We have spent two days in Switzerland’s capital city Bern and we loved it! It is a beautiful city with a very compact Old Town with magnificent buildings, statues, fountains and arched covered walkways.

Some history for you…. Bern was founded in 1191 by Berchtold V , Duke of Zahringen , for strategic reasons and enlarged by stages. In 1353 Bern joined the Swiss Confederation. After the fire of 1405, which almost completely destroyed the wooden built town , the houses were re built of sandstone. The Medieval structure of the city originating from that time has remained unchanged up to the present day.

 

In 1834 Bern became a University town, and in 1848 the Federation Capital of Switzerland. It is Europe’s most flowered decorated city and was UNESCO listed in 1983.

Our first day in Bern was rather wet, hence the raincoats were out for the first time since Iceland, however it did not stop us from wandering the streets. Our second day however was much better.

 

Within Bern there are six kilometres of arcades which makes it one of the longest shopping promenades in Europe , and extremely comfortable in wet weather.

 

 

 

 

The Parliament Building was built in 1852 and was quite impressive both from the front and the back.

 

The Zytglogge , or the medieval clock tower with it’s astronomical clock dates back to the early 1500’s. Crowds gather on the hour to watch the “show” which includes ” a rooster , a jester, a knight , a piper , a lion and bears! ” The animals chase each other around, the jester rings his bell and the rooster crows! It is best to be there at 12 noon, the longest show of the day!

 

 

There are over 100 public fountains in Bern originally built as public water supplies, and most were constructed in the 16th century. They are magnificently kept and still used today for drinking water.

 

 

One of our favourites was the the one below. It depicts a giant or ogre swallowing a naked child with other children at his feet! We were told it represents a “spooky figure who scares disobedient children!”

 

 

The Munser , or Cathedral was begun in 1421 and finished with the Bell tower in 1893! Above the main door was a collection of beautiful Gothic sculptures. There was a bit of “reno” work happening so Greg was unhappy that he could not get a good photo!

 

 

Many buildings also have elaborate statues decorating them. Apparently they represent the different guilds and old craftsmen societies in the city. It certainly made walking the streets very interesting.

 

 

We wandered up to the Rose Garden and it was certainly worth the effort. We were rewarded with impressive views of the Old Town.

 

 

 

We had been told that we MUST go and see the Bears of Bern! The bear is the symbol or emblem of Bern as it was the first animal that  the founder of Bern saw.

The guide book tells you to see the bears “in their natural environment” , well, we think not!!!! Make your own opinion!

We were very impressed by the shop windows throughout the city and sometimes had to look carefully to see what they were selling!

 

For example a display of coloured plastic drinking bottles had us stumped for a while until we saw a few glasses frames between them…..yes it was an optometrist! One (as above) had domes in the window with all different “things” in them…it was a chemist! Greg liked the cars but that one was easy, it was selling toy cars! There were lots of shops selling alcohol and the one above caught our eye with all the bears!

 

 

The Barenplatz was lovely , filled with restaurants and beautiful buildings.

 

 

Of course there was time for a coffee stop in the morning as per usual!

 

 

We ventured down to the River Aare , a tributary of the Rhine and wandered along the waters edge for a while. It is a very fast flowing river and apparently poplar for swimming in the summer months but can be quite dangerous…..not for us!

 

We instead decided to “choose” which house we would buy! We decided on the one with the lovely balcony overlooking the river with a terraced garden…..dream on Gregory!

There were plenty of people wandering the streets by day but by night it was very quiet.

 

We enjoyed a lovely dinner of Weiner schnitzel, frites and spinach! Of course it was washed down with a few wines!

Before we headed back to the station to catch our train home , we sat on the river and had a drink or two!

Bern is a fantastic city and we loved it!

 

Each Thursday night in our village there is a “festival”. Each week a different wine producer has his wine for sale. You are able to also buy a beer or 2 , and local food vans come into the village to provide dinner! Loads of tables and chairs are set up and you go and have a good time! Each week there is different music as well, oompa bands, and one week there was a piano accordionist and two young boys accompanying him and last night we had hunting horns! It is a great atmosphere and good fun.

 

We have just over one week left now , and still have a list of things to see and places to go!

So it is that time again, time to head off for a wine tasting in the village!

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda.