I had the pleasure of visiting Switzerland last week as part of my team’s biyearly team building event.  When I think about Switzerland, three things come to mind: cheese, chocolate, and cows with bells around their necks.  Determined to find all three, I set off from Copenhagen to Zurich and then drove another three hours to Flims, a small town at the base of the Swiss Alps.  Upon arriving at the hotel, my colleague Ari and I steered clear of disaster when we discovered that the single queen bed was hinged and could split into two.  After a few hours of sleep and a plate of cold meats and cheeses, we were out the door for a day-long hike through the Swiss Alps.

Soon after the start of our ascent, my Swiss bucket-list got a lot shorter when I was greeted by bell-clad cows blocking the trailhead.  I previously posted about a close cow (bull) encounter, but fared much better this time, and proceeded to lead my team up into the mountains.  When my boss told me I could go ahead, I wasted no time and broke into full stride.  I ran alongside a mountain stream that fed the drinking fountains we encountered on the trail, bumped into a rifle-toting local shepherd on the prowl for his herd of rams with his Border Collie, and ultimately made it to snow-level near the summit.  Full from copious amounts of dark chocolate and Swiss cheese, I pushed through a brisk descent before enjoying some fresh pizza with beef carpaccio (I hope the cow wasn’t wearing a cute bell) and truffle oil out of a wood-burning oven.  I even managed to smuggle in enough American Lactaid to make the day a huge success.