Gruyères

Only some houses were on the top of the hill with a little castle on the back. Well, no, technically it’s the place where Gruyère cheese comes from, like, the place it was invented in and the place where its flavor is the best. But I didn’t fall in love with this place just because of that. I was smelling the freshness of the air out of the window in my car while staring at that beautiful fairytale mountain with a castle on top.

We came closer…and closer…until we were in front of a very lonely and silent town. There were no people around. Just me and my eyes who helped me capture that very moment that I’m now sharing with you. I parked the car in a nearby parking lot for tourists because entry for cars into the little and gorgeous town wasn’t permitted. I closed the door behind me without cutting the connection between my eyes and the panoramic view. I walked slowly, step by step, entering the atmosphere where my memories live peacefully. I kept walking putting a little piece of my heart in every stone I stepped in on the ground. At first, I could only see a white house with wooden ledges on every window and colorful flowers outside them, a dark-brown roof, and metal decorations with wooden signs that said with a very classy handwrote “Restaurant”; but then, as I did one more step I started crying.

I found myself in a place full of nobody. I could see a fountain with clear and fresh water, more restaurants, shops, and houses like the one I saw at the beginning and I started running slowly to get to the center, where the fountain was. I placed myself in front of the fountain and looked behind me to see the giant and magnificent mountain called with snow o top sneaking into the entrance of Gruyeres to accompany me. Gray and orange clouds started showing up beside the mountain, and suddenly I felt a water drop on my cheek. I thought I started crying again for that moment I’ll never forget, but it wasn’t a tear; it was rain.

I raised my gaze up to the sky and closed my eyes to hear what the wind had to whisper to my ears and what the rain had to say. I opened my arms and hugged the moment. -I don’t want to go-, I told the wind while crying with happiness and sadness at the same time. Suddenly I felt something tiny and smooth on my nose, I opened my eyes and saw that the rain had ceased and instead, white big snowflakes flew around me telling me not to go anywhere, I didn’t need to.

I turned around and ran the other way to see the rest of the view. I had to walk through small and big brick arches, and then I saw it. The biggest tower of the castle among the white snowy Alps. I couldn’t help but stay still for a bit and imagine I was a princess on the castle waking up every day to say good morning to the Alps and the snow it sends me with its fresh and cold wind.

I saw the clouds raising to get to the sunset first and delight me with a beautiful colored sky and when I thought it couldn’t get more perfect the bells of the church started to ring. I danced with the melody and with the little snowflakes still falling as an audience, the sun lighting my face and coloring my eyes light brown. That sunset stayed eternally there, just like my heart.