Guten tag!

I am in Bern, Switzerland at last, and staying with Nadja Fuenfsinn and her partner Lucas, in their beautiful "Top of Bern" apartment. I just arrived this morning and already I have been to a Swiss Cheese Factory! (I am hoping there is a chocolate factory in our plans too!) Here is a picture of the land where the cows live that make the milk that they use to make the cheese (that Jack - er, Melanie ate).



At the Cheese Factory they make a delicious Emmentaler type cheese in a modern facility with lots of shiny stainless steel. But I didn't want to take pictures of that. I wanted to take pictures of the old cheese house where, in the 1800's, the cheese maker both lived and worked. Here is the beautiful old cheese house:

Note the beautiful flowers, multi-paned windows and cool roof. That is very common around here. Below is a photo of the "old time" cheese maker that works in the "old time cheese makers house" and is used to having his picture taken (again, and again, and again):




So, what are my first impressions of Switzerland? Different, in so many ways. Many, many little things are different... like the container they put on the restaurant table so you can put your trash in it, and the way the coffee on the airplane and quick takeout place tastes almost as good as my own home made (i.e. good!). Or the way the waitress laughed when Lucas told her I wanted my egg scrambled... apparently one doesn't scramble one's eggs here. Or perhaps it was just that the waitress was German. They had a good laugh when the egg arrived and I said that the egg was cooked "Sunny Side Up".

Until my jet lag wears off I shall be more scrambled than sunny side up...