Till the cows come home

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Saint-Cergue, Switzerland to the Desalpe, the festival where the cows come down from their summer pastures in the mountains to their winter quarters in the barns. It was a blast. How Swiss to dress up your cows and parade them through town once a year to mark the changing of the seasons. We took tons of pictures, but I'll try to limit myself.
It's just so fabulous to see these herds of cows tromping through the streets of this little village with gigantic cow bells around their necks and some with elaborate floral headresses. Where else would you find such a spectacle?
My grandpa was a dairy farmer and I couldn't help wondering what he would think of such a display. Then I thought, dang, he could have made a fortune dressing his cows up once a year and making a grand fete out of moving them to another pasture!

Just to see how up close and personal you could get with these cows I took a little video so you too can experience the cows coming home. The clang of those bells as they trooped past was almost deafening sometimes. I loved the herders with their long sticks and traditional Swiss costumes. Can you tell that I am in love with the Desalpe festival? I'm so glad that we went.
Not only were there cows, but there was a band of alpenhorn players, fondue, wine, caramel de creme, soup de courge (pumpkin soup), and much much more. The parade was joined by a group of Bernese Mountains, some of the cutest dogs I've ever seen. Most of them were pulling little wagons of flowers and stuffed animals. Oh my god, I want one! OK, that is totally impractical since they grow to be over 100 pounds and have quite a short life span (about 7 years, I don't think I could handle that) but man oh man are they cute, well-behaved dogs. And look how incredibly adorable they are pulling those wagons...granted they are the size of a small horse...
There were also some awfully cute donkeys carrying random baskets and packs around. I thought at first they were giving rides to little kids, but it seemed that they were just standing around eating grass letting people pet them. Go figure.

Now on to what you have all been waiting for....the FOOD! It was tough trying to decide what to eat. We indulged our sweet-tooth with a little cone of caramel de creme. The picture to the left is the boiling pot of sickly sweet yummy goodness. Man, those people know what they are doing if the smell doesn't get you the free taste test will. I admit it I'm weak and I caved and shelled out the money for a coneful of confections that melt on your tongue and give you a buttery sugar rush. Yep, there I am indulging in my yummy purchase as I clutch my wheel of vacherin cheese - my other yummy purchase, which we melted in the oven and poured over potatoes for dinner later that night. Not as good as fondue or raclette, but a nice local favorite to try out. And now for more food! For lunch we hummed and hawed, ok I did the humming and hawing, DH knew what he wanted. Finally, we settled on a bottle of white wine and the cheese fondue. Because I knew we were having cheese for dinner I was hesitant about more cheese for lunch, but in the end the cool weather and my love of fondue overcame any doubts I had and we paid our way into the fondue tent. And boy, oh boy was it the right choice.
gosh, I look like such a piggy stuffing my face in all these photos, but I didn't get the nickname hippo for nothing!
Last, but not least just before we were about to leave we saw all the alpenhorn players marching about so we followed them and were treated to a lovely performance. The alpenhorns are so cool. I am amazed at how they make so many different notes come out of that huge wooden horn without any holes, valves, buttons or anything. It's awesome! I also fell in love with the little old man who was doing a colorgaurd routine with the Swiss flag to the alpenhorn musis. You just can't beat that!I do have a funny story, I had a moment of panci while DH and I were looking at the stalls of craft items for sale. Another round of cows came by just as we were browsing through the stalls at what seemed to be the narrowest part of the whole path. Here go the cows streaming by, I have my back pressed up against a table full of handmade merchandise thinking, "Oh lord, these cows are close! What happens if they decide to stampede in my direction?" Just then one of the cows decided to get a little randy. It mounted the cow in front of it! I thought mass chaos was going to ensue. Mooing, clanging bells, and me pushing against my husband trying to get out of the path of the horny beast! I didn't care if I was about to knock two children into the path of the oncoming cows I wanted out of there! OK, OK, in all seriousness no one was in danger and no, I wouldn't have really knocked any kids into the oncoming herd...but, it was a bit frightening nonetheless. My Darling Husband kept harassing me about how I pushed him into the kids standing next to him in my eagerness to move away from the cows. THOSE THINGS ARE MASSIVE! You would have pushed your husband too.