Switzerland Day 2 - Bern
The Rose Garden was located on the top of the hill, which gave us the lovely view of the old town.
Albert Einstein was also enjoying the beautiful morning on the bench. The 20th century genius was living in Bern when he developed his famous equation E=mc² in 1905. Then he was 26 years old.
The pass from the garden led us to the Nydeck Bridge. It was a steep downhill. We would never choose the way to come back to the hotel.
The blue sky made the color of the river more beautiful. I could watch the water the whole day...
It was nice to take a stroll in the old town in the early morning before most of the tourists got up.
We tried to find a street that we hadn't walked on yet. We found Berner Rathaus, or Bern City Hall that we didn't see the day before.
Ah-ha! There was another historical fountain. Vennerbrunnen (Banneret Fountain). A Bernese banneret bearing a flag on the Corinthian pillar. That was our seventh historical figure.
On the left of the city hall was the Church of Peter and Paul.
It is the first Catholic Church to be built in the city after the Reformation of the 16th century. The inside was fenced up. We couldn't walk through the aisle but only peaked the interior though the fence.
Good morning, the Clock Tower! Are you going to finally show me the dancing bears today?
The Zähringen Fountain again. At the armed bear's feet, there was a baby bear eating grapes. Bern loves bears.
Yes, more bears. We stopped by at Berner Mandelbärli, a local bear-shaped almond cake shop. The cake was very similar to a Financier, a small French almond cake. In addition to the original (plain almond cake), there are various flavors available, such as chocolate, cappuccino, lemon, orange, blue berry, and Irish cream. Strawberry and mango were the seasonal flavors for June when we visited there. After all, I picked just one original to take home.
The shop provided not only bear cakes but also various sweet pastries and savory quiches and sandwiches. We had a quick snack time at their cafe space. My rhubarb and strawberry tart was nice. J had a chicken sandwich, I think.
One of our must-do things in Bern was to visit a museum, Zentrum Paul Klee that is dedicated to the life and work of J's favorite artist, Paul Klee. The museum was located outside of the old town. We took a tram from the center of the old town to get there. It was a quick and smooth ride.
We arrived at Zentrum Paul Klee before the opening time. We waited outside for a while. It was a hot summer day. The building complex of Zentrum Paul Klee was huge. In addition to the Paul Klee exhibition, there are spaces for events such as concerts, celebrations, meetings and congresses as well as a cafe and a restaurant.
Zentrum Paul Klee owns around 4,000 of his works. Part of them were exhibited in the spacious museum. With an audio guide, we had a very good time to meet his works in person and learn the background and insight of each piece as well as the artist’s life and personality.
J found out that Paul Klee's grave was in the cemetery that was located near the museum. We decided to say hello to him. The cemetery was quite large. There was no map or sign that could show the exact location of where he rests. After we walked around for a while, we asked a gardener whom we happened to find there and followed her direction. At last we found his grave. It was set at a peaceful spot, surrounded by plants with a lovely open view.
We took a tram to go back to the old town. We got off the tram at the stop near the Nydeck Bridge and walked up on the hill along the river to admire the beautiful views of the river and the old town.
A statue of a cheerful bear up on the wire, in front of the bear pit.
We were back in the old town and passed by the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Justice Fountain), again.
For lunch we tried Kornhauskeller, which was one of our hotel man's recommendations.
The restaurant was situated in the basement of the historical building, Kornhaus, in where grains and wines were stored to serve as extra provisions for winter as well as in case of a war or famine in the 18th century. The basement, or cellar was particularly used to store barrels of wine. With the arched ceiling, the cellar was huge and dark. It took for a while to have my eye adjusted to the light level. The frescos on the walls, which looked like illustrations from a children's picture book, were adorable.
The menu was a mix of Mediterranean, Swiss and Bernese specialties.
Somehow I wasn't so hungry at that time. I had a simple vegetarian pasta dish, which was the business lunch special of the day. It was nice although the sauce was unexpectedly a little spicy.
J had a kind of classic Swiss veal (?) dish, served with Rösti. I guess he enjoyed it.
The outside was still very bright and sunny. We kept exploring the city. We found another historical fountain, Ryfflibrunnen (Ryffli Fountain). Ryffli was a marksman who defeated the knight Jordan III of Burgistein with a single, accurate shot according to legend.
The other side of the Clock Tower. We kept missing the chance to see the dancing bears on the day.
Instead we saw a bear on the wall.
Hello, the Berner Münster again! The sandstone building looked greater with the blue sky.
We visited the garden next to the Cathedral again. Thanks to the sunshine, the views were much better than the day before.
I told J that I would like ice cream. J googled a well-rated gelato shop in Bern and found one. He followed the direction online and disappeared into the covered deep steep narrow staircase... I managed to follow him.
The secret path led us to the riverside. The beautiful water was so close. We could almost touch it.
It was easy to find Gelateria di Berna because people were making a line in front of the gelato shop.
It was a very hot summer day. I skipped something rich and creamy and chose two sorbet-type flavors: green tea and lemon. Both the flavors were subtle and a little too sweet but refreshing enough.
We took a different way to go back to the center of the old town, which was a steep uphill connecting to the backside of the Parliament building.
We rode a tram to the stop near the hotel. We stopped by at a vegan bakery near the stop and picked up a couple of treats.
I forgot what kind of flavor the doughnut was. It was so sweet! The other was Carac, a small Swiss pastry prepared with shortbread crust, chocolate filling, and green icing. It was super sweet!! Probably I should not consider it was the standard of the Swiss classic because it was the vegan version. Maybe the normal version would be less sweet and more flavorful?
To be continued...
