Bern Bears

There hasn't been much to report on over the last few days.  We arrived in Bern, Switzerland in the dark and only realized we had reached the mountains when hoards of skiers clambered on the train. Walking through the train station we were surrounded on all sides by university-aged crowds dressed in full costumes.  Once again, it was Carnival.  This festival was in celebration of the end of winter and lasted for three days - we were catching the tail end of it.

Day two was designed to be a rest day.  We decided to rent some bikes and ride around town at a leisurely pace, sipping on beer and feasting on pretzels and bratwurst along the way.  Unfortunately, we arrived at the bike rental place about thirty seconds too late and missed out on their last two bikes.  So we walked around town instead.  Our weary feet took us past hundreds of shops - all of which were closed as it was Sunday.  The air was brisk but the sun was shining and birds sang from every tall tree that lined the pathway.  We wandered along the great Aar river where mergansers, swans and mallards foraged in the shallows.

The Aar River that winds through Bern.

We then found ourselves peering over the edge of the city's bear pits where we were able to watch three brown (grizzly) bears doing whatever it is bears do - mostly sleeping.  It was kind of strange, but neat at the same time.  We strolled through the Old Town, past more closed tourist shops and by noon we had hit the wall.  I don't know if it's the air here or the fact that we're worn down and carb-intoxicated but we have zero energy.  Walking up a sloped street takes the wind out of us and our legs barely lift off the ground. Two short hours of strolling knocks us out cold.  It's a strange phenomenon, but perhaps it's simply caused by a month of constant motion and a whole lot of bread.

The bear dens along the river.

I spent the afternoon at Starbucks reworking my resume and slowly savoring my seven-Euro coffee. That's right, I said seven. That is approximately $10.50 Canadian.  What the hell?  Jim played clarinet - well he tried, but after realizing he brought the wrong reeds he struggled to do anything but play air clarinet - and enjoyed his twelve-Euro street donair lunch.  Later that evening we had to walk to the train station just to find an open food vendor so I could get a sandwich and Jim could buy some delicious Swiss chocolate.

CHOCOLATE!

Today we took a train down to Interlaken.  It's absolutely beautiful there and reminded us a great deal of Canmore.  It's a little tourist town located between two lakes and is surrounded on all sides by snow-covered mountains.  

A cafe in Interlaken.

Horse stables right int the middle of town!

Coming into Interlaken on the train.

Switzerland in general reminds us of home; people are kind, it's clean, and everything is very orderly. The landscape is also very similar with fields of green, pastures filled with cows and horses, forested river valleys and rocky mountains.  And it's environmentally conscious!  There are more bicycles here than I have seen in all of Calgary combined and between the buses, trams and trains there is really no need to own a car (which seem fairly rare on the streets here).

One of the underground bicycle parking lots.

We had no real plans in Interlaken, so we just walked towards the forest and found a lovely hiking trail that followed a river for miles along the base of a mountain.  We saw so many birds (including a Dipper!) and wildflowers that only come out in the spring.  Wooden, cabin-like homes filled the air with smoke from the wood-fired stoves all along the valley.  The weather was perfect and at times we felt as though we were walking through Kananaskis Country on a warm spring afternoon.

One of the bigger homes.

On the hiking trail.

Feeling refreshed but still exhausted, we returned to Bern and booked our train reservation to Paris tomorrow.  It was so expensive we thought the teller may have misunderstood us.  But when he repeated our request in near-perfect English we had no choice but to smile and hand over the cash.  

Switzerland, you are lovely but we simply can't afford to appreciate you any further.