Travel Log #2 – Bern

Hello, Friends and Family –

As promised, we’re checking in after our second stop of this trip having just departed Bern for Lyon, France.

Bern offers up a nice contrast to the sprawling, hyper-commercialized and modern Milan. As the capital of Switzerland and its center of banking, Bern is a very modern city but its well-kept renaissance area maintained by its local residents is as quaint and charming as any city we’ve visited…including Libertyville (after the L-ville Days Carnies have packed up their tents, of course!)

Our train brought us into Bern about 11am on Sunday. When I had upon booking the rooms asked the concierge about transport to the hotel, he replied, “it’s a nice 5-minute walk from the station.” Well, despite following my iPhone Maps I led my wheelie-bag pulling family in the opposite direction of the hotel and (overcoming my temptation to spike the phone onto Bern’s cobblestones) 15 minutes later arrived at the hotel.

Most of Bern’s shops and cafes are closed Sunday which was nice because with the streets of the ancient area so desolate it felt like we had the town to ourselves. We watched the Orologio Tower ‘perform’ at noon and window-shopped Swiss Made watches, Swiss-Army Knives and Swiss housewares under the porticoes leading towards the Aare River. It’s cool that all the shops are under porticoes – especially since the Alpine influenced weather in Bern can change VERY rapidly.

After lunch we walked the Bern History Museum and learned a lot about Bern’s most famous resident – Albert Einstein…along with a good bit about Bern’s history. The weather was beautiful so we changed into our bathing suits and headed to the Aare River for a swim. The locals gather here throughout the summer for sunbathing, rafting and swimming in the Aare River…whose swift waters carry people downstream. Of course, being an Alpine river, the water is derived from melted snow and can be a little cold; Sunday’s water was about 62F. Cold. Rather than slowly wading in, Maddie, Hannah and I opted to jump from the bridge where chickening-out wasn’t an option. As ‘easy’ as getting in was, getting out was altogether a different story (for me, at least). The strong current and slippery rocks proved a bit much for this intrepid swimmer and I found myself wrapped like a newspaper around a flagpole in a windstorm to the legs of a patient, old Bernese gentleman.

Incidentally, while walking to the river Maddie marveled at the toll that six days of walking had taken on my ankle. She remarked, “Dad…you have cankles as big as Hillary Clinton’s.” Looking at photo, I do believe she’s right. Trudging on…we dined that evening at the historic Kornhaus Keller and celebrated arriving in Bern.

Monday morning was (another) early start. Our driver, Heinz picked us up at 7am for a trip to the Grimselwelt State Park in the Swiss Alps. Heinz was great – a friendly combination of local businessman, driver and interpreter. With Bern being the Swiss capitol and mecca of banking I figured he had some brushes with fame…so I asked which world diplomats or business leaders have graced his cars. It turns out that none other than the Queen of Cankles herself, Hillary Clinton sat in the spot now claimed by Hannah. That’s what one calls ‘Nirvana.’

We drove with Heinz for about 90 minutes past alpine lakes, villages and chalets before arriving at Grimselwelt – where there is a lot to do. In addition to taking in the magnificent views of the Alps we kept pretty active. We visited an authentic Swiss Cheese maker, walked a trail to a cable bridge across a 150m deep gorge, rode Europe’s steepest funicular, hiked around Lake Gelmer, ate lunch at the historic Grimsel Hotel and walked during a torrential afternoon thunderstorm the Arreshlucht … a cantilevered 2 mile catwalk along a gorge carved into the mountain by the Aare River (yes, the same Aare River we jumped in).

One of the more entertaining things we saw was Hannah jumping on the cable bridge while Maddie seemed a little worried about falling into the gorge below. The bridge held, but Oh, those funny younger sisters!

Near the cheese hut, we stopped at the pigpen…where the smell was much like the Milan Centrale Train Station…the main difference being that nobody here was selling purses.

Arriving back in Bern around 4pm, before the shops closed we guided ourselves on a Swiss Chocolate Tour of Bern. There were about five shops (we expected more) and after careful deliberation, we chose Eisenberger as the winner.

Incidentally, Heinz (our driver) shared with us a ‘secret’ that in front of the Congress – buried deep beneath the public square is kept Switzerland’s cache of gold. Not open to the public.

Our last day in Bern we slept in a bit, had breakfast and took a quick walk through Albert Einstein’s apartment.

All in all, we had a great time in Bern…we hope you’re all having fun in IL.

Love –
Jeff, Anne, Madeline and Hannah

Jeffrey Brandt

Mobile: +1 847 910 0940