Today we took a chance and arrived 14 minutes early for breakfast hoping we would be allowed to grab a bite early. Our guided hike today starts at 8:30am at the Komperdellbahn on the other end of town. It was not a problem and we had time to eat, pack our lunch and walk to the cable car with time to spare.I was a bit worried about this hike. The description said it was 4 to 4.5 hours and didn't mention anything about how difficult it was. It starts with a Senerei (Alpine Dairy) tour which I figured would eat up an hour of the time and I just hoped I could keep up. I was encouraged as our fellow tour members arrived at the meeting point as many were families with young teens and some had flimsy shoes. I thought "If they can do this walk, so can I" and I relaxed.
We rode up to the Komperdell station and walked downhill 1/4 mile to the dairy. The dairyman came out and explained what his daily schedule is like and what we would be seeing. Then each of us had to have the bottoms of our shoes hosed off and we had to put on disposable white coats and hats and slip on white shoe covers. The hall we walked through had sponges in the middle of the floor that you had to walk on. I think they put disinfectant on the shoe covers, but I am not sure.
We saw the milking equipment and then we saw several rooms where they make the cheese and where they monitor and care for the cheese while it is aging. It was really interesting. Each of these enormous wheels of cheese has to be rinsed off (by hand or by machine) every day. They make two kinds of cheeses, but I can only remember that one was called Bergkäse which is Mountain Cheese.
After we removed our protective clothing and shoe covers, we were led into a room where we watched video while sampling Bergkäse and bread. Fresh milk by the glass was also available to try, but we didn't have any.
Back outside, I saw most of the people with kids and flimsy shoes say goodbye and wander off. This concerned me. I listened as the guide explained that the remaining tour would be 4 to 4.5 hours (gasp) and we would be "going up over that mountain there..." (double gasp!!) I asked the guide if the hike was difficult. He shrugged and replied "What's difficult?" I quickly consulted with Graham and he agreed he didn't mind continuing without me. I then explained to the guide that I would not be continuing but that Graham would. I also explained that Graham didn't speak German. Luckily, the guide knew English and he kept Graham from feeling left out.
While Graham went off with the guide, I decided to walk down the mountain back to Serfaus. I started with the Murmli trail for kids which was nearby and eventually was on a steep trail/road used by trucks to bring supplies to the berg stations. The walk was peaceful with amazing glimpses of village of Serfaus nestled on the plateau below between the towering pines. It was also very steep. Eventually, I realized that fighting gravity was the hard part and I broke into a gentle jog. I surprised myself as I jogged down the mountain. At the switchbacks, the path was deeply rutted and I slowed to a walk to keep from hurting myself, but in between I continued to run until I was back in the town and exhausted. I returned to the hotel, changed my shirt, powdered my tired feet and went out again. This time I rode Komperdellbahn again and transferred to the Lazidbahn to go to the highest point. I knew there was a restaurant up at this high (2400m) peak, and I hoped there would be someplace to eat my picnic lunch.
Lazid was gorgeous and full of people. Some were enjoying food or drink at the outdoor deck of the restaurant, while others sat on chairs and benches in a playground watching children play. There was a fence with a gate to keep the Alpin ecows from riding the cable car or eating in the restaurant, but these placid cows, were unfazed as I squatted in front of one to take her portrait. She seemed to enjoy posing.
I found a bench and enjoyed the views as I ate and listened to my book on tape on my iTouch, but eventually I saw an ominous black cloud approaching. I decided, it was time to go and rode both cable cars back down to Serfaus. Serfaus was sunny with no clouds and checking my watch I saw that Graham's 4 hours were nearly up. He sent me a text saying he was at the Lazid restaurant having a drink with his "new German friends" so I waited for him on a shady bench by the bahn station.
We made it back to the hotel with plenty of time for our now traditional afternoon coffee and cake.
Dinner that night was excellent as usual. I enjoyed chicken in a pepper ragout with corn cakes. Graham had a potato pancake with fried egg and pureed spinach. Dinner was slow tonight and we didn't finish until 7:30. We had only a few minutes before we had to change and dash around the corner to the center of town in time for the start of Bergsommernacht (Mountain Summer Night). We had to pay 5 Euros each for pass for this event, but it was well worth it. It started with a Musikappel group (like a marching band) playing a few songs in the center of town and then like the pied piper, leading everyone to the Komperdellbahn to travel up to the Komperdell station for the show.
At the top, the band played some more on a stage until the rest of the show started. We were all "confined" to the sun terrace area and they were selling food and drinks everywhere. We saw local children dancing modern dance, a professional singer singing a song from the play Elizabeth while in a Cinderella carriage suspended on wires, unicycle acrobats that were amazing, a colorful laser show set to music and finally a fireworks display. Everything was fantastic and we throughly enjoyed it. There was a bit of crush to get back down on the cablecar as everyone was leaving at once, but it was interesting coming down in the dark. From above we could see a tour group going down the mountain with lanterns and that looked like fun.
We were back in our room by 10:30 and we stayed up reading and writing this log for a bit longer.
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