Bern by night

Bern is the capital of Switzerland even thought the world tends to forget this. Ask somebody who he thinks the capital of the Swiss people is, the answer - outside Switzerland - most probably is going to be "Zuerich". But áu contraire it is not. In Bern you find the Houses of Parliaments, the Bundeshaus, all important decisions for the country are made there - but still..... Zuerich is much bigger, the airport there is an international one (all airlines that head to Switzerland go to the big Z not to Bern. In fact, the airport of Bern is tiny, Belp it is called, and I am sure you never have heard the name, only small planes land there and most come from Zuerich.....)

Like the old joke, "What is the capital of Australia. Sydney or Melbourne?" - "Canberra of course." Well, Bern and Canberra are very much alike when it comes to international importance....

BUT I assure you, Bern is lovely. Goethe himself, who had been to Switzerland three times, said, "It is the most beautiful city we have seen." A medieval town center, lots of parks, greenery, relaxed people walking the streets - a city I could definately live in. Okay, when I say this, the big centres of the world are probably not happy, you know that I do not like huge places like New York, Los Angeles - and I love London, but only for a long weekend, not for living there (okay, I could do with the outskirts, but then it would take me ages to get to work which would probably be in the town centre). When I say I would like to live in Bern, the people who know me definately know now what I mean - I am not a city chick, that is for sure....

When we were in Spiez a while ago the day was full of rain and bad weather, so we were hanging out in the flat, chilling and dozing a bit in the afternoon - and in the evening, when the rain stopped, we went to Bern for a little ride. (It is only about 20 mins away from Spiez.)

 The best place to start with a nice little walk in the old town of Bern is the Nydeggbrücke. Park your car there (meters everywhere, there are absolutely no free parking spaces - but there are neither to be found in the rest of the country anyway), then stroll up the Arkaden, which is a long shopping mile with lots of restaurants and of course shops. The prices are extremely high (but not higher than anywhere else in Switzerland), I recommend you do not come hungry, but sit down in one of the nice coffee places for a nice cup of tea or a beer. Being Winter time was very quiet on the Arcades itself, but believe me, the restaurants where bursting with people! (Only Swiss of course, the only ones that can afford the high prices. Next to Japanese people, but Switzerland is not popular for Japanese lads recently.)

Up the Arcades you find a row of fountains, this one being the "Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen" (= fountain of justice). All the fountains were created in the 16th century, this one showing Justitia with her eyes blindfolded, with sword and scales in her hands.

In the little side streets you sometimes find little dogs sitting right in the middle, looking very uncertain what to do now, and why mommy has put them off the leash and why they have to sit here....

The Münster of Bern is one of the most important sights of the town. It was started to build in 1421, but was only finished in the 19th century. It is an evangelican church, and the park allows you a glorious view over the old town of Bern and the Aare. This will be something for a Summer blog of Bern definately. In the night we unfortunately saw only scuffoldings and the view was okay, but not as stunning as it is during a bright Summer day.

Strolling back to the car you see the "Zytglogge", the watch tower of Bern with its famous bells and chimes, which was built in the 11th century.

As I said, Bern is a lovely little town (not something you might imagine as the capital of a country, but peaceful and full of nice people). We definately will be back in Summer time, and then we will stroll the streets of this friendly place again - with more photos to add to this blog.

Good night, Bern, for this time!