Bern

Finally! Here are the pictures from our day in Bern last Saturday. There were too many to choose from so I chose the best ones and put them in a slideshow/ video.

Some info on Bern from our Lonely Planet book: Switzerland, and things you'll see in the pictures:

The medieval town centre is u-shaped along a river bend (Aare river) and has been declared a World Heritage site.

The cobbled streets are lined with covered arcades and cellar shops. Pity we didn't get a picture of these shop doors leading you underground. You can see the covered arcades in the pictures.

There are 11 decorative fountains built around 1545 which depict characters from history and/ or folklore. The most famous is the Kindlifressenbrunnen (Ogre Fountain) of a giant snacking on children!

The Zytglogge (Zeitglockenturm in High German), clock tower, has revolving figures that begin twirling at four minutes before every hour. We didn't wait to see this, but I did get a picture of a bunch of people staring up at the clock (also pictured) waiting for this.

There was a huge market when we were there, I'm not sure if this happens every Saturday? One section was selling all kinds of stuff like clothes, baskets, jewelry, DVD's, anything. And then there was the fruit and veg market which sold all these delicious fresh foods including breads, meats, cheeses, flowers, honey and lots more.

Did you know that Einstein lived in Bern? He actually developed his theory of relativity in 1905 here. You can visit the apartment where he lived with his family which is now a museum. We didn't but André took a picture of the outside of it. You can see it in the video.

Also in the pictures you'll see the 15th century Gothic Münster (cathedral). Everywhere you go in Switzerland there will be something that is the highest or the steepest or the fastest or the best in something. Bern apparently has the tallest cathedral at 100m. You can climb the hundreds of steps up the tower but of course not something I would do!

Behind the cathedral is a lovely park. There were some people playing games and there's a café under the trees. (This is the picture where André is sticking his tongue out at me.)

You can see the 1902 Houses of Parliament. A beautiful building, Saturday pictured with the market in front of it. It has a stained glass dome and apparently a huge, 214-bulb chandelier. We didn't notice this when we were there but I actually see we did get it in the picture!! If you look carefully you might see it too with the lights on shining through the window right in the centre.

In 1191 some powerful duke (I'm not going to bore you with names) had his first hunting success here, shooting a bear, or Bärn in the local dialect, and that's where this city got it's name.

Hope you learnt something today? I did! Now here are the pictures, enjoy :-) If for some reason you can't see the video here, you can go to my vimeo page by clicking here.

Bern, Switzerland from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.