In October, we headed to our one and only Alpabzug of the year (thanks to Mike's unfortunate rugby-related injury, which is now just fine, so no one panic). Lenk im Simmental is a good 3-hour train ride away, so we decided to go for two nights. Upon arrival in town, we headed straight to the charming Sporthotel Wildstrubel, where we had a stellar dinner at their cozy-yet-upscale restaurant, Gügi's. The amuse bouche was a wee bite of foie gras with jam, and then Mike had a pumpkin chestnut soup, while I went for the tomato herb (yum). Next, since it was game season, Mike had a venison steak with mushrooms, some insanely boozy stewed grapes, a poached pear with jam, red cabbage, chestnuts, and Brussels sprouts (more-or-less the classic Germanic game plate, but fancied up a bit); and I actually and voluntarily ate beef, with a filet in red wine-shallot sauce and sides of saffron risotto and steamed veggies; and for dessert, I had the tarte tatin with sour cream ice cream, and Mike went with the cheese plate (never a bad choice, that). Really a fine, fine meal in a lovely setting with fantastic service. (They gave us butter refills no less than twice, and our glasses were never empty.)
The next morning, we had a great breakfast at the hotel, then went straight for the festivities, and nearly ran into them on our way out: the parade route passed right in front of the place. Which I suppose shouldn't have been a surprise, as Lenk is rather small.
Well hello, cows. (From our hotel entrance!)
In the small-but-lovely town square, we found a row of cows 'n bells lined up for--wait for it--the cow beauty pageant, in which everyone got to vote. Even us. (Probably the only thing we'll ever get to vote on in Switzerland, given its ever-strictening immigration and citizenship laws. Hey-o!)
It was insanely crowded there, as this contest is taken quite seriously.
Loved the giant bells overhead.
Poster of past winners.
Awww, someone got this cow (or maybe just the bell...?) as a wedding present.
My personal pick, Marina. I thought she had the sweetest face, and I liked her fuzzy ears, but alas, she didn't win.
Best part of any Alp festival: there was cheese everywhere.
Taunting me, really.
Want. All. Of. This.
With great crowding and fanfare came the first full Abzug that we caught that day. First time I've seen headdresses that are less flowery, more fall-foliage-y.
And impressively tall.
Between parades we discovered the petting zoo. THIS WAS THE TINIEST GOAT I'VE EVER SEEN.
Angora bunnies. So fluffy.
If you won the cow-guessing contest (how many cows in all the parades, total?), you won a calf.
Goat on a leash!
Lenk is nicely situated, by the way, in terms of natural beauty.
Gotta love that chalet architecture.
It's just so Swiss.
Second parade, now with extra goats.
Definitely more flowers this time.
I can't even imagine how long it takes to make those headdresses.
Mike and I agreed that if this cow had been in the contest, it would have gotten both our votes. So cute.
It was a little cloudy that day, but every time the clouds moved you could see more mountain.
Ducked into the cheese shop to drool and browse...
...then broke down and stopped for a little raclette made with local cheese.
Decided to check out the festival tent for some white wine and a little break, and found these guys playing on stage. That is an epic mustache.
While we were in the tent, these guys auctioned off a rather large wheel of cheese, which went for CHF 400. (Didn't catch where the proceeds went, or why the price went up so high for a wheel that one person could actually carry [I was hoping it was so large they'd have to roll it through the crowd], but good for the winner, I guess.)
The third parade began with donkeys.
And included a few folks toting various regional agricultural implements. (I think this was a cheese-making cauldron...?)
Oooh, calves! So little and sprightly!
Heh, fuzzy cows.
The music of the Alpabzug. (Some of the cows only got these weeny woony head decorations.)
Towards the end of the festivities came the announcement of the winner of the "Miss Lenk" competition, Anemone. (The handler's parents were standing right in front of us, and his mother broke into tears! Apparently, the cow won a "modeling contract" with a tourism agency for a year. Had no idea.)
Later in the day, the clouds blew off. Not too shabby...
After a day full of cows and cheese and competitions, we retired to Antica Posta for probably the best pizza we've had outside of Italy; after we shared some giant garlicky shrimp, Mike went for the spicy salami, and I opted for a grilled veggie pizza. To give them full credit, the service was sweet and friendly; the pizza crust was crispy and perfect; the veggies were fresh and nicely grilled; the sauce was excellent; we heard plenty of Italian being spoken in the kitchen; and the guy making the pizzas was an absolute artisan in front of their rather impressive wood-fired oven. After dinner, we headed back to the tent for a little traditional music (and some more white wine, of course, because that's what one drinks in these types of situations if one's not drinking the local schnapps. Which can be pretty rough.) Inside, we found these extraordinarily talented (and YOUNG!!) guys playing and yodeling away, at the same time...
Yeah, it's awkward because I had to get RIGHT up in their faces to record. It was loud in there...
...and there were plenty of people dancing, too. At one point, the stage was about as full as it could be, and some of these people were really good.
When the trio went to take a break, this lovely yodel choir came onstage. Sadly, it was far too loud in there to get any good video, and even the photo is crap because I had to zoom way in with my phone. Booo.
WARNING: this one's THE LOUDEST. Next came the bell ringers, without whom there is no Alpine festival. These guys did the fanciest tricks I've seen yet--all sorts of waves and position-changing and solo-type ringing, but as always, I was too slow to get it on camera. Ugh.
Afterwards, we decided to retire, only to miss maybe the best thing since the Miss Lenk announcement: a midnight cow parade, with Christmas lights in the cows' horns. We heard and sorta saw them from our hotel room, but I'm really disappointed that we didn't get to see it properly since we were totally and utterly unprepared. Who does that in a small Swiss mountain town?? So totally out of character.
Mike got a few seconds from our hotel balcony. You can just barely see their little headdress lights bobbing about.
The next morning, we headed back to the tent for the Älplerzmorge (...brunch, to the layperson), where we found about a zillion types of cheese; some lovely freshly-baked bread; sliced meats; and these two old ladies minding a GIGANTIC skillet of fried eggs and rösti. (Their dynamic was hilarious: the rösti lady was rather impatient with the egg-frying lady, who was just not moving at top speed. The end product, though, was delicious.) And this festive trio was providing musical accompaniment:
I'd probably eat breakfast more often if this sort of live music were an option. Very evocative of the countryside, and for some reason, I find it very relaxing.
Then, we grabbed a quick coffee and headed to the train station to make our way home. All in all, a very successful Alpabzug experience, and one that I'd be willing to repeat.
Especially since we saw this along the way. Golden train, everyone. GOLDEN TRAIN! (Spectacular.)
(Man, this post came together quickly. Maybe I'll slack off on the writing a little more often!)
Next up: a quick trip to Budapest to rendezvous with my aunt and uncle. Lovely.
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