Alpabzug in Urnäsch

Alpabzug/alpabfahrt in Urnäsch

Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland

Alpabzug is the descending of the cows 

from the alps into the valleys at the end of summer.

It is a parade of cows with their traditional swiss cow bell. Farmers are all dressed up with their tradional swiss outfit walking their cows down to the village.

They have marching bands, poeple yodelling (that reminds me of Heidi cartoon series ). A lot of farm market stalls;where you can try their popular Appenzell cheese, pig race competition and some fun activities for kids.

it's getting more and more popular touristic place that the village guide had to give instructions in high german and english.The place is really wonderful far from the busy bahnhofstrasse of zurich.

It's a perfect short day trip for the whole family to get to know more about swiss culture.

For all the activities and events check their website for all the infos.

http://www.urnaesch.ch

Who doesn't love carnivals? - Basler Kinderfasnacht 2014 / Basel kids carnival

Basel Fasnacht is the most popular carnival celebration in switzerland every march.

It's a 3-day non-stop party in the whole city and every tuesday afternoon on the second day of fasnacht week is the one for kids.(Kinderfasnacht)




Everyone is dressed up with different kinds of costumes but the popular one is "Waggis Larve" a traditional basel mask ,It's somehow scary like the one on the picture below but that's one of the reason why Basel Carnival is so popular.

At first i wanted to bring my kids on the first day but my husband said it's better on the second day since it's for kids,no wild teenagers around and drunk adults lol

There are floats going around the city,giving small treats for the kids like sweets,small toys,stuffed toy etc. 

My kids got 2kg. of candies and some other stuff.

I thought my Kids will get bored easily but no,they had sooo much fun getting the candies,eventhough we have a lot of sweets at home,i let them experience the joy of collecting candies from the scary "Waggis".At the end they're so proud of what they've got.

Check wikipedia for all the infos.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Basel

And for their yearly program check the official website of Basel Fasnacht.

http://www.fasnachts-comite.ch/en/