Frolicking with the Bears at Bern

We finally had a nice day!  Therefore, we decided to go to the city of Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

Bern's coat of arms, symbolizing their mascot, the bear!

We took the the train to Zurich HB and, then took a special express IC to Bern with no stops.  Even though Bern is farther away than St. Gallen (114km vs 75 km), the IC to Bern is much faster.  If we continued on the IC it would take us across the country to Lausanne and Geneva (which we intend on visiting in the near future!) 

This is a special "Family car" on the trains with slides and entertainment for the little ones.  The Swiss think of everything!

When we arrived at Bern, we saw that the beautiful weather from Thalwil and Zurich had followed us.  Looks like Spring is finally starting!

At Bern's RailCity on a beautiful Saturday.

Arc covering the bus/tram stop in front of the Bern station.

Our first stop was the Kleine Schanze (translate to "Small Hill"), a beautiful park nearby Bern HB.  This park also featured its own cog-railway, called a Drahtseilbahn, that would take you up and down the steep slopes of Bern.  However, unlike Zurich and Lucerne, there are no towering Alps.  Just a beautiful river.

The Aar (a tributary of the High Rhine) is the longest river that begins and ends entirely in Switzerland.  (This photo was taken from Barenpark.)

ANOTHER POLYBAHN!  This one lives in modern glass and metal at the top of the hill rather than a mini-chalet like the one in Zurich.

Right on the perimeter of the park, we explored a cathedral and were not disappointed.  We viewed some absolutely stunning stain-glass windows.

Cathedral off the Klein Schanze.

Organ music filled the air!

These windows were everywhere!

We then wandered east from Kleine Schanze toward the "Old City" of Bern.  On the way, we passed by Bern's Parliament, several streets of shops on Marktgasse (market street) and a great deal of construction.  A labmate born and raised in Bern told me that a majority of Bern's buildings are made out of sandstone, and as a result, need constant maintenance.  

Farmer's market in front of the Federal Palace of Switzerland (Parliament)

Once we arrived at the Old City of Berne (a UNESCO World Heritage site), we were greeted by its cobblestone streets, 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains, which retain much of their original medieval character.  In fact, we had lunch right on Gerechtigkeitsgasse, one of the main streets.

Historic Old City of Bern.

The medieval town with its cobbled streets.

A perfect day to sit outside on the streets of Bern.

We've been finding that Italian food is very popular in Switzerland.  Due to my love of pizza, I find myself getting it very often.  Here, we have a prosciutto and champignon (mushroom in French).  Many food names are a mix of German, French and Italian.

Vegetable Lasagna with a white sauce, cooked in a similar manner to the Älplermagronen.  Swiss Ms: Holy moly that's a lot of cheese!  

We then visited the prime attraction, Bärenpark Bern!  For the past few hundred year, the bears were housed in various bear pits. Now, the bears dwell in a large natural enclosure.  There is the father bear, Björk (Swedish for birch) who is from Denmark, the mother bear Finn from Finland, and their twin daughters, Ursina and Berna.  Since it was spring, the bears were awake from their long winter's slumber and were frolicking around, as well as looking for food to eat (which the keepers hid!).

Original bear pit that was too small, especially for four bears.

Looking for the food that the keepers hid!

Playing in the water.

Seems a little aggressive to us, but they're bears.

We really could have watched the bears all day, but there was much more of Bern to see.  So we made our way to Bern Minster (German: Berner Münster), a gothic cathedral that is the tallest in Switzerland.  We were not allowed to take any pictures inside, but if you google or search for it on wikipedia, you can see how beautiful it is inside.  There were many stunning stained glass windows, and one of my favorites was the "Dance of Death".  

The towering Berner Münster.  Incidentally, the top is also under construction.

There are also eleven 16th-century fountains all over Bern that depict historic and folkloric characters, as well as the Zytglogge (clock tower) with revolving figures and chimes.

The clock tower supposedly helped Albert Einstein hone his theory of relativity.  While Einstein was travelling on the tram, he thought that if the tram were going at the speed of light, the clock tower time would remain constant, while his clock (on the tram) would continue to tick, proving that time was relative.

The most famous fountain, Kindlifresserbrunnen (Ogre Fountain) that lies in Kornhausplatz.  This fountain depicts an ogre snacking on children!

Since it was such a nice day, we had a great deal of trouble finding outdoor cafe space.  We finally found some space back at an outdoor cafe at Kleine Schanze, whilst sipping our espresso and coffee.

The Swiss Ms. with her cafe.

With my espresso.

Nothing like a trip to Bern to start off Spring!

Thanks for reading!  Our thoughts have been with our friends and family back home this week.

-Sir Cervelat