An Afternoon in Bern

In honor of "Whit Monday," Ben had another day off of work and we decided to visit our nation’s “bundesstadt” (capital) for the afternoon. Bern, the fifth largest city in Switzerland, is built on a hilly peninsula surrounded by the river Aar and connected by several bridges to the land around it. The weather was gorgeous and the city was beautiful.

We parked very close to the famous Barengraben (bear pits). Legend has it that the founder of Bern, Berchtold V von Zähringen, killed a bear on the Aar peninsula. This led to the town being called Bern (from German "Bär") and is why the city's coat of arms features a bear. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any bears, as the pits are currently being transformed into a more natural park that is scheduled to open this fall.

Not too far away from the Barengraben was a steep climb to the Rosengarten (Rose Gardens). Ben got a nice workout pushing Eli and Ethan up to the top. The kids had fun playing at a small playground and we enjoyed great views of the city before heading back down and across into the Old Town.

The medieval Old Town is quiet and quaint, with cobblestone streets, alcoves, fountains, and towers. The main street that we strolled down has six kilometers of arcades on each side, making it one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe. Everything was closed for the holiday so we were limited to window shopping, but we did manage to find an open café overlooking the river that was perfect for an ice cream break.

Overall, we found Bern to be beautiful but quiet, and we like that Basel has a little more buzz.