The bear is the symbol of Bern so there are lots of bear statues throughout the city. Some of them are beary cute (he he). I thought I'd share photos of my favourite statues with you.










More photos on Flickr

Our visit to Bern was part of the Wilson's Watch Pr0n tour. Andrew, Simon and I spent a total of three and a half days in Switzerland and managed to visit Geneva, Bern and Zurich. It was a whirlwind trip. Other entries from this trip include: B is for Bears and Baby Eaters.

So, what's the capital of Switzerland? Most people and will answer Zurich or Geneva. But the correct answer is actually Bern. It's a small city (the 5th biggest) in the middle of Switzerland. Not the geographic middle but in the centre of the language divide. Kinda like Canberra being the solution to the Sydney / Melbourne debate, in 1848 Bern was the solution to the German (Zurich) / French (Geneva) debate. (Although 81% of the Bernese actually speak German.)

We were encouraged to visit Bern because someone said it was pretty. And it is pretty. It's like walking around in a giant Swiss cuckoo clock. The medieval town centre of Bern has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A series of fountains line the main street of Bern. The most famous of these is the Kindlifresserbrunnen. The literal translation is the "fountain of the eater of little children". Yes, the fountain features an ogre devouring chubby babies. The ogre has one bub stuffed in his mouth as a starter and three more lined up for mains and dessert. Apparently the fountain was designed to frighten naughty children. I thought it was a little bit disturbing.

Bern means bear so it is fitting that one of the main tourist attractions is the bear pit on the outskirts of the city centre. The bears lead a pretty sad existence though. The pit is quite small and there isn't much room for them to move. I think the most exciting part of the day for the bears was feeding time. At certain times of the day, tourists can buy little cups of fruit to feed to the bears. Feeding involved the bears sitting back on their haunches and opening their mouths. Tourists can drop the fruit straight into the mouth of a bear. (After a bit of research I'm glad to discover they are building a new bear park for the bears. )


Bern is supposed to represent the middle of the French and German parts of Switzerland, but you could definitely tell we were in German territory. We ate sausage, schnitzel and spaetzle for dinner at The Tram Depot, a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant near the bear pit. The food was so good that we went there for lunch the next day. I can't resist good spaetzle.



More photos on Flickr

Our visit to Berne was part of the Wilson's Watch Pr0n tour. Andrew, Simon and I spent a total of three and a half days in Switzerland and managed to visit Geneva, Bern and Zurich. It was a whirlwind trip.

We're off on another holiday. Lucky us! We're hanging out with Simon as much as possible before he heads home.

We're spending a week in Ireland on a Paddy Wagon tour. After Ireland we're flying to Switzerland and spending four days looking at watches (Andrew and Simon) and eating as much Swiss chocolate as possible (Jess).

See you in a week or so.