I got back from Amsterdam on Sunday night, and woke up bright and early the next morning to travel outside of Italy one more time, this time to the capital of the most neutral country on the planet: Bern, Switzerland!
Milano Centrale at Dawn
Bern!
Now, Bern is a small city despite being the capital. It was only chosen because it is at the border between the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland (called the Röstigraben), the perfectly neutral city for this perfectly neutral country. Because it is so small, there really isn’t much to see in the Old City itself beside the Bundeshäuser (Houses of Parliament), the Barengraben (the Bear Pit, more on that later), the Berner Münster (a 15th century church with the tallest tower in Switzerland) and the fountains lining Marktgasse (the main street in Bern) so I made a quick 8 hour day trip to the city to see what I could see.
Being that I’m obsessed with the capitol building in Washington, DC (having given tours there all of last summer and memorizing countless facts about every nook and cranny) my first stop was the Bundeshäuser, for a free tour of the chambers and rooms. I got there around 11 but had to sign up for a tour at 2, because all the others were full. I was also warned that the tour was in German, but was fortunately given a packet with pertinent information written in English. I grabbed my packet and walked out of the building to go wander around the city until two. I first walked up to a gazebo up on a plaza near the Budeshäuser which had amazing views of the area around Bern, the Aare river and the Bundeshäuser itself.
The Bundeshäuser
The Aare River is in there somewhere
To kill some more time before my tour I made my way over to the Bärengraben. Along the way I saw the Zytglogge (Clock Tower) as it struck 1 and the 11 fountains lining the Marktgasse, including the most famous one: the Kindlifresserbrunnen, of a Giant eating some kids.
The Zytglogge
The Kindlifresserbrunnen
I crossed the Aare river and finally made it to the Bärengraben:
Which as you can see is a woody area on the banks of the Aare where the Bernese like to hold some brown bears. The story of why Bern has these bears goes like this: Back in the day the city’s founder, Berthold V, went hunting on the outskirts of town and brought a brown bear back with him. He had a pit built in the city to hold his little pet in and the tradition stuck. The pit is no longer in the city center (instead just on the other side of the Aare River) but the sense of slightly random, charming history is still there.
Climber
Afterwards I wandered back to the Bundeshäuser for my German tour, and saw guns for sale in Europe for the first time
So much for Pacifism, Switzerland
Some amazing chocolate truffles:
Swiss watches:
And the Schmuck Café
(and Einstein's house. but that's less funny/jewish)
After all that I finally got back to the Bundeshäuser and took my tour. No pictures allowed (unfortunately) but it was a beautiful building nonetheless (I still like the US Capitol Building more though). I didn’t understand a thing the guide said but my little info packet helped immensely. Learned a good amount about Swiss and Bernese history!
My next stop was the Berner Münster, Bern’s main cathedral. As I got closer I took note of a smell strange to the city: manure. I kept walking and the first thing I saw when I got there however was a protest against factory farming being held in French:
Hell hath no fury like a frenchman scorned
I made my way past the disgruntled farmers and in to the cathedral. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the interior (but I also wasn’t allowed to take pictures). I started to leave but an official looking guy came up to me and asked if I wanted to climb the tower (as the last of the day). I thought the tower had already closed (the hours listed on the internet were wrong!) and so I definitely wanted to climb! I made my way up the 300-something stairs and made it to the top, out of breath and a little sweaty, and then had my breath taken again by the amazing views from the top.
On the way to the Top
ALPS!
I spent a while up on the top just looking out and then made my way back down to wander the city a little bit more. I saw a really cool gothic church:
And some more Swiss watches:
And then made my way up to the Rosengarten (Rose Garden) on the outside of town for what was said to be an awesome view. And roses, of course. When I finally made it up the hill (it took a while) I found out that the first Monday in April is not a time when roses are blooming in the mountains. Surprising. This is what I found instead:
Depressing
Oh well. At least the view was pretty fantastic:
Same as the second picture in the post. Did you notice that?
I loitered a bit longer up in the garden and then headed back down to the city to buy some chocolate:
I bought this whole shelf
And grab a snack before my train back to Milan. In all it was a pretty successful day in Bern. While it wasn’t my favorite trip (probably because I traveled on my own. None of my friends have Monday off, strange) it was still great to see the city and to visit a foreign capital. Until next time (hopefully soon)!
