Bern, Switzerland

Friday morning, a little worse for the wear, we got on a train again and went to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. All these years that I have visited Switzerland and I have never been to the capital! So on the train we were, tired and probably a little hungover, we traveled about an hour and were in Bern.

We strolled this beautiful medieval city that was founded in 1191, we walked down cobblestone streets, through archways, past the shopping arcade (the longest covered shopping promenade in all of Europe), admiring churches, towers and fountains along the way.

We eventually made our way to see the famous bears of Bern. I think we were all a little torn between how amazing it was to see these animals but also how awful it was to see them stuck in this pit with not a whole lot of room to live. I would hate to be trapped like that. The bears have been a fixture in Bern since 1441 and the bear pit is actually part of the Bernese zoo.

After seeing the bears, we stopped for a beer and some lunch at a local brewery, did a little shopping and made our way back to Luzern. Back home we were treated to another amazing and typical Swiss meal, Züri gschnätzlets or Zurich Veal. It is small pieces of veal cooked in a cream sauce served with Rosti (Swiss hash browns) and its deeeelicious! So after dinner Elisa, Rob and Kiki packed their bags as they were heading back to the US in the morning.