Lenktastic.

Apologies, friends, but these days I'm fresh out of enthusiasm and cheer, and so you'll have to excuse my making this more of a pictorial and less of a text-descriptive post. (Well, that's probably better for anyone who's not me, anyway. LESS JAWING, WOMAN, AND MORE PHOTOS! Ahem.) But there's stuff to catch up on, so here we go. Fair warning, any and all videos involving cows and/or cowbells are going to be LOUD.

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.

food and fireworks. and then more of both.

My friends, it was a close call last weekend: I nearly killed myself with food. We decided to brave the hipster masses and went to the latest Zürich Street Food Festival, and goodness, was it worthwhile. (Especially arriving at 5:30 on a Friday evening...the crowds were totally not there yet. Also, it was massive--80 vendors!--and outdoors, which meant there was actually a little maneuvering space even with the crowds.) While waiting to meet up with Mike, I downed a whole (small) plate of rather spectacular tilapia ceviche, including fried corn and slices of various sweet potatoes.* Look, I wanted to share, but cripes, was he taking forever to get there! Ahem. Once he finally did join me, we shared a truly memorable Vietnamese crepe (banh xeo) filled with chicken, shredded carrots, sprouts, and fish sauce, liberally dosed by me with Sriracha. (Ohhhh, but those edges were crispy!) Next came tequenos, which are a Venezuelan snack featuring, in this case, sausages and chunks of cheese, wrapped in dough and deep-fried; a chopped beef and a vegetarian soft taco with poblano-corn-cheese filling, from a stand serving up genuinely awesome Mexican food and crazy-hot red salsa (and a terrific tangy green); super cumin-y pakoras with a sweet red sauce; a chorizo taco with blue and white corn tortillas and green avocado salsa; octopus takoyaki with various toppings; a HUGE, hand-held zucchini-ricotta ravioli eaten "wie ein Sandwich"; a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing (supposedly vegan, but I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT'S POSSIBLE, it was so good!); and, finally, sugar-and-cinnamon-topped churros.

Mike with a his-hand-sized, grilled ravioli. Yum.

Then, on Saturday, we hosted a combination birthday-and-post-wedding BBQ for our friends August and Pia, who, being Swedish and rather accomplished hunters, supplied 7 kilos of moose brisket, which we smoked and then (along with roughly 12 other people) devoured entirely, along with a 3-kilo smoked moose meatloaf, two salads, various chips and nuts, and an apple pie and a half. There was enough meatloaf left over for a single sandwich, and that was it. No surprise, though: I think moose is my new favorite red meat. Holy cow (...if you will...), is that stuff delicious.

Finally, on Sunday, as it was sunny outside and we hadn't eaten nearly all of the things we'd wanted at the Street Food Festival on Friday...we went back. Round two involved another banh xeo; more ceviche, but this time with "chicharron de pescado" (i.e, wee fried fish bites); a rather large half-sandwich with pastrami and cheese on a nice grainy bread; Japanese fried chicken; chicken flautas from those people with the outrageous salsas (they were out of tacos by then, to our complete disappointment, but their flautas were clearly homemade and awesome!); and then we went out with a bang: big, overstuffed arepas, one with pulled pork, corn salsa, lettuce, and tangy red sauce; and the other with sheep's cheese, avocado, and the same corn and red salsas. The vegetarian arepa was one of the best things I've stuffed into my face in a long, long time: SO. SPECTACULAR. I think it was my favorite thing from the entire festival, and obviously, that's saying a lot, as we ate a lot. (And intended to eat just a wee bit more, but the churros had run out by the time we left. Probably for the best, but still...those things are just so good.)

Vegetarian arepa. Holy wow. Happiness in a grilled cornmeal bun.

And now, to the real story: our August 1 adventures! To sum up: August 1 is the big Swiss national holiday celebrating the unification of the still-insanely-independent Swiss cantons into the Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin for "Swiss Confederation," essentially) in 1291. I'm going to go on record to say that it's a ridiculous name, but it does explain the CH in CHF (the abbreviation for the currency of Switzerland, the Swiss franc/frank), and the .ch in Swiss domain names, among other things. The cantons have their own governments, tax laws, citizenship requirements, and, among other things, holidays--but August 1 is the one holiday to rule them all. In the past, we've stayed in Zürich and thrown a big barbecue for it, but as Zürich does nothing to celebrate, other than to let crazy drunk people light off giant and dangerous fireworks anywhere they want (fun the first time, but then just stupid when you stop and think about it!), I felt it was time to explore some actual organized celebrations elsewhere. And because Basel usually hosts their city-wide party (the Bundesfeier am Rhein!) on July 31, we were able to make it a two-day-er. Woooo!**

After riding in just a little bit of light rain, we arrived in Basel early-evening, dropped the motorcycle off at our hotel next to Spalentor (an ideal location, seeing as how it's a only 10-minute walk from the festivities, but in a much, much quieter part of town!), and headed towards the river.

Spalentorrrrrrrrr! Fantastical as ever.

I call this "Rathaus with Sausage Truck." (The main festivities were centered around Mittlerer Brücke, on either side of the Rhein, with a big collection of food vendors and music and games on the Rathausplatz.)

View from Mittlerer Brücke of the fireboat races on the river.

Alp horn performance in Kleinbasel.

Naturally, tons of the Gugge bands had booths there selling sausages and beer to raise money for Fasnacht. (It's only 5 months away, people!)

I don't know whether this is normal, seeing as how it was our first August 1 in Basel, but they had no fewer than five music groups performing when we arrived, and I know there were more scattered around the festivities. What I do know is that they were utterly top-notch, and totally unexpected.

I think these guys were my favorite: right on the Rathausplatz, we found the Steppin' Stompers, a Swiss Dixieland band. I could have stayed and listened to them all night. (Featuring guest appearance by Charlie Chaplin towards the end.)

 

Around the corner were these guys, the Feldmusikverein Basel, who had some serious Big Band chops.

These guys were playing on the bridge, next to the little chapel in the middle. (Yep, that's 'Born Free.')

On the other side of the bridge, right after the Alp horn performance, the (also Swiss) Bayou Street Beat & Brass Band came marching through. (Don't know what was up with all the Dixieland, but I loved every second of it.)

Ugh, I know it's excessive, but I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't recount for you what we ate, so...a flammkuchen baguette; a bowl of Thai noodles and veggies; Vietnamese coconut shrimp and spring rolls; and a "piranha wurst" (spicy, of course.) Even when it's not quite as exotic as the goodies one finds at the Street Food fairs, I'm not going to kid you: I love me some festival food.

And finally, there were the fireworks. Pretty much everything I read about Basel's big party said not to stand on the Mittlerer Brücke for the fireworks--it's too crowded, dangerous, don't bring strollers and/or small children, etc., etc. We decided we were growns-up enough to decide for ourselves, though, and parked ourselves right in the middle of it, and it was a great decision. It wasn't the biggest or most impressive firework display ever, but it wasn't small, and it was on both sides of us--they do the same show from barges in the river on either side of the bridge! I somehow managed not to get video of the dual shows, but here's a not-great photo with the barge at the bottom. (So at least there's that.)

Way, way better than avoiding the crazies at Bellevue.

The next day, we had some time to kill before heading to Lauterbrunnen, our second destination, and since we were right across the street from the University of Basel's main botanic garden, I dragged Mike over there to look at some fancy plants. (You might remember this garden from such posts as the one in which our attempt to see the world's largest flower in bloom was unsuccessful.) And now, consider yourselves warned: if you didn't know me in my past life as a Denver housewife, I'M ALL ABOUT THE PLANTS AND THE GREENHOUSES. I have actual hundreds of photos from Denver's amazing botanic gardens, and so there will be far too many photos of Basel's here. (FYI, I can unreservedly recommend both Denver's and Basel's gardens. The latter ain't huge, but it's quality.)

In Basel's, there are birds! Fancy, fancy birds!

This one is, in fact, as turquoise as it appears. (He, or one of his ilk, began dive-bombing us a bit later. I think they were quite ready for us to go.)

Titanwurz is apparently a tree when it's not in bloom. (Who knew??  Botanists, probably.)

We saw a few of these little guys, too, but they were just too fast to photograph. (Tiny green birds with white spectacle eyes?? YES, PLEASE. GAHHHHH, SO CUTE AND HOPPY!!)

Ok, so obviously this is related to hibiscus, but still...it's upside-down, and so very feathery!

Nifty outdoor grotto complete with huge cypress tree.

Outrageously cool succulent that looks like green roses. (GET IN MY HOUSE, PLANT! And you can be the bestest of friends with my new wee green bird...)

Totally gorgeous carnivorous plant display.

The Viktoriahaus, built in 1898 to house these gigantic water lilies. (By our estimation, there are about a gajillion tiny little fish in the ponds in this room.)

After we'd (ok, I...I'm pretty sure Mike was ready to tap out after 10 minutes) had our fill of succulents and cacti and lovely landscaping and pretty (but slightly kamikaze) birds, we bundled up and got back on the bike to ride south to Lauterbrunnen. I'd been wanting to go there for ages, and so when I discovered that they had their own little August 1 party, it seemed like the perfect excuse to go. Sadly, it was fairly chilly and a bit rainy, and so the activities earlier in the day had been canceled, but at least we still had the view:

Main street from our hotel balcony, with bonus waterfall on the right.

View of the canyon wall across the street from our hotel.

We shared a massive and delicious pastrami sandwich, bought me a belt (that's not a euphemism for anything--I'd forgotten mine, and was desperately hitching up the one too-big pair of pants that I own), and then opted to have dinner at our hotel. While I found their list of rösti intriguing, it was quite cool outside, and so we got a bit crazy and went for their fondue-for-two, which included an excellent salad with garlicky dressing as a starter, and a well-portioned pot of Vacherin for the cheese, attended by some lovely brown bread, a couple of potatoes, and chives/garlic/onions as extras to add in. And was followed by a homemade apple strudel with vanilla sauce and whipped cream.*** We dined outside on the front patio, which Mike figured would be the perfect spot to view the little "local clubs" parade that was the only non-firework August 1 activity not canceled that day. As it turned out, he was totally right.

On their way to the parade, this yodel choir stopped to serenade our patio. Awesome. (They rode by during the parade on the back of a flatbed truck, sitting at a picnic table, drinking something that I'm sure was keeping them all quite warm.)

This band also stopped and played at our patio.

Sadly, the parade was about thislong, and since it was dark and cold and they were all moving quite quickly, I didn't get any other useable photos of them. There were a couple of groups of people in traditional dress, as well as a guy dressed as Wilhelm Tell, carrying a crossbow; the marching band; the yodel choir in the truck; and that was about it. Finished just in time to go figure out where the fireworks were!

Across the river and down in the canyon, as it turned out. There was a big bonfire going (foreground), and in the background here, you can kinda see those ridiculously sheer rock walls that were on either side of us.

And that, friends, made for some pretty impressive fireworks. Not the visuals so much as the sound, however. Before the smoke got too thick, you could see the fireworks light up the sides of the canyon, but later on, you could only see the explosions themselves and hear the insane echoes bouncing back and forth off the rock walls. Seriously awesome.

Thankfully, the weather the next morning had cleared, and so we got the real view:

Holy...smokes...

Why yes, that is a waterfall quite literally in town.

This isn't the best photo, but I tell you, the Swiss are the best window-box gardeners on the planet. Geraniums and petunias are healthy and everywhere, as soon as the weather is warm enough!

On our way out of town, we found some breakfast at a wee cafe down the street from our hotel, then decided to drive up the canyon to visit the Trümmelbach falls on a whim. Trümmelbach, for those of you who don't know--and we certainly didn't--is a waterfall inside a mountain. According to their signage, it is the sole drainage for the "mighty glacier defiles" of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks (all of which are over 13,000 feet, and are major and famous Alps); runs at 20,000 liters per second; and carries with it 20,200 tons of "boulder detritus" per year. All of that to say that good grief, does Mother Nature pack a punch. There are 10 distinctive sections of waterfall here, and none fail to impress. (Sadly, none of the videos I tried to take were even remotely in focus, so you'll just have to imagine the absolutely thunderous sound of this waterfall, along with things a video wouldn't capture--the chill and the dampness in the air and the rock as you climb around inside of this mountain like a weird little interior-mountain goat, and the way you can feel the rock shaking under your feet. Incredible and thrilling and terrifying, all at once.)

I know these stairs aren't quite as picturesque as the rest, but the engineering implemented here is truly impressive. Whomever designed and then cut all of the tunnels and stairs and viewing ledges and little windows inside this mountain--and installed the safety railing, lest we forget!--did a remarkable job. (Still...no kids under 4 allowed, and I think that's really pushing it.)

Back out in the sunshine, the view was this:

Sheesh. Fun fact: there are 72 waterfalls in this valley, and there's apparently a relatively easy hike that you can take between Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg that'll let you see a good number of them. (Next time...!)

After that, it was time to head home. Not that the drive was in any way painful: we drove through Interlaken and Brienz, and along the shores of insanely turquoise lakes for most of the way. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this country is crazy beautiful. But here's a new twist: I think I might need move to Brienz someday. Jeez, so quaint and stunning...)

Next up: I get to cash in on my Christmas present--a trip to Verona to see the opera in their Roman amphitheater. (Yeah, that's a real thing. That we did.)

*Eating an entire plate of anything is a big no-no in my own personal "How To Do a Street Food Festival Justice" handbook--Rule 1: share everything, so as to be able to try more things!!--but in this case, it was totally worth it. 

**My apologies: I decided not to carry the big camera, due to crowds in Basel and forecasted rain in Lauterbrunnen, and I think it was the right decision. That having been said, all of these photos/videos are from our phones. So, sorry for the low quality. Ugh.

***Yes, I know fondue's a winter food, thank you. But it was cold enough outside, we were in the mountains, and the longer we live here, the more we like fondue, so it happened. No regrets.