meshmesh, what a terrible experience. And it happens so fast! I hope you are having a good vacation in spite of this. Thank you for posting. Reminders to be vigilant are always good.

Oh, man, this really depresses me.

I very recently spent two weeks in Spain, taking more precautions than I've ever taken before, because Spain is well known for pick-pocketing. Yet I've never worried about theft in Switzerland in our ~20 trips, including the four weeks we spent there just before I flew to Spain. That's not to say we're not careful, but geez.

I'm truly sorry this happened to you.

Unfortunately Switzerland is no different from other European countries when it comes to pickpockets. They hang out around stations and look for weary travellers at airports. Things have become better in the stations and on the trains than they were about 10 years ago, thanks to the presence of both uniformed and plain clothes police, but are still not perfect. Travellers have to be aware of their belongings at all times - which is specially hard when you have just come off a long flight and have jet lag. I have been pickpocketed myself - at the station in my home town when leaving for a long trip to the USA. Unfortunately I had a large sum of cash on me and my wallet was taken. I learnt my lesson from that. Vigilance is really important. Thank goodness your passports weren't taken otherwise you would have had an unplanned stop in Bern to go to the US Embassy...

I guess we all have different tastes and interests.

Personally I loved Gruyeres castle, and found the journey there beautiful. (The modern art place not to my taste though.)

And I also enjoyed my visit to Geneva. The Museum of the Reformation was very interesting, and about more than the name suggests.

GRUYERES: there is actually a long layover at Montbovon, because the Montreux-Bernese Oberland railways are still running in the Covid modus. Things will change on December 11th. The journey time Gstaad -Gruyeres will then be reduced to 58 minutes. The main attraction of Gruyeres is of course the medieval castle and ist's interior, well explained by the audioguide you can get at the entry. There is furthermore a interesting movie explaining perfectly the History of Berne, Fribourg, Savoie and the relations of these counties with the last count o Gruyeres (and the love stories of the latter). The garden of the castle may be good for a short visit in the summer months, but there is noting to write home about. I agree that the Giger Museum has nothing to do with the History of Gruyeres, neither the Tibet Museum. The real attraction is the interior of the castle and - of course - the Cailler chocolate factory at nearby Broc.
CHAMONIX: the extremely scenic train ride from Montreux to Chamonix lasts just 2 hrs (NOT 3 1/2 hrs!). I agree with you that the panorama from easy hiking trails like those between Planpraz gondola station and Flegere gondola station is phantastic.As your stay in the Swiss Alps was focused on Grindelwald only, you cannot compare with similar trails in Switzerland, like Riederalp/Moosfluh - Fiescheralp (Aletsch Glacier area), Trockener Steg - Schwarzsee (Matterhorn area), Kreuzboden - Furggstalden (Saastal area), etc etc.
GSTAAD: it's just the starting point for the gondola ride to Glacier 3000, a viewpoint to the Alps from Mont Blanc to Grand Combin - Matterhorn - Jungfrau.....
GENEVA: not a gem, but it has interesting museums like the International Red Cross and Red Cresciant Museum, the United Nations Museum, the European Center of Nuclear research, the Olympic Museum (at nearby Lausanne), the Swiss National Museum (at nearby Prangins).........and - of course - the historic paddle steambpoats plying th Lake up to Montreux.

Couple of points - the vieille ville of Geneva is lovely, especially the area around the cathedral and the rue des Granges, plus the Promenade de la Treille (and a quick trip down the hill to the Reformation Monument from there is well worth it!) The Maison Tavel is a must. It is the museum of "old Geneva" and isn't far from the cathedral.

Boats don't run from Geneva all the way to Montreux (and Villeneuve) any more. You used to be able just to get on a boat and stay there all the way. Now you have to go from Geneva to Lausanne-Ouchy and change for a boat on the Haut Lac. since the scenery between Geneva and Lausanne is not magnificent - and it IS on the Haut Lac - it is worthwhile taking a train to Lausanne and metro down to Ouchy and just taking the boat on the Haut Lac which runs along the bottom of the Lavaux vineyards to Vevey, Montreux, Chillon, Villeneuve, le Bouveret and St Gingolph (CH) before returning to Lausanne. You can hop on and off and visit the old town in Vevey, walk along the promenade in Montreux and spend time at Chillon and really make a day of this. There are both "belle époque" and smaller boats on this route... Belle époque boats have better restaurants.

"the scenery between Geneva and Lausanne is not magnificent".
Les goûts sont différents, but the Haut Lac is nicer, I agree.

Let's celebrate different tastes and points of view. I wonder why RS advises against visiting the inside of the castle at Gruyeres, which is what we relied on. I stand corrected on the travel time to Chamonix. It was 3.5 hours from Saanen, where we stayed, not from Montreux. (The little ticket office in Saanen was shut down and it wasn't possible to buy our tickets all the way to Chamonix. We bought tickets to Montreux from the machine and then got off there and bought tickets on to Chamonix.) My comments on Gstaad referred to the village itself. We didn't get into the surrounds for hiking.
Speaking of Geneva, we had planned to get on the lake for a lunch cruise but nothing fit our schedule. I think the fare for the water taxis was included in the "Geneva card" that the hotels give out. Are these good for a scenic ride?
We didn't visit Lausanne, Vevey or Montreux on this trip. But during a previous trip to Switzerland we discovered that Vevey has the only coin operated laundromat between Interlaken and France. We loved Montreux.

I find the château in Gruyères fascinating AND the views from the château are lovely. Not the high alps but nice countryside.
The "water taxis" you refer to in Geneva are not really water taxis, they are little buses on the water and are called "les mouettes". And yes, are covered by the transport card you receive from your Geneva hotel because they are part of the local transport system. However they are not scenic. They simply cross the harbour. They are fun though! (That transport card doesn't cover the lake boats...)
You will be happy to know that the company that operates that coin op laundry in Vevey has opened other branches in other towns in the Suisse Romande. There is one a couple of blocks from my house. VERY useful for tourists but also very useful for residents who have large things to wash (like duvets etc). And the laundry is "clean as a whistle" too.