Jacques the dog sat on my foot, leaned up against my leg (as many Swiss dogs seem to do), and kept his eyes focussed on the front door. His dad, the retired psychologist owner, was preparing a tasty potato dish with salad and spicy meat balls just for us. Soon, Jacques’ focussed front door opened and in came Frieda. Not as loud as the CD but as passionate.
All memory of Jacques’ imagined love for me vanished as this was his mum that he had been waiting for her. She welcomed us, served us aperitifs and we chatted about walking. The five of us prepared for dinner and an enjoyable discussion began accompanied by Brahms and others.
A final comment on Jacques. He is highly trained – a quiet word from his mum and he drops the ball, shakes hands, sits and along with this he is very respectful to strangers, treating them as he would his owners. Is Jacques unique here? – no, all owners have to receive training before they are allowed to purchase a dog, so I imagine what follows is that all dogs must be trained.
Frieda is a nutritionist at a local hospital and told us about her struggles trying to change dietary habits. Swiss cheese soon found its way into the conversation with its high Omega 3 content which comes from the cows being taken to the mountains as soon as the snow has melted to eat the once hidden grass. Part of the secret may be that the grass is ‘mown’ just before the snow comes. But the grass is cut for another reason – to stop major avalanches. If the grass is long, the snow has nothing to grasp and simply slides off the long grass when it is heavy enough.
Now we understand what our goat herder friend meant when she said she was about to take the goats across the valley and higher up the mountain to make the best cheese. It is interesting to note that the process used to make this great cheese also prevents avalanches! We hugged Frieda goodbye and wished her well on her next walk across the distant mountain range that she pointed to from the long balcony of their home.
In the morning we had our Omega 3 and set out into a ‘t-shirt day’. A gorgeous walk through fields of dwindling grass that have been slowly transformed into a range of lush crops. Through forests we walked, passed moss-covered rocks and finally on to wide open fields on our way to the ancient town of Fribourg/Freiberg (German/French signage everywhere). We caught up with our 2 German friends, had a photo shoot, talked about walks in their Bavarian forest, and left them in the shade of a Swiss forest.
We’re now in Freiberg in a hotel because our normal lodgings are all booked out. We have the opportunity to re-visit our French studies, but don’t have our usual interesting company. What we do have, however, is our first double bed in a long time – Oo-la-la!!
