It's Saturday -- Yeah no Deutsch Kurs..

We stop by the Summerfest in Stannsstad where 40 Hikers and 30 horses, mules and muleteers will be starting the historic 7 day 150km journey to Domodossola.

In the late Middle Ages, the "Sbrinz" hard cheese became a top Inner Switzerland export at the markets of Northern Italy. They traded the cheese for wine, maize, rice, oil and spices. 

Every year they re-enact the hike on the historic trade route. Anyone can participate in the walk on the Sbrinz-Route crossing the alps from central Switzerland to northern Italy.  

It's a typical summer festival - Gelati, food (of course the most very important item), primitive and new crafts, lüpfigen folk music and the impressive animals and the heavy load they bear. 

Despite the numerous onlookers wanting to touch the horses, they are surprisingly gentle. As i touch on its head, i notice the long eyelashes and the peaceful look in its eyes.

An gentle old man that even travelled America collecting Antiques for years has a large variety of ancient items on display: From fully functional manual coffee grinders from Holland, to new unused old steam-cookers, to telephones with rotary dial, WW2 swiss army items down to a more than 200 hundred year old leather bottle.

Lukas suggests that i should perhaps take the cowhide backpack, the metal re-inforced hiking shoes and that ancient water-bottle & snack pack on my next hike..