Colombier!

As sad as it was to leave La Chaux de Fonds this morning, I didn't have to travel very far to get to my next destination. Colombier is in the canton of Neuchatel . I found my hotel pretty quickly, and while it certainly wasn't what I was used to in terms of elegance, it's was cute in it's own way. I stayed at Le hotel de la Couronne which is on Rue de Vieux-Moulin. It reminded me of a cottage. What do you think?

Once I was all settled in I set out to go and and explore Colombier! Of course I had to make my daily round of coffee and pastries, so I found a cute little cafe and got my cappuccino and beignets. It makes me feel better to have beignets because they're lighter than traditional donuts so I don't feel as bad when I eat them. I just keep telling myself that. Anyway, my first stop of the day was Colombier Castle. It was so beautiful! It's definitely a little bit more medieval than some of the other castles I've visited. Apparently, one of the largest Roman era villas was excavated in 1840 from underneath the castle which I thought was kind of weird. No wonder it's so dang big! It had to hide a lot of people. It was also built into a peristyle design which means there is a huge garden smack dab in the middle of the castle with water fountains and all sorts of pretty shrubs. It's looked the same way since the sixteenth century! Since 2004 it has been used as an infantry training center

I decided just to grab a nice salad for lunch and take it to the shores of  Baie d'Auvenernier and have a day of fun in the sun. So I lathered on the sunscreen, slipped into my bikini (I told myself it still fit the same since I had last worn it) and bombed into the lake. It's on Switzerlands Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites along with the rest of the town of Colombier. It felt so relaxing  to not have to constantly be on the go, so I just floated and let the sun warm my body. I got cold after awhile, so I headed back to the beach and slathered on some more sunscreen before getting my tan on. I unfortunately fell asleep and woke up around five o'clock with a painful sunburn on my back. So I dragged myself up and threw back on my clothes and caught a taxi back to my hotel to get ready for dinner. I got a good picture though before I fell asleep! Isn't it beautiful?

I then went to dinner at Restaurant l'Aparte which is on the road à Robinson and I ordered a glass of cabernet, fondue au fromage (my favorite) and Rosti Vegetarian, which is basically vegetarian hash browns. Weird, I know! But it was so delicious. I then wandered around the block for a little bit to find some chocolate (I know, but I couldn't help it!) and I found a cute little cafe that sold chocolate and I was in heaven. I bought a Toblerone truffle tarte to take back to my room. I have no regrets.Would you after this picture?

So my day was pretty much awesome. I can't wait to see what my next adventure brings!

 http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/small/58128120.jpg
Colombier in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
http://www.laparte.ch/index.php
http://uploads.notempire.com/images/uploads/Choc_truffle_tart_FG.jpg