alpine descent

I had heard a lot about the "Alpine Descent" or "Alpabfahrt" or "When the Cows Come Home", so I decided to check it out. This event happens in many villages all over Switzerland when the cows descend from their high pastures in the Alps before the snow sets in. The farmers first decorate their cows in ornate floral headdresses, Swiss flags, and of course cow bells. Then they herd the cows through the village where everyone lines the streets to see the cows. I told my friend Alayna about this exciting cow-watching excursion I was going to take and she couldn't resist the temptation to join. Saturday morning, we set off early for Ennetbürgen. We took the train first to Lucerne, where we stopped for breakfast. Although I've been at Lake Lucerne a few times I had not yet been to the town itself. It is known as the prettiest town in Switzerland and it did not disappoint, despite the looming storm clouds.

We then hopped back on a train and then a bus and arrived in Ennetbürgen. We really didn't know what to expect in this tiny little village, but we followed everyone else and lined up on the sidewalks to wait. We weren't exactly sure what was going to happen next, but we were soon serenaded by this cute old man and his alp horn:

As we waited, the rain started up again. We decided to buy some sausages and take cover under an awning while we ate. As we finished our lunch, we saw people hurrying back towards the main street and heard a noise off in the distance. It sounded like a drum, but as it got closer we realized it was the noise of lots of large cow bells as the herd of cattle came our way. The whole thing happened very quickly, but was so cute. The farmers herded the cattle and the cows' decorations were really pretty.

This "parade" happens in herds, so one herd will come through, then everyone resumed their drinking and eating, then another herd came through, and so on. We also ate a swiss ginger cake and fresh squeezed apple cider.

I felt like a true Swiss when the day was done.

ireland

In May, I found out that my training this year was scheduled to be held in Dublin, Ireland. I was so excited since I've never been to Ireland! I decided to go the weekend before training to allow a little more time to explore the country. I met my friend Stephany during my layover in Amsterdam on the way to Dublin Friday night. We had booked a hotel in the city center for Friday and Saturday night that was a little cheaper than the hotel where our training was being held. Thanks to some great recommendations from my cousin Janelle who studied abroad in Ireland during college, we had planned a jam-packed weekend of touring. After checking into the hotel Friday night, we walked to a pub down the street for a pint. We met some American girls that were backpacking through Europe and swapped travel stories. We headed back to the hotel before midnight since we had to be up at 6am for our Saturday tour.

The tour company, Paddywagon Tours, was right down the street from our hotel, so it worked out perfectly. Our tour guide was awesome. He told us lots of funny stories along the way and it made our trip all the way across the country to the west coast go quickly. Our first stop was at Dunguaire Castle. We had a little time to walk around and inside the castle.

There are a lot of tales that go along with this story including that if you stand in the archway and ask a question you will be given the answer to your question before sunset.

The next stop along the tour was Corcomroe Abbey. The roads that we were driving on at this point were so narrow and windy that I don't know how the bus driver was able to maneuver, let alone pass cars and other buses along the way.

Before lunch we stopped at the "baby cliffs". These cliffs were amazing and were a great teaser for the Cliffs of Moher. 

We had lunch in the town of Doolin and I had the best vegetable soup ever!

And then, the highlight of the day--the Cliffs of Moher. They were breathtaking. We spent two hours walking along the cliffs and taking lots of pictures. It was hard to narrow down, but here are a few of my favorites.

Our final stop on the way back to Dublin was at Bunratty Castle.

When we made it back to Dublin, we got off the bus right in the Temple Bar area, which is really cool. We found a pub and met up with Ianne, a girl from Zurich that was also in for the training. After dinner we went to the Temple Bar for more Guiness and more live music.

Sunday morning we had to wake up early again which was even more rough than the day before. We were on a smaller tour this day that went to Giant's Causeway. Our tour guide this day was not as talkative or as much fun, but we determined that he had been out really late the night before and was probably a little hungover. The Sunday tour headed all the way into northern Ireland where we actually entered into UK territory.

Our first stop was the Carrick-a-Rede island which we reached by the rope bridge pictured here. It was a little scary because it was a really windy day. From the island there were more beautiful coastal views.

And of course, Irish sheep everywhere!

And then, the highlight of our day was at Giant's Causeway, where we were able to walk along the coast and along the "bassalt columns". The legend is that this was a road built by the giant Finn McCool to enable him to cross over to Scotland. Here is the "giant's boot":

On the way back to Dublin, we had some time to walk around Belfast and do a little shopping.

The cranes that helped build the Titanic:

Exhausted by the time we got back to Dublin, we grabbed a quick dinner at a pub and then checked in at our hotel for training. The hotel was amazing. After training Monday, a few of us took a cab into town and went to dinner at the Church, an old church renovated into a bar and restaurant. Dinner was yummy!

Tuesday night we took the tour of the Trinity College Library which was so neat to see. Training finished on Wednesday, but I couldn't get a flight out until Thursday morning, so Ianne and I went to the Guiness Factory Tour on Wednesday evening.

The 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guiness signed:

 Great view of Dublin from the top of the Guiness Storehouse:

A very busy weekend and week. Ireland is so beautiful! I am glad I was able to see so much in such a little amount of time, but I would also love to go back some day and rent a car and explore more of the small towns in the countryside.



mt. rigi

One of the great things about being in town for a little while is that I had the time to go hiking, which I just love. Daniela decided to come along for the fun too. We left a little after 7AM and after about an hour and a half on the train and bus, we made it to the bottom of Mt. Rigi, where we then took the gondola up to one point on the mountain. This gondola line seemed to go way to long without any supporting posts (my mom would have never been able to handle it), but it was fine.

The hike took about 4.5 hours with a stop for our packed lunch. The views were amazing. I think we went about 10 miles.

Since we are in Switzerland, there were of course many cows along our path. Sometimes I couldn't believe how high up the cows were on the mountain and on such steep ridges. Since we saw so many, and they were right along our path, I decided I wanted to pet a cow - just one of those random things I think of. Daniela went first and the cow loved her.

When I tried, the cow ran away. I was so sad. We think my bright green shirt might have scared him off.

Luckily there were many more cows to come. At one point a herd of cattle covered our trail.

I took this opportunity to find a friendly one and she let me pet her.

We took a smaller gondola down that only held 4 people.

We ended on the shores of Lake Lucerne. It was such a beautiful day and there were plenty of sailboats out. We were pretty hot so we dipped our feet in the lake.

We stopped for refreshments and sat by the lake before catching the train back (which only took an hour because of where we'd hiked to).

Beautiful views and hiking, I couldn't have been happier!