Sunday, October 9, 2011

A change in the air....

After weeks of warmth and sun, the weather took a turn for the worse this weekend. We've had three days of rain and cold.

But, when the clouds lifted this afternoon, we were treated to this view across the lake:


Those mountains were bare a week ago! 

I'm sure no one can guess what I've been thinking about all afternoon, but I'm looking forward to winter!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

La Désalpe

This afternoon we watched the "la désalpe de Semsales." Every spring the Swiss farmers send their cows up into the high alpine meadows to graze for the summer, and when they return back to the farms in late September of October, the towns mid-way up in the hills celebrate "désalpe." It's a celebration accompanied by a march of cows through the center of town and also includes food stands, craft sales, bands, alpine horn players, and local/traditional cheese makers. We decided to attend the désalpe in the small town of Samsales which was (1) not too far away, (2) kind of small and not too touristy, and (3) holding its festival on a day that was convenient for us. If you want a funny story that gives you a feel for the character of the event and small town Swiss farmers, you can click here. Otherwise, read below for an account of our day in Semsales.


We were thrilled to find that the train connection to Semsales couldn't be simpler. 20 minutes to the end of the line from the urban train that stops just down our hill, then a transfer to a narrow gauge village train for another 20 minutes to Samsales. So, 52 minutes including connection and we could enjoy the festival without worrying about parking or driving! Great bonus points for the day!

Shh! Don't tell anyone he has his foot on the seat. We're lucky we didn't get yelled at for this one!
Less than 5 minutes after arriving in town, we ran into a family that we were going to tentatively spend some time with, and they had located another family that had found some space that included a nice view of the street, shade nearby, and close proximity to a food tent (with beer!). Excellent! 10 minutes later another family that we knew showed up, and before long we had eight adults and eight kids running around (well, one was an infant, so he wasn't running around, but you get the idea). All of the kids were in classes with either Elliot or Calvin, so it was great that the kids were able to start playing together immediately.

It's mostly about the cows...
... but we also saw donkeys...
... horses...
... dogs...
... and goats! (My favorite; I have a special place in my heart for goats, thanks to days on my uncle's farm as a boy.)
As mentioned above, animals weren't the only participants in the festivities.

In a few minutes, each of these men will be marching along carrying a cowbell in front of him clanging the bell in unison with the "band."

Maybe you can't tell from the picture, but these bells looked heavy!
Alpen horns. Unfortunately, these guys played just around the corner where we couldn't really see them....
A band (and dancing children).
Can you guess what this guy has on his head?


Cheese!

This might have been a little easier for you to guess if I told you Semsales is very near Gruyères. Anyway, as I understand it, back in the day these guys would hike down out of the hills to Lausanne or Vevey and trade their cheese for various items they needed. And, when you're hiking through mountainous terrain a cart isn't very convenient. How else would one transport a big, heavy wheel of cheese other than on his shoulders over his head? It's a pretty simple solution, actually! I really liked these guys, so I'm going to force you to scroll past a few more pictures of them.

The walking stick really completes the outfit, doesn't it?

Okay, so this guy wasn't carrying any cheese on his head, but he still looked pretty cool!
This was a great place and day for kids, both ours and others!

Five of the kids in our group of friends.

Elliot watches the cows.





We had positioned ourselves right in front of the area where one of the festival organizers was handing out drinks to the participants as they came through, but I never got a great picture. I'm pretty sure the adults got some sort of "adult beverages." I hope that's not what they were giving the kids, though!

Dozens of huge cowbells going at the same time can be pretty loud!
It wasn't all pretty. At one point a few cows climbed on top of the cows in front of them so that they could see ahead better (at least, that was Elliot's theory why). Just as we were watching that, another cow stopped right in front of us and peed on the street (maybe gushed is a better term), which splattered a lot and just far enough to dot a few children's shoes and pant legs. (Baths were in order tonight!) I have pictures of these events, too, but I won't subject you to that. I will show you evidence, though, of what the street looked like toward the end of the afternoon, even though (given it's a Swiss street) the street must have been pristine at the beginning of the day.

Shortly after the "pee incident."

Better watch where you step, mister!
It got a lot worse, believe me!

That was pretty much our day. It was a lot of fun, and also great to spend time there with a few new friends. To wrap up, I leave you with these three pictures:

Every blog about living in Switzerland has to have a picture with the Swiss flag and geraniums in window boxes, right?

Elliot decided to read on the train ride home. I can't begin to tell you how excited (and relieved) this made his parents!

I found this butterfly just outside our apartment as we arrived home. Nothing to do with our day, but a fun picture!