Montbovon

This weekend we ventured out of our comfort zone and rented a car to travel to the canton of Fribourg in the French region, requiring navigating through the cities and mountains of Switzerland.  It was a long weekend for Travis and the kids because of "ascension day" on Thursday.  The Swiss take their religious holidays seriously and schools, stores, restaurants and most workplaces are closed.  We left mid-morning on Friday and drove to Bern and then south to Fribourg where the spoken language and posted signs switches over from German to French.  On one side of the river the exit signs read "Ausgang" and on the other side they were "Sortie".  From Fribourg we drove further south through Gruyeres to a small village called Montbovon.  We stayed up a narrow, winding road at a small farm called La Combaz D'Amont owned by Jean-Marc and Nikki Mantel.  They had bought the farm 30 years before, neither having been farmers, and now have 5 milking cows, 4 calves (one brand new), 2 lambs, and cats, a rabbit and dog (they raise and sell Bernese mountain dogs).  In the winter they both teach ski lessons at the nearby town, Chateaux D'Oex and run a cafe.  Nikki was originally from the UK, but had lived in Switzerland since she was 7, so she was fluent in both English and French.  

When we arrived, Jean-Marc was mowing the hay field with a hand mower and gathering it up in his small truck to bring to the barn.  While he was out in the field, one of the cows came running down the road and into the barn.  She was the newest member of the milking herd and was often pushed around and bullied by the others.  So she had broken through the fence and headed for home.  Instead of barbed wire fences, they use movable electric fences and rotate the grazing cattle depending on the available grasses.  Many of the cows in the valley had bells around their necks so they could be found, even if they were high up in the mountains during the summer.  When they are not quite old enough for milking, they drive them up to graze higher pastures where they get to spend the warmer months.  We actually got to see this on Saturday morning as some neighbors moved 30 or so young cows, bells ringing as they walked, up the narrow road towards the village of Allieres.  Leif's favorite part of staying on the farm was helping out with the milking at 6 am and 6 pm.  He went up to the field to help Jean-Marc or Nikki bring the cows down to the barn, supervised as they milked, and then helped them return to the field when they were finished.  Leif kept the youngest cow going in the right direction as she tended to hang back and not want to get too close to the others.

We took a short hike through the fields, which you can see in the photos of the girls with flowers and everyone standing near the cows.  The constant ringing of the bells is quite musical and soothing.  The kids enjoyed playing in the yard by the farm which included a swing-set, sandbox, and a riding tractor and atv.  

Saturday we hiked up a trail to a mountain called Col de Jamon and saw lots of spring wildflowers, including wild narcissus.  As we hiked up in elevation we got to see the earlier spring flowers that were finished blooming down in the valley.  At the top of the hike there was a cafe- turns out you can drive to the top from the other side.  We sat on the deck and had ice cream and cold drinks (it was a hot weekend).   We could see into France and look out over Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman in french) from the top as well.  We finished our hike in time for the evening milking and then ate dinner with Jean-Marc and Nikki.  They served us a nice Swiss meal which included lots of locally made or grown ingredients.  In the mornings we had fresh bread from a nearby bakery, locally made yogurt and cheese (possibly from their cows), home made jelly, and Birchermuesli- the traditional Swiss cereal of oats soaked in milk and then mixed with yogurt, apples, raisins, and fruit.  

Sunday we packed up and took the scenic way home to Zürich.  We first drove south through the town of Chateau D'Oex and then past Gstaad.  Much of our drive went though some of the great ski areas of Switzerland.  The higher mountains are still covered with lots of snow and the lower ones have huge waterfalls gushing with runoff.  The mountain valleys were beautiful- green and lush with small farms and traditional Swiss chalets.  We passed the lakes at Spiez and Interlakken, stopped to have lunch along the lake at an Italian restaurant.  This was quite funny because the menu was in French and English, the waiters were all speaking Italian amongst themselves, and most of the customers were speaking German.  From Interlakken we drove north up a very windy, curvy mountain pass and then down the other side past Luzern and it's lake.  We passed through our first tunnel which split into two different directions and were amazed that the tour buses can maneuver on the narrow roads.  We decided that they must build tunnels for fun in Switzerland- we saw several in progress and drove through at least 10 to get back home.  After Luzern is Zug and it's lake and then finally the Zürichsee and the city of Zürich.  Go to google maps to see how many lakes we drove by- now the only major lake we haven't seen is Lac de Neuchâtel!