April 25, 2008

catchup...

..a major event in the valley..."la combat de reigns"...a contest to see who's milking cow is the most dominant.

the cows...



a farmer with his winning cow...



through the eyes of a farmer...



man-cow love...



funny warning sign...not sure if it was meant to be funny.



group tour on lunch break...(the Swiss are very serious about their lunch breaks)



groovy rock shingles...Harry, are you out there?



Old Roman amphitheatre from a spectator's perspective...




and, from a participant's perspective!

this and that...

Here's a pic of the statue of St. Bernard at the mountain pass named after him.The Patron Saint of Mountaineers and Skiers. At the pass is a small hotel and the monestary where the dogs used to be bred. The road to the pass is closed in the winter but you can easily skin up to it...and continue up numerous possible ridges, etc. The pass also is the border with Italy...which made me feel like a modern day Hannibal...except he had elephants (supposedly) and went the other direction.



The rumour that some ski resorts are covering their glaciers is true...here is proof (if one takes media as proof these days)...noting that you can't cover your glacier unless you have a permit!




chocolate...a miniscule sample of the varieties...




a view of the town we're in...Martigny...I'll point out Henkka's place in person...




biking down the Rhone valley...





it's not all cheese and chocolate here!!




happy swiss cows...



I'll try and figure out a way to get the cow bell sounds on the blog...

April 22, 2008

dairy porn diary

...so I found this stuff called Reblochon...I think it's French for "kick ass cheese"...perhaps not. Read about Reblochon...it's interesting.

Anyway, here it is...



and a close up...noting the soft washed rind

Down with Pasteurization!!!


I also found some 'yogurt butter'...you can eat it by the spoonful, no kidding.



...bread is now just a delivery mechanism for high fat animal products.

April 21, 2008

yummy