Friday, October 11, 2013

Cow Bells in Switzerland

Aaron and I were riding in the airport shuttle tram when we first arrived in Zurich when a loud yodel came over the shuttle sound system. There was more yodeling then some horn blowwing, followed by cows mooing and the clank, clank of cow bells.

Little did I know that those cow bells would be something we would hear throughout our trip. While riding through the countryside and sometime even in a little patch in the outskirts of a city or town, you first hear the cow bells and then you see the happy cows muching on grass.

One of Aaron's Swiss classmates said they are indeed happy cows. They are pampered tenderly cared for in Switzerland. I guess that is why the cheeses and chocolates are so good.

Unlike the farms in the US where one farm might have a hundred or more cows, we noticed the herds here are smaller. A dozen or maybe even four cows to a farm.

And why do they wear the bells? Because of the fog! We asked someone and they said sometimes the fog can become so thick a farmer has to rely on the bells to find his cows in the fields.

Watch the video above that we shot and you can see it is true!

Oh and the sheep wear them too.

We got a really close up picture of this bell... fancy!

Oscar & Hugo Bells

We bought two little souvenir bells to put on Oscar and Hugo.

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