our visit to Bern

photos of our Bern trip are HERE

Last Saturday we took a day trip to the city of Bern. Many people attribute this honor to Zurich, but Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland. It is more of a small town than a city, and its downtown area (Old Town) is pretty much all there is to see.
We took a train (that we barely missed) at 8:30 am, and it took us 1 hour to get there. We walked around Old Town and went (up a hill) to the Rosengarten. There’s also an astronomical clock very similar to the one in Prague. We visited the bears in the Bear Pit, and went to the Einstein Museum, located in the house where he lived when he published his revolutionary scientific articles. I wonder if maybe some of that “inspiration” might have rubbed off on Gera (I hope so!). There were a lot of things being repaired (like the parliament building and the Cathedral), and a lot of construction going on around town (maybe they’re just getting ready for the Eurocup 2008). The fruit, vegetable, flowers and crafts market was great! They had all kinds of cheeses and weird flowers. We got some great pictures there, and I bought a fig the size of an orange (almost!), it was delicious! We headed back around 5:30, after eating at Burguer King! (I hadn’t had BK since Bloomington!!). We will have to go back to Bern in a month, when we go to our visa appointment.