Urnäsch seemed to be the hot destination on Saturday. The train was so crowded, we sat in the bike room on the way there. We were fine with this, better to not disturb the others with our excited kids.
When we arrived, we waited for the cows and let the kids splash in a local fountain.
Pavel got a little adventurous. Sadly, it ended with him butt first in the water.
Around the same time Betti got a bit hungry. Luckily, I can feed her without using my hands now.
Finally, cows!
The first two were decorated.
They were followed by four men who were singing, smoking cigars, and dressed in traditional dress.
Then came a large amount of cows.
Followed by one very lucky car.
Which was followed by the baby cows, one herder, and one rambunctious dog. The bus was lucky enough to get caught up in all of this.
Bus schedule messed up by cows? Only in Switzerland.
After seeing all of the cows, we walked around a bit admiring the town and the gorgeous views. The grassy hills surrounding the town looked like velvet. Must come back to the Appenzell region.
I'm glad we choose to go to the Urnäsch Alpabfahrt; there was a market and activities for the kids. Things to keep Marion busy is enough to make my day a success!
The kids would have spent their entire day "milking" this cow.
"Mommy, we're not done yet!"
But there was a pig race and Mommy had some money on some pigs (3 and 5 baby!).
As luck would have it, pig number 3 won this race. I won my money back, woo hoo!
Someone tell that other pig which way the slop is.
After the race, we let the kids run around while we enjoyed some beverages.
"Hey, Daddy, what are you holding??"
"No more pictures Mommy!"
"I mean it!"
On our train ride back, we saw many more Alpabfahrts. None of them were as big as the one in Urnäsch but they all included traditional Appenzell dress and police escorts. This one was lucky enough to get stopped by our train; the men just continued to enjoy their cigars.
We had a fabulous day. Great weather, great cows, good beer, and a lucky number 3 pig! Really, can it get any better than that?
8 comments:
Awesome photos! You really captured the day! I love the shots of the pig race... too funny about the one that was all freaked out and could not get to the other side! haha. Great meeting you again - although far too short!
Love the pics (as usual) and the great description. I felt like I was there. I wish I was there. I love cows! What a neat tradition. Though I have to say, Marion's "no more pics" pic definitely looked like an early glare. Uh oh. (-:
Great finally meeting you! I think that group of cows that stopped by the train were the ones we ended up chasing. Who knows. I was a great day!
Jessica- Thanks! Nice to meet you too. I agree, far too short!
Toadmama- Unfortunately she's got the glare down. Especially when she's really mad. I can only imagine what the teenage years will be like...
Chantal- Can't wait to see pictures from this cow chase. Will we? Nice to meet you as well!
This whole thing with cows is really cool!!! Gives you a real flavor of Switzerland!! Love to all.
Hoppy- It was pretty cool. And very authentic, I loved that.
We must have been standing right next to you when you kids were milking the plastic cows. You all look very familiar. I did get my turn milking the cow later even though I was told it was for the kids. You kids made it look like so much fun. I couldn't pass it up. Hope to meet one of these days.
DRosie- What a small world! I should apologize if you were next to us, the kids kind of monopolized the cow for a bit. Sorry! Looking forward to meeting you!
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