According to what I've heard, the cows in Switzerland were a bit listless and farmers determined they were depressed. Thus, during the summer, they are all sent to the top of the Jura for vacation and to eat the sweet grass. In the fall, many towns have a big festival and the cows are sent back down the mountain and paraded through town with Christmas trees decorated with flowers on their heads and giant cow bells. We drove to the village of St. Cergue and were lucky to see the cows being herded from field to field.
I have never had a more 'Swiss' day. Each farm brings their cows down decorated and the herders dress in their traditional cow herding gear. Every so often a different farm brings their cows down and they parade through town within meters of the public. No stampedes, so that was good. There was a LOT of poop in the streets after hundreds of cows were paraded through. The locals wore galoshes. We did not.
We also saw and listened to Alp horns, yodelers, and met some Bernese mountain dogs. The dogs are still used to transport milk from the farm to the town. After the cows were safely down the mountain, the cow bell band paraded through town and played their cow bells.
There were lots of stands selling Swiss specialties - cheese, tartiflette, pastries, etc. We tried a lot of food, pet a donkey that was wearing the same hat as our friend Emily, dodged poop, and all in all felt very lucky to call this area home.
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