The Adventures of ...: Fresh Air!!

Wow! That is the only word I can think of to describe the amazing experience I had today. Long story short; once a year the local Swiss Cowboys move their cows from the valley floor to the high alps for them to live for the summer and to graze on the amazing green pasture way up there. That day happened to be today! I met this awesome lady today named Severine, as we both professed our love for horses and the cowboy way, she arranged through her brother for us to meet up with him and help him herd cattle through the alps to their summer home. Few, if any, tourists could say that they were able to do this. I have been on such a high all day because of it. It truely was amazing! There is nothing more I can say to describe this experience.

I haven't tasted air this good in a long while!

These are some of the sweet cowboys behind me.

I got to get me one of thosetraditional Swiss cowboy

herding shirts the two behind me are wearing!

All the cows wear these huge decorated bells

with the name of the owner on them.

It is a tradition and a celebration for the one time

a year they heard them up the mountain.

I will have to post the video of the bells

ringing the whole way up the mountain.

After herding the cattle this morning we went to a cheese factory that has been making the same cheese for hundreds of years. We got to take a tour of the factory and see the working of how they make the cheese to the curing process and everything that has to go with it. The cheese made me sick because it was so good and I ate way to much. I think I am gaining some good weight I will have to loose:). We then went to a wind park and got to go inside the windmills that are used to produce energy and see how they work and then wen to the other side of the wind park to see all the solar panels they have to produce energy for the village there. It was quite a learning experience. The best part of the solar panels is that on the back of this field of solar panels is a sticker that said "Made in the USA" Go America! We then had an authentic cowboy meal of every kind of meat you can think of and most of which was pretty raw. We ate this meal in the hay loft of a barn to make it even better. Then got lots of chocolate from the local factory and came back to the hotel. What a day! I love Europe so much.

The rest of the week was great as well. I don't have time to go into detail, but since my last post I have played around in several cities in Germany (Cologne, Mannheim, Koblenz, and Stuttgart), ran through the old Roman Sewer System and escaped from the museum gaurds through a hidden exit, visited the John Deere factory of Mannheim, went to the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart, have played in the old city of Bern, Switzerland, at a much needed Mexican meal, and had a wonderful day today (as mentioned above)!

This is the John Deere factory that we got to go in.

It was amazing to see every little detail of how they are built.

Just a taste: From start to finish it takes 4 1/2 hours to built a tractor.

This is my instructor on the long bus ride ;).

I am always on of the only ones awake on the long drives so I

entertain myself by taking pictures and talking to the bus driver.

This is a lake in Koblenz. There was a significant bridge built in

this spot during WWII. What a site!

This is one of the many amazing cars

at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

Only Five of these were ever made and are worth millions of dollars.

These are the sweet bears that are in Bern!

They just had two cubs this spring.

I posted this to tell a story.

This is my international experience in Switzerland.

I had a Russian waitress that was speaking German at a Mexican Restaurant with the menu in German. Meanwhile there was a live Mariachi Band singing Spanish in the corner with me and three lovely ladies that only spoke English. Fun huh!