Except eggs from the store in the next village.
We took a hike today, only 3 hours this time. Again, great views and wonderful weather. It was a bit cooler today probably high 60's to low 70's. We walked to the other side of the mountain and then took the train back to Murren and then the gondola back home.
It was really nice and the trail flat, which was what we needed after our long hike yesterday. We are all a bit sore from that. We hear that snow is expected for this weekend, so we could not have hit our trip at a better time!
We decided to eat in and have our fondue at home. It was a nice treat with apples from the "honest shop" up the street where you pay what for what you take.
A couple things we didn't want to forget is that on the drive into Switzerland we stopped to take pictures of the magnificent view, and we heard a Swiss horn in the background. It was odd because there was no house, no restaurant, no building in site, just a magnificent alp view. We look into the distance and saw a man with a 12 ft. horn playing on the side of this high alp highway. After we got back onto the road we drove by him as he was packing up his horn. It was almost as if he were a clock for distant farmers.
Yesterday as we were hiking up in the alps we also heard a coo-coo clock chiming. That was weird, again nothing was around.
Another thing I didn't want to forget is that in Lake Como at our cooking class our chef was telling us that the church bells at 6:00 meant get up for work, the noon bell meant lunch, and the 6:00 pm meant work was over. No one had clocks, so the church told the whole village their schedule.
Another thing about Switzerland, we were told the cows have bells because when the fog or poor weather prevents the farmer from seeing the cattle, the bells indicate where they are. During the summer the farmers get up at 4:30 am milk the cows (way up on the alp- the farmers live up there) and make cheese daily from the milk. They are done with cheese making by 8:30 am. It takes the cheese a minimum of one year to age. We learned many interesting things that are easy to forget after the trip, so this blog is great for keeping a record of these details!
Olle, our host, spent a lot of time talking with us today. He laughs and laughs and seems like such a great guy. On our last visit here with he and his wife it seemed like they were more reserved. This time he is very personable. They both share the teaching job here in Gimmelwald. They have three kids, only one 17 year old daughter at home, the others live in other countries. We really enjoyed our time talking with him.
We really loved Switzerland! Again, hard to leave! And did I mention the Swiss chocolate?
And how much I love the cute cows, with their cow bells ringing constantly, because they eat non- stop. They wear huge bells with flowers on their heads when they are walked up to the alp for summer. The bells look so huge we just couldn't imagine they would be comfortable. In broken English we were told, "they are very proud" and the cheese maker moved her neck from side to side to indicate how they shake their heads in pride.
Well, except this part of the cow....yep, that is my footprint!
Off to France!
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Location:Husmättli,,Switzerland
Glad the weather was nice in Switzerland! This is nice, traveling without leaving home... thank you!
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