, the only way of getting back to your starting point is to complete the circuit or backtrack, i.e. there’s no shortcut back into town.

Lake Walk - St. Moritz

There is a club house by the lake and in summer, you may see sailing regattas and the odd optimistic fisherman bopping on the water, waiting patiently for a catch.  The lake freezes over from December to May and the place comes alive with all kinds of winter sports.  The first ice cricket tournament took place on the frozen lake in 1988.  The St. Moritz White Turf international horse races have been taking place on the lake in February each year since 1907. It’s hard to imagine the thundering hooves of horses on this normally very serene lake.  How solid is this ice that it can withstand the weight of horses pounding on it, and just to give you some confidence, what about the story of the English cricketer David Gower who parked his rental car on the ice in January 1990 only to find that it had broken through the ice and sank overnight.  Imagine having to explain to the car rental company that their car is at the bottom on the lake!

Sailing on St. Moritz Lake

Before we set out on our lake walk in summer, some mischievous friends told us that they had seen a python and marmots along the walk.  For a split second I believed them, and then realized they were pulling my leg when they expanded on their sightings to include bears and eagles.  You will actually see all these creatures, except that they are wooden carvings, some more realistic than others.  We walked the track in an anti-clockwise direction and saw Jim and others enjoying their cup of coffee at the club house in the beautiful morning sun.  It was tempting to join them and sit there to enjoy the scenery, but our conscience got the better of us and told us that we needed to walk.  There was a week-long sailing regatta happening on the lake and the sails of the boats added to picturesque scenery.

The weather can change quite dramatically here and the bright blue skies that we started out with soon got clouded over and it became quite cool. So, even in summer, it’s wise to bring along a jumper.  We prayed desperately that the grey clouds would blow over as we were due to go up to Piz Nair after lunch.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

St. Moritz is one of the world’s glitziest and most expensive ski resorts, deserving its reputation as the St. Tropez of ski resorts. Our tour director describes this place as a ski resort for the “chic-kie mickeys”, her description of the jetset types who have heaps of money to burn.

St. Moritz

In St. Moritz, you can buy everything from Chanel skis to Cartier diamonds in the swanky boutiques. We spotted a gold mobile phone with a CHF 22,000 price tag.  For such a compact town centre, the concentration of designer label boutiques is amazing.  Every shop window that you look at, there’s a label staring back at you, including names like Etienne Aigner – Bucherer – Bally – Cartier – Herve Leger – Ferrè – T.Mugler – Prada – Dolce Gabana – Gucci – Donna Karan – Calvin Klein – Jil Sander  – Jet Set – Versace – DKNY – Ralph Lauren – Giorgio Armani – Louis Vuitton – Escada – Bulgari – etc.  Why I wonder would anyone buy designer goods in St. Moritz when the choices are much better in Rome, Milan or Paris.
 
We were here in summer and the place was quiet and had a deserted feel about it.  The designer boutiques were devoid of customers, so certainly, the summer tourists aren’t the ones who come here for designer label shopping.   

St. Moritz accommodation

St. Moritz boasts some excellent skiing with outstanding views and an average of 322 days of sunshine a year. The town has two main districts: St. Moritz-Bad is the spa area located on the southwestern side of the lake, whilst St. Moritz-Dorf is on the northern side of Lej da San Murezzan. Most of the hotels are located in St. Moritz-Dorf or village, located above the northern shores .  The town centre is very small, and I’m amazed that it has the capacity to facilitate the winter Olympics.  It is modern and lacks the medieval charm of some of the more traditional Alpine ski resorts, however, what it lacks in charm, it more than makes up for in the stunning views over the lake and surrounding mountains.  For atmosphere and nightlife, St. Moritz-Dorf is the place to stay as most of the hotels, restaurants, bars and shops are located here. From here, there is direct access to Corviglia, the largest local ski area, and there are also several bus stations from which you can take the free shuttle service to the other mountains.  Ski enthusiasts will not doubt be familiar with St. Moritz – Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza which are known for their unforgettable skiing experiences. 

St. Moritz town centre

Snowfall has arrived early this year and with current temperatures ranging from Min / Max -20°C to -4°C, ski conditions are bound to get better.

Whilst St. Moritz is a winter paradise offering skiing, ice-skating, toboggoning and snowboarding, accompanied by après-ski fun, there are also lots of other activities happening in summer, e.g. polo competitions, sailing regattas, mountaineering and hiking. So if you’d like a “chic-kie mickey” ski experience, St. Moritz is the place to go.  Make sure you take lots of credit cards with you!

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Fans of “Alien” movies will be pleased to know of the Museum HR Giger in Gruyères. This Museum is home to the permanent collection of the works of H.R. Giger, the award winning Swiss designer of Ridley Scott’s blockbuster “Alien” movies.

After visits to medieval towns and castles and the amazingly beautiful mountain scenery of Switzerland, it’s strange to find a museum such as the HR Giger in Gruyères.  So how did this 400 year old historic walled city of Gruyères get chosen to be home to science fiction, extra-terrestrial designs, ideas and beings?

Museum HR Giger

In celebration of Giger’s 50th birthday in 1990, he was invited to stage a major retrospective of his work at the Château de Gruyères. The exhibition “Alien dans ses Meubles” was a huge success, drawing attendance by some 110,000 visitors. After many subsequent visits to the medieval village of Gruyères, Giger fell in love with the region. When he heard that Château St. Germain was available for sale, he acquired it with the intention to establish his own museum.

The Museum opened its doors in 1998. On permanent display at the Museum is the most extensive collection of artworks from Giger’s different creative periods, including most of his film designs such as the artwork of “Alien” and “Alien 3″, “Dune”, “Species”, “Poltergeist 2″ and “The Mystery of San Gottardo”.  Whether you’re keen on Alien movies or not, the exhibits are very impressive.

Next to the Museum is the amazing Giger Bar whose interior is like the insides of an alien and the furniture and decor adopt alien themes as well. If you feel like being lost in Sci-fi world, this is a really surreal bar to have your drink in.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Our tour around Switzerland starts early in the morning from the Mövenpick Hotel Zürich Airport.  It made sense therefore for us to stay at this hotel when we arrive the evening before.  “Oh No, not the Mövenpick!” criesTony.  Having stayed at other Mövenpicks in Europe, they tend to be very lacking in character and one night in one of their rooms is enough to bring your spirits down so low that you’re actually quite glad to be leaving and be on the road again the next morning.

Movenpick executive suite

If you have a look at the external view of the hotel, it looks like a 3-star office block.  Furthermore, as the name suggests, it’s in the vicinity of the airport, so forget about being in any kind of exclusive environments or having anything around it at all.  Although the hotel is conveniently located just 2 km from Zurich International Airport, it’s 10 km from the city centre.

Room tea-making facilities

Our flight arrived in the early evening and we were glad that the hotel had its own shuttle bus to deliver you to the hotel.  A very pleasant and helpful young man at the reception offered us a complimentary drink whilst he attended to the check-in formalities.  We told him that the tour group was spending the first night at this hotel, so could he give us a room that we could stay in for two nights without moving.  That seemed to cause a momentary problem as he said that he was actually going to upgrade us to an Executive suite for the first night which was our own private booking.  Okay, if we could enjoy one night in a plush room, then having to move room the next day is the price that we had to pay.  Luckily though, this exceptionally nice guy fixed it so that we could stay for two nights in an upgraded suite.

Bathroom collateral

When we arrived at our room on level 10, we were pleasantly surprised at the plush decor.  We gawped in disbelief at our good fortune to land in such a nice room.  The room was a nice size and a rich red voile curtain served as a wall between the sitting area and the bed.  First impressions was that this looks more like a harem than an ‘executive’ room.  The next thing that caught our attention was the tea making facilities.  The box of supplies was filled with all kinds of teas and infusions and then, oh my God, we had our own private espresso machine.  If you have a coffee dependency as we have, finding an espresso machine in one’s room is a real high.  We used all the N’espresso supplies that evening and then prayed that we will have refills the next day, which we did.  Getting good coffee in hotels is a challenge, so this was a real treat. To my surprise the N’espresso wasn’t bad.

The third pleasant surprise was the collateral in the bathroom – plenty of Bulgari soap, Bulgari body cream and Bulgari shampoo.  This place was out to impress us and we were impressed.

Zurich airport foodcourt

Zürich is an expensive city and we noticed that many of the guests did not dine at the hotel restaurants, but instead took the free hotel shuttle to Zürich Airport where there is a foodcourt, large supermarket and other shops.  A problem with this shuttle when we were there was that there was a big group of Arab families staying at the hotel.  When they used the shuttle service, they usually took up two buses, leaving other people stranded and having to wait for the next service in another 15 minutes. A little bit of crowd control would have been helpful for those who actually had flights to catch.

We found that even the food from the foodcourt was not cheap.  At CHF 18 for a plate of ordinary looking Chinese stirfry noodles, it’s enough to turn you off Chinese food if you weren’t keen on Chinese food in the first place.

Well, if we have a need to be close to Zurich Airport again, we certainly would stay at the Mövenpick Hotel again … in the Executive suite. 

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog