Switerland 6 - To Bern

Today was a travel/recovery day, so this will probably be pretty short.  Woke up early, packed up the house, dragged all the suitcases to the station, Train->cable car->train->train.  Our route backtracked our previous travels, but this time the weather (and views) were much better. One of the trains even had a kids' car, where Sage learned how much she loves slides! So far she only goes up them, but she was having a blast so it's hard to argue with that. 

Arriving in Bern, we checked into our hotel, and headed over to the coop for a meal at their cafeteria (pretty decent, and you can sit outside on the rooftop patio).  Then we did a quick round of grocery shopping during nap-time.  So far, Bern has just reminded me I hate cities - the contrast between a quiet mountain town of 400 and capital city of 400,000 was a rude awakening. Once the naps were wrapped up, it was time for our walking tour of old-town Bern!

It's... basically like any other old town in Europe. Old city walls, a clock tower so old they didn't bother with a minute hand, lots of fountains, each with a statue identifying the (historical) region of the town...  A parliament covered in stonework with a few statues of women representing lofty concepts... Lots of restaurants with tables set up in the streets.... A huge cathedral...  Same as every city.

Well, technically the Munster (church) is not a cathedral - if they had a cathedral then they'd have a bishop, and they refused to cede any power to a bishop... So they built a cathedral and called it a church, complete with stained-glass, huge airy spires, massive organs, spiral buttresses, etc. It's not world class like several we've seen, but it was still the best building in the town.

Outside of the church was a great park overlooking the river, complete with suicide nets because it was terraced so high above the lower levels, and then we wound our way to the Bärengraben.  The Germanic prince who founded Bern in 1191 couldn't decide on a name for his fledgling town, so he went on a hunt deciding to name the town for the first animal he bagged. That animal was a bear (which they now plaster all over everything: The flag, the seal, the church, fountains -  bears everywhere), and since time immemorial they have kept live bears next to the river. Obviously, PETA (or SwETA, or whoever) was having none of that, and they had to stop keeping bears in pit. So instead they transformed the entire hillside next to the bear pit into a BärenPark! Walking across the bridge, we weren't sure if they still even had bears, but some scat in the park persuaded us it was worth looking. And as we discussed, a bear walked out from beneath the bridge right below us! And then another one joined it! We were delighted, took far too many pictures trying to get a good shot, and then headed to dinner right next to the bear pit. As we walked to the entrance the third (of three) bears came out! Great success.

Dinner was also great, an old train terminal where I ordered sausage*, mustard**, and Hefeweizen***.
    * I wish I could have ordered the deer sausage, but they were out. Beef was good.
    ** The only mustard in 38 years I've ever appreciated.
    *** Beer is cheaper than water and delicious... it'd be irresponsible not to.

After dinner, my parents volunteered to play horsey for Sage.... and took the bus back. Our middle generation walked to our hotel, retracing hours of walking tour in 20 minutes...  At 10k steps I'm not sure if I can count today as a rest day, but it will have to be enough - tomorrow we're headed back to the mountains.