Swiss cheese time

I brought home a lot of cheeses from Switzerland.

These artisan unpasteurized cheeses were quite unbelievable.

Among what I brought back, my favorite kind was Stanser Chua Flada, by a fromager called, Rolf Beeler. It's a Vacherin-style cheese with full-body robust flavor. The initial aroma is quite barnyardy, but once you scoop the inside, the flavor has a rich sweetness with earthy (grassy) nuance. It was so special.

Also from Switzerland, I took home this plastic cup with a almost bizarre-looking character called, Globi. He is like a blue parrot with arms and legs. I learned Globi is like Swiss Mickey Mouse and it's been loved by Swiss kids (and adults) for generations. I was so intrigued by the look of Globi, so I had to buy this cup although it was extremely over-priced (almost US$10!). Now, I drink my morning kefir from this Golbi cup every day.

Trip to Europe (Switzerland-Fall 2011)...Final shopping

(Day 14)

Sunday, November 6

It was already the final day in this Europe trip. I still had some CHF (Swiss franc) cash left, so I picked up more goodies.

Mmm...A boxful of Luxemburgerli (that's how they call macarons)...I got flavors of Champagne, marron (chestnut), hazelnut, Swiss chocolate, capuccino, etc. They were so good. I also picked up a round spice cake. I am not sure if it's a traditional cake there...but it tasted really good, also.

In the evening, I finally arrived at LAX. Jason was waiting at the airport to pick me up...I missed him so much! He knew what I wanted to eat after 2 weeks of eating almost only heavy meaty European food. He drove us straight to Seonbukdong in Koreatown!

I had seafod Sundubu (hot tofu soup). Jason had octopus bibimbop.

My stomach was so happy! I was so happy to be back in LA, the wonderful city with cultural diversity (especially food).

Trip to Europe (Switzerland-Fall 2011)...Final night in Zug

(Day 13)

After the fun day in Luzern...

I returned to Zug Station in the early evening.

On the final night in Zug, I was invited to dinner at Mike's house with his family. But, he got sick (his son had been sick past days and Mike got it from him), and he called me to cancel. So, I stayed in Zug and looked for a good place to have dinner by myself. On Saturday night, there were people out in the town, although it very quiet compared to LA or Tokyo.

Since it was my last night in Switzerland, I wanted to eat local Swiss food. I found a cute place, called Gasthaus Widder (Landsgemeindeplatz 12, CH-6300 Zug) near the lake. It's situated in a little house built in 13th century.

Swiss beer tasted so fresh and good. I also had Swiss Pinot Noir (from Valais Canton). I ordered Pork Schnitzel, served with brussels sprouts, red cabbage stew, glazed chstnuts, and spatzle. There were also sides of extra gravy and cranberry sauce. The dish was quite rich and filling. It was a very rustic dish.

Everything is almost outrageously expensive here in Zug. It's far beyond LA standard. My simple schnitzel dish was more than 46CHF (more than US$50!), and it's pretty much on a standard price level anywhere you go to in this town. (At those casual Italian places, no simple pasta is under 25CHF.) With beer and a small glass of wine, my dinner was more than $70.

Trip to Europe (Switzerland-Fall 2011)...Exploring Luzern

(Day 13)

On the second day in Switzerland, I visited Vlad & Karin in Luzern.

From Zug, I took a direct train to Luzern. It took only 20 minutes with the great scenery from my seat.

They live in Luzern (Karin grew up there) and came to meet me at the airport. Luzern is another historic city from Medieval era. It's surrounded by mountains and lakes. It's so beautiful that the entire town is like from a postcard.

I was lucky to be able to visit their farmers market, which takes place every Saturday. It was so huge with so many vendors and so many people! I went crazy for cheese. Also, Swiss apples are great. I've been eating many apples since I started this trip, and Swiss apples tasted better than French or Italian apples by far.

Karin picked up roasted chestnuts. They were so tasty. They also took me to a popular pastry shop, and I tried their apple strudel. It was amazing. Wow, Swiss people really know how to do pastries. If I lived here, I think I would get even chubbier with all the pastries! After the pastry, I even had their popular (and seasonal) vermicelles (chestnut cream dessert). I was so excited to find it. It's a very popular western dessert (one of my favorites) in Japan, and we call it Mont Blanc. I didn't know that they have the very similar dessert in Switzerland and I wonder this is the origin of Japanese mont blanc?? Another discovery is that macarons are called Luxemburgerli in Switzerland.

It was such a gorgeous day in Luzern, and in fact, it was too warm to even wear a jacket. I heard last week was so cold (low was below freezing). Luckily, the weather was welcoming my visit!

Luzern's popular high-end department store, GLOBUS. I was told that I must check out their basement gourmet floor. There were so many goodies there. I wanted to buy more cheese, but my bags were already too full.

Trip to Europe (Switzerland-Fall 2011)...First night in Zug

(Day 12)
November 4, 2011
I woke up 3.00 am in the morning, then we left Barolo for Torino Airport at 4. We spent almost 2 weeks together in France and Italy, and it was time to say good-by to my travel buddies. Steve, Lynne & Traci were flying back to LA, and Lloyd was going down to Campagna for a few nights. As for me, I took 6.45 am flight via Munich to Zurich, Switzerland.

From Zurich Airport, I walked down to the train station. Then took a train to Zug, which was about 30 minutes from Zurich. The view from the train was so beautiful with nature that I didn't get bored during the ride at all. When I got off the train at Zug Station, my friend, Vlad, was waiting for me at the platform!

We took a short bus ride to the historic old Zug, and he took me to Leeanne's apartment. She lives in a beautiful "very Euro" style apartment in the center of the city, and she kindly let me stay there. But, it was so unfortunate that I couldn't meet her because she happened to be on a business trip to LA!

After dropping of the luggage in the room, Vlad took me to his offices. I met another friend, Mike, there. It's been a few years since I saw him last time. It was great to see him, too! The building their offices are in was built in 15th century. It's so well-maintained, and inside are beautifully remodeled.

Zug is a beautiful historic town and it looks like a town from fairy tale book. Buildings from Medieval eras are everywhere. In the afternoon, I took a walk around this small city. Walked by the lake, took a seat at a bench and snacked on some local cheeses which I picked up. Fantastic! There are many restaurants and shops in the town also.

In the evening, I got together with Vlad, Karin (his girlfriend), and Anna (his colleague) for dinner. They took me to a popular Italian restaurant by the lake...yes, Italian! In fact, Italian is so popular in Zug that there are so many Italian restaurants and even Italian grocery and wine shops there. The restaurant is called San Marco (Fischmark 2/ Am See 6300 Zug). Since they were supposed to serve Ligurian Italian cuisine, it was still a good change from very rich Piemontese Italian cuisine I had every meal for the past 5 days.

And, I was already happy with my Insalata Mista! Finally, I could eat the fresh quality vegetables. Then, I had Pappardelle alla Pescatora (seafood pasta). Anna was having risotto with grilled sausage on top...I wonder if it was a Swiss-style?

It was such a fun night with wonderful friends. I was so happy that I came to Zug!