Sister Week - Day 7

We didn't know it at the time, but all the sister days were leading up to this one, phenomenal, last day.  This is going to be a long one (we took over 700 pictures).

DAY 7 - MONTE TAMARO

We took a bus, a short train and a scenic funicolare up to Monte Tamaro for a day of hiking.  The weather was clear, so I was hoping the views would be spectacular.  I never imagined this...

And the cows!  I had heard there'd be cows, and we were determined to find them.  We followed the sounds of their bells, which led to this... the cows were resting just beyond a roped off area that Bizzy was set on crossing.  She did, but I wouldn't let her get too close.  I assumed we should keep our distance.

    

We found more, though, right on the walking path.  They were next to people, completely unfazed, so this time, we got as close as we felt comfortable.  Note how loud their bells are... we could easily locate the cows.      

We really, really wanted to touch them, but chickened out at the last minute.  

Until we saw this little Swiss girl (complete with Heidi braids) walk right up to a giant cow and pat it roughly on the head.    

We felt like idiots, and wasted no time petting cows.  And goats!  The goats came after lunch, when we realized they had moved into a big, previously vacant field.  They not only tolerated pats on the head, they walked right up to us to get them.

Aside from the hiking, we rode a roller coaster (the English translation was actually a coaster bob), and Bizzy did the zip line.

This was by far the best day.  We leisurely walked over little waterfalls, down mountains trails, around grazing animals, with the sounds of their bells in the background.  The weather was amazing, and the visibility was so high you could see layers upon layers of mountain ranges.  It felt purely Swiss, and gave us the "last summer here" experience we were looking for.  It really could not have been better, and we loved every minute of it.