Bern

Having lived in Geneva for almost one year we thought it was about time to visit Bern - both because it's only a two-hour train ride from here but also because we fell we can't leave the country again without having visited the capital.

'We' were us and Emilia, who Lisbeth knows from her studies in Rotterdam and who recently moved to Geneva. It's a small world, Europe is even smaller, and Geneva is smallest of all: Emilia is now living in the street behind ours!


It was an incredibly cold and windy day but with a clear sky so when dotting the wander with plenty of breaks for coffee and lunch we managed to spend most of the day outside.

None of us know much about the city before the visit but it is beautifully located on a sharp bend on the river Aare (for once it's not a city by a lake!) and even has a Unesco nominated medieval city centre. Add a couple of interesting museums and some great cafés and you have plenty of reasons to visit.

The parliament of Switzerland is obviously seated in Bern and is located in a beautiful palace-like building which unfortunately was closed for tours this Saturday and which is also completely impossible to photograph on market day.

It is however also the clock tower - Zytglogge - which is the landmark of Bern. We dutifully returned to it just before the hour struck to watch the little figurines do their thing but we weren't all that impressed...

On the other hand we really liked the characters that adorn the tops of fountains scattered around the city (photo below) or sit on projections on the old buildings. Particularly the ogre that eats small children was .. ehm .. interesting.