Bern

After spending 5 days in the Swiss Alps we decided to make one more stop before the airport: In the early afternoon we took the 90 minute train ride to



 Bern, the capitol city



Bern is located west central in Switzerland

unlike most of the other big Swiss cities (Zurich, Lausanne,, geneva, luzern) it is not on a lake. However it is located on an incredibly beautiful  river setting .  The river almost circles the city, in a horseshoe shape

It is a really clean river ( the river Aare) with lots of trails and parkland and forested land alongside it.
       

     

near the parliament building are some lovely terraces that are high above the river they were a popular places to hang out in the evening and gave a great views of the river


the river is quite fast flowing and one of the favorite Summer things to do in Bern is to hike upstream, jump in the river and float back downstream.
After an early morning 15 mile run along the river trails, I got the chance to do that, floating dowstream for about 10 - 15  minutes. You could just lie back and let the river carry you along , at about the speed that joggers were running along the trail alongside.  It was SO much fun I ran back upstream and jumped in again.



We did a self guided walking tour of Bern
One of the highlights of Bern was admiring the many beautiful buildings, with the
 most striking thing about the architecture was the beautiful green sandstone most of the buildings were made of  (from a local quarry).

         

      

      

we particularly liked the 26 - squirt fountains (one for each canton) that was in the plaza in front of the parliament building

another thing that was really attractive about Bern was that much of the town was closed to traffic , and there were huge plazas and squares where there were lots and lots of places to eat outside. There must have been  thousands in the evening ,eating and drinking outside at these places

   

as might be expected in switzerland, there were a number of interesting clocks around the city

  

          

  

the shops in Bern were interesting in that many were in under 3 miles of arcades that line the lanes. In Swiss german the slang for the corridor under these arcades in Rohr (pipe). To stroll through the town is to go rohren (go piping) 

there are also shops in cellars under the road , that have old-time hatches over them at night

these cellars were originally for storing potatoes and coal, and later wine,  but these days house small shops

In Bern we stayed the night at the Backpackers Hotel Glocke, the cheapest place in old town, but it had nice rooms, common room and kitchen

Bern would  have been a lovely place to spend a week or so.  (As I sit here in a hot 100 degree Modesto day I cant help but think of that lovely cool , refreshing river in Bern.)     unfortunately our plane back to Californina was waiting for us in Zurich, so it was off back to the train station  for the 90 minute trip to the airport. Bern was definitely a lovely place to spend our last day on our trip to Europe.

Switzerland trip July 2010

   

LUCERNE / LUZERN

After being in Italy for 6 weeks we flew to spend a week in Switzerland, July 14 - 21
we arrived at Zurich airport late afternoon and caught the train that was in the bottom level of the airport to Lucerne (Luzern in Swiss German) , about an hour or two  away right in the center of Switzerland

We had booked the cheapest place we could find which was  a two star hotel that was only ten minutes walk from the railway station. It was a pleasant hotel in a nice quiet residential area and cost $102 for the night which is a reasonable  price for Switzerland.

From there we went to check out the local restaurants for dinner but found the prices to be out of our budget, and ended up having more fast food style souvlaki . We sat outside in the cooler air until a light rain forced us to a table inside .


After a great breakfast at the hotel we left our bags at the desk and went exploring

Lucerne is a beautiful city: built along the large Lucerne lake and the outflowing Reuss river, and has mountains close by

We had a great guidebook ( Rick Steves) and followed his self-guided tour of the old town. 

We started at the modern Culture and Conference center next to the Lake and the station. The architect wanted it built in the middle of the Lake, but residents objected, so as a compromise it is built with lots of water around it, and, uniquely, flowing as streams through the lobby





from there we went along the river to the Chapel Bridge which was built in the 1300's. next to the water tower from the 1200's. It is a beautiful wooden bridge that was decorated in lots of flowers with quite a few swans to add to its photogenic qualities. Under the rafters of the bridge are  paintings from the middle ages

from  the  bridge we went the short distance to the 

Jesuit church seen here in the background

The Jesuit Church (1666-1677)  is dedicated to the great missionary Francis Xavier. We saw many beautiful old churches in Italy and Austria and were surprised at the diversity of building styles.Some had very dark interiors, this one, with its stucco marble, was one of the brightest.
a

after leaving the church we traveled along the Reuss river which is a lovely ,clean , fast flowing river that at one point creates rapids as it flows through the old town. The city makes use of this by having an underwater hydroelectric plant





A little way along the river you come to another old, more rustic  bridge, the Mill Bridge with its fine old 17th century paintings. There used to be 10 mills operating here.




after crossing the bridge we came into old town  much of which is traffic free and has a number of small squares  (platz) .
The buildings had a lot of character, and were often quite unique in style

 Many of the buildings throughout the old town were adorned with paintings on their facade. Some are very old, and some are more modern.

Fortunately our guide book was able to explain the meaning of the various murals

as we continued on our walk we were amazed at how much effort goes into adding to Lucernes natural beauty, such as these "flower trees"

from the old town we went 10 minutes walk to see the Lion Monument: a huge sculpture  33 feet by 20 feet tall which is carved right into a cliff face, over a reflecting pool, in  a shady park. The dying Lion pays tribute to the bravery of Swiss mercenaries who were killed or executed defending the French King during  the French Revolution

the pathos of the scupture is very moving  even if you are not a big fan of King Louis. The Lions head rest on a shield with tears streaming down his cheeks. On his side is the broken off end of a spear, which is slowly killing the noble beast. It is certainly the most memorable scupture I have ever seen. 

In the afternoon we took a two hour ferry ride around a small part of Lake Luzern. It is a very pretty lake surrounded by mountains 

after our trip around part of the lake we headed for the train station to embark on  our next adventure in the Swiss ALPS