Désalpes - Bringing Down the Cows

This weekend, we decided to partake in an age-old Swiss tradition: the descent from the alps of the cows for the winter - known as the Désalpes. We hopped in the car and started to make our way to the mountain village of Charmey. About half-way there, we ran into some stopped traffic and sat in the car for about 30 minutes. Finally, we heard the bells start ringing, and shortly afterwards a parade of cows, decorated with their best bells and bouquets of flowers began to stream by. Apparantly, we didn't get to the village in time to miss the first herd coming down the mountain. Mason and Nicole jumped out of the car to get a better look at the colorful, incredibly smelly parade. The cows seemed to like watching Mason as much as he liked watching them (as you can see in the picture). After the first herd passed us, we made our way up the mountains to Charmey, dodging cow-pies all over the road.
The village of Charmey was packed with people, many dressed in their traditional swiss costumes, and most of them consuming beer, wine and sausages pretty freely, while the smell of fresh cow-pies filled the air. Nicole felt like she was back in Wisconsin. An MC gave information over loudspeakers about which herd was coming next, where they were from, and where they were headed.
George watched the cows passing nervously from his perch in the backpack carrier. I think he was a little scared of how big the cows were and how loud their bells were as they marched past us. Towards the end of the last herd we saw, I was standing a bit too close to a passing cow, who decided to whip his tail in my direction, sending a nice spray of you-know-what landing on my jacket and forehead. Nicole was nice enough to grab the baby-wipes to help me clean-up, but not before she continued to casually take some more pictures. I guess after watching the cows move at their glacial pace, Nicole decided to take it nice and slow as well. Lucky me.
For more pictures and some video of the Désalpes, check out the pictures and video links to the right.