Bern
Since I had never been to Bern, I figured I owed it to myself to at least take a quick walk through town. It certainly helped that it was a nice day and that Bern is nicely situated on a hill surrounded on three sides by the Aare River.
I've realised that the Swiss German cities I've seen--Basel, Zurich, Luzern, Bern--all have a certain sameness about them. That's not a bad thing--they have the advantage of not having been bombed during the various European wars, so their old towns are really well-preserved and cobblestoned and quaint and scenic. They have their unique elements--images of bears everwhere in Bern, church spires by the dozen in Zurich, the Alps hovering over Luzern, more cultural diversity in Basel--but it's kind of a "seen one, seen 'em all" kind of thing. I'm sure denizens of those cities, which have longstanding rivalries, would be horrified to think they bear any similarity to the others, but hey, that's one man's view. So anyway, Bern was quite nice other than the main pedestrian street being dug up for road construction (the entire road system in Switzerland seems to be under construction every July and August, but unlike the States, they actually seem to finish before winter here).
I've always heard that Bern is known for its bears (hence the name, evidently). Well, sure enough, just across the river from downtown are Bärengraben (bear pits) with real live bears. And these aren't your little garden-variety herbivorous black bears like we have back home. These are big-ass brown bears that look cute and cuddly and docile but would happily tear you to pieces without thinking twice about it. This is especially appropriate since the BIG NEWS in normally bear-free Switzerland this summer has been a bear running loose down south.
While you may think of bears when you think of Bern, I'll bet you also think of...this:
As I was wandering past the Parliament on my way back to the train station, all of a sudden a bunch of elephants came marching through. Because, you know, what could be more Swiss?
I've realised that the Swiss German cities I've seen--Basel, Zurich, Luzern, Bern--all have a certain sameness about them. That's not a bad thing--they have the advantage of not having been bombed during the various European wars, so their old towns are really well-preserved and cobblestoned and quaint and scenic. They have their unique elements--images of bears everwhere in Bern, church spires by the dozen in Zurich, the Alps hovering over Luzern, more cultural diversity in Basel--but it's kind of a "seen one, seen 'em all" kind of thing. I'm sure denizens of those cities, which have longstanding rivalries, would be horrified to think they bear any similarity to the others, but hey, that's one man's view. So anyway, Bern was quite nice other than the main pedestrian street being dug up for road construction (the entire road system in Switzerland seems to be under construction every July and August, but unlike the States, they actually seem to finish before winter here).
I've always heard that Bern is known for its bears (hence the name, evidently). Well, sure enough, just across the river from downtown are Bärengraben (bear pits) with real live bears. And these aren't your little garden-variety herbivorous black bears like we have back home. These are big-ass brown bears that look cute and cuddly and docile but would happily tear you to pieces without thinking twice about it. This is especially appropriate since the BIG NEWS in normally bear-free Switzerland this summer has been a bear running loose down south.
While you may think of bears when you think of Bern, I'll bet you also think of...this:
As I was wandering past the Parliament on my way back to the train station, all of a sudden a bunch of elephants came marching through. Because, you know, what could be more Swiss?
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