Our journey of nearly 1500 km through Switzerland started in Sion with an « Welcoming Fondue » at midnight, after three hours in a car. A hard beginning for Mediterranean people that are not used to our cheese gastronomy.
We had a first day in the agronomic research center of Changins, where we discovered the seed gen bank as well as various research about potatoes. Back in Valais, we finished the day at the sunset with an epic time sliding on garbage bags.
The second day, we appreciated the sun and the valaisan landscape along the vineyards of Sion, and finally we tasted some bottles of Grand Cru by Marie-Bernard Gillioz. In the afternoon, we went to a goat farm where we tasted some goat cheese.
Wednesday was busier. After get up at crack of dawn, we had an orgy of chocolate at Maison Cailler. Later in the afternoon, we could visit the exhibition « We are eating the world » in Lucerne. Afterward we had a citytour-express, and finally we finished with a marketing Workshop given by our IAAS specialist.
On Thursday, we visited the Syngenta research center at the very beautiful site of Stein. The presentation as well as the impressing facilities aroused a lot of enthusiasm. In the Canton of Lucerne, and in totally different perspective, we discovered in the afternoon a lot of rare breeds and varieties in a farm-arch sustained by the Foundation Pro Specia Rara.
Friday, the participants had to practice their marketing abilities in creating yoghurt, from the marketing concept to the final product, without forgetting the jar design. After this we enjoyed a great scavenger hunt through the city of Zürich which shoved some parts of the city that otherwise we would not have explored.
Some got impressed by the ability of our drivers on small mountain road or by the swiss organisation, others blamed us for the ubiquity of cheese, for the loud wake-up at 6h30 after having slept three hours and for a busy program. Nevertheless, everybody went back home with a lot of happy memories about their new friendships and were glad to have discovered the great diversity of this small country.
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