Bern: Bears and Military Bands

The city of Bern serves as the capitol for Switzerland but this charming partially walled town feels more quaint than the formal capitol title would imply. The town burned to the ground in 1300s and was rebuilt with gray stone to prevent another fire. The uniform look of the historic buildings and the covered promenades give the town character. Inside the "rohr" or shopping areas, dozens of unique stores share walkway space above and below ground. We saw antique stores (including a doll one that was frightful), book stores, restaurants and cafes, even music studios.

We drove in from Interlaken, parking in the bus station parking garage as most of Bern is not accessible by car. The city core is easy enough to walk and we enjoyed a pretty calm morning following Rick Steves walking tour. We varied though when it came to the Historical Museum; while he did not find interest in touring an exhibit on Albert Einstein, Grady certainly did. So we stored our bags and headed into a thorough and honest exhibit on the genuis and the man.

What I learned about Einstein: that he was a womanizing, self-centered man who was continuously unfaithful to his spouses but was brilliant in theorizing about his science. Many of his theories were proven dozens or even 100+ years after he put them on paper. He was also socially active in encouraging peace, disarmament and immigration for Jews caught in Hitler's reach. The man was clearly a genuis when it came to how the universe is made but not about what it takes to be a valued husband or father. All said, the museum exhibit is well done and worth the time.

Hungry once we left the museum, we found a modern little cafe near the clock tower (which impressively animates at 4 minutes to the hour presenting a little show of metal puppers that adorn the clock). We had cheese, potatoes, meat, more cheese and more potatoes and bread. It was actually very good but i am getting a little sick of cheee and bread....

We continued on our walking tour and were on our way to the Meunstersquare when we heard a live band start playing. We walked towards it to find the military band playing and a long line of swiss soldiers walking in and lining up. Eventually some dark cars escorted by police vehicles came and dropped off some sharply dressed people (who we later learned are the prince of Lichtenstein and his wife). An older,
shorter gentleman (current president of Switzerland) escorted the taller younger man on what looked like an inspection of the military line while the band continued to play marches and what sounded a lot like "my country tis of thee". Eventually they all smiled, shook hands and walked down the road. It wa really fun to see a real prince and be within 20 ft of him, even if we didnt know who he was. Colby thought the whole thing was the best part of the day.

The rain started coming down in force but we zipped on rain coats and made a quick dash down to see the famous Berenstein bears. Their enclosure on the banks of the Aare river look like luxurious digs compared to the old pit. They were certainly bigger than i imagined, more like a grizzly than a cinnamon.

We made a quik tour of the church and the Muenstersquare before deciding to walk back under cover of the promenade and head east to Interlaken. The weather has certianly changed here, with rain and wind. The mountains are not visible at all and they are calling for snow tomorrow so our chances of seeing the mountains or any view are pretty small. i think we may end up driving into Luzern instead.