Warm Adventures: Fun Festivals

Ali was a bit frightened

I cannot say enough about the summer here. It is just so much fun, with so many different things to do every weekend. It is exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.

Several weekends ago there were two awesome events going on in our little village. The first was the Gauklerfest which we stumbled upon last year and definitely didn't want to miss again this year. The second was called ALA 13. It was the once every ten years agricultural exhibit. Think of a county fair in the states only so much better.

Unicycle riders

Let's start with the Gauklerfest - three days of amazing street performers from all over the world. There were jugglers, unicycle riders, fire eaters, clowns, singers, comedians and acrobats. It started at noon on Friday and went until late on Sunday evening. At any given time there would be at least four or five different shows happening at various stages set up around our town. It was just great to walk two blocks from our apartment and be able to experience so many really great performances. Alison still talks about the man who ate fire, the girls on unicycles and the broken car. It was so fun.

She kept calling this an igloo

I saw signs around town for the ALA 13 with a picture of a cow but again with it being in German, I couldn't really figure out what was going on. Then a friend invited us to go on Thursday and wow we were so impressed. It was really well put together. There were tons of different crops planted and the kids (and adults) could wonder through a crop maze learning about the different foods. You could even dig up carrots and potatoes for two francs and fill a bag to take home. There were cows and horses on exhibit sort of like a county fair. They would parade them through the arena at different times. They had several large tents set up where you could get up close to different types of goats and sheep, cows and horses, pigs and chicks. The kids loved it. There was a petting area that let the kids get in the pens with the animals. There were all types of farm equipment, tractors, etc (old and new) that the kids could get on. Vendors were selling various breads, cheeses, wines and goods all grown locally. There were food tents and a milk bar, a bounce house and mechanical bull ride. And of course there was plenty of food to sample and eat. There were two huge tents just for the wine grown in the area (Erik got to sample those). It was all a really wonderful experience. So much so that we ended up going back on Saturday so Erik could experience it. A shame it happens only once every ten years though.

So bottom line, August is a good time to visit us.