Day 1, Switzerland, 2021

I was beginning to fade due to jet lag and not enough sleep so I grabbed an espresso outside the Bern train station before taking the 10 minute walk to my hotel.

The bagpipes were a nice touch. They echoed not unpleasantly through the street.

Here’s my room, large for a European Hotel, and very comfortable.

I’d power walked SFO, taken a 10 1/2 hour flight and walked a bit of Zurich so I was overdue for a shower.

Refreshed, I headed out to grab a bite before turning in. The woman at the hotel suggested Piu Restaurant just a few doors down in the Kornhaus building, an 18th century Baroque structure formerly used as granary to store extra provisions in case of famine or war. Or just in case the city went baroque. Sorry, that joke was a little korny.

Dinner was a simple affair of an artisan pizza (it was delicious) followed by a mild political protest for dessert.

Bern is the Capitol of Switzerland so protests make sense here. I like that the Swiss protest with cowbells. Really big cowbells. One of the signs roughly translated to “the executive branch is harming more than helping.” Switzerland is a semi-direct democratic federal republic with an executive branch that has 7 members on the Federal Council vs. a single President like us in the USA. This is to prevent a power grab by any one individual. Maybe not such a bad idea…

I headed back to the room and slept for a few hours. Jet lag woke me up around 2:30am and I got to chat with Mikey for a while when he got back from walking Lainey.

(I love the he still does the Lainey pulling him Schtick even when I’m overseas.)

I was able to fall back asleep around 4am and slept until 8am. Not too bad for the first night.

My morning exploration started here. At the Ass Bar.

First, it’s not what you think. Second, if your inner immature adolescent can’t help but make jokes about a place called the Ass Bar, I am glad you are my friend.

The Ass Bar (hee hee hee) is a store that is attempting to reduce food waste in the city. They work with bakeries around Bern to gather unsold baked goods and sell them here at a discounted price. I had an espresso and a wonderful chocolate hazelnut croissant that was out of this world. Great concept, nice execution, unfortunate name.

After my light and hilarious breakfast I walked toward a church spire down the road to here.

Across the road from the church is the Aare River. Bern is located at a hairpin turn of the Aare and the old town is within the hairpin turn. (Think easily defendable in the old days.)

I’m a sucker for old churches and cathedrals so I followed the next spire I spotted to here.

This is a gothic cathedral (the tallest in Switzerland) began construction in 1421 and was completed in 1893. Here’s some of the interior.

There was a lovely square on the backside of the Minster with a play area for kids and some nice views of the Aare River.

I headed back to the room to relax before heading out again a bit before noon. I wanted to catch the clock tower chiming at noon.

The Zytglogge clock (or as I like to call it, the ass clock) is a medieval structure built in 1201. It’s a pretty deluxe time keeper for the age with a mechanized animation, a regular clock and an astronomical clock. If you want to watch the video below, stick around to the end to here the rooster crow. I’m guessing this was the grand entertainment of Bern in medieval times.

Bern means bear so there are bears represented everywhere.

And there are also bears.

I’m not really a fan of zoos but I was pleased to see these bears have a very large roaming area set on a hill and a place to fish along the Aare.

They used to be kept in these horrible pits.

I’m glad they’re not anymore.

Lunchtime so I got an outdoor table at Altes Tramdepot (just above the bear habitat) and had a very German lunch.

The bears and lunch were at the top of the hairpin turn in the Aare so I’d made it to the end of the Old Town. I meandered back snapping photos along the way.

Here are some gargoyles I love from the Minster.

I wandered over to the parliament building (it seemed rude to not at least stop by since I’m in their Capitol). Remarkable how little security there was around the complex. Perhaps a side effect of neutrality.

I headed back to the hotel from Parliament to relax for a bit and stopped in the CO-OP (a small grocery store) for a quick pick me up.

Not sure what I’ll do for dinner yet. This seems like a good place to stop a pretty long post. Thanks for following along to this point! Here’s a moment of zen for you.