Willie Wonka/Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out

We took the day off on Monday and just played around the house.  I can only do that for a day, though, so we found somewhere to go today that was just a few miles from our house.  It’s a chocolate factory that lets you go through it and watch everything being made.  There’s a sort of glass-lined catwalk-type walkway above all of the people and machines that are making the chocolate.  

When we got there, Andrew wasn’t too impressed.  I think after seeing the Willie Wonka movie, a building like this isn’t so inspirational.  No oompa-loompas, no chocolate grass, etc.  You enter through a gift/chocolate shop, which is the same way you leave.  Needless to say, we bought some chocolate.  But not until after we had all been mesmerized by the entire process.  The smell was heavenly.

On our way home, we got stopped by a heard of cows with their clanking bells.  And one was by our parking spot once we got back to our woods that caught Chloe’s attention.  There are those cast-iron tubs in every field we pass.

One of the specialties in the factory we went to is a chocolate “ladybird.”  They also have little chocolate mice that we saw being packaged during our tour.  And after they made it home with us, they joined the ranks of the many non-toy toys that our kids have used while we’ve been here.

We’re all excited to go to Zurich tomorrow to pick up my sister Jennifer who will be spending the week with us.  She had a little glitch on her way out on account of having used frequent flier miles from two different airlines flying in and out of two different cities (Zurich and Munich).  

It turns out Switzerland won’t let you come visit unless you can show that you will be leaving within 3 months.  Her ticket home is out of Munich, but for some reason that wasn’t enough proof that she was leaving Switzerland. Do they not know the Munich is in GER-MA-NY?  She needed a plane ticket or train ticket to show how and when she would be vacating the country or they wouldn’t let her in.  The airlines were nice enough to offer her an $800 refundable ticket from Zurich to Munich that would allow her to get through customs, which she bought since there weren’t any other options other than staying home.  So...welcome to Switzerland.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.