Well, I made it to Bern after all, on my last day. My visit really was too short to check into any of the museums – including Einstein’s old house. (Reviewers on-line rate it so-so, though). Also, my stop at the Swiss Mint was disappointing : there is no store on site; they only have an on-line store. But hey – now I know what the city looks like up close, and what to come back for at another time!
Here’s the route to Bern. The city does not have a lake on its doorstep, but the Aare river flows in a wide loop around the old city of Bern.We arrived on Platform 5 at 12.30 pm. The train is headed for Geneva. It’s darker here (than on other stations) because of the low ceilings.The main station facade is steel and glass : very nice. The connecting street car and bus lines are at designated ‘Platforms’ A through at least X, and these are on the street corners outside the station building. It took me a little time to realize that !
Just a cute sparrow on one of the old city’s fountains. (There are house sparrows and Old World sparrows and others. This fellow must be an Old World sparrow! since Bern is part of the Old World).Here’s a view of the Aare river from the biggest bridge across it, the one for Kirchenfeldstrasse. The city wall on the left is very old, and part of Bern that had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded in 1191, and still has a lot of medieval architecture.This is the view on top of the bridge on Kirchenfeldstrasse. The building straight ahead with the red roof is a casino. The street cars (trams) all look like the one in the picture .. but some routes are covered by buses, not street cars.
Here is the Swiss Parliament Building, called the Bundeshaus. Its construction was completed in 1902.This is the beautiful main entrance of the Bernisches Historisches Museum. I did not go inside. Next time.This is a high school, the Gymnasium Kirchenfeld, built in 1926 in neo-classic style. (Man. My high school did not look like this. I hope the kids are on a break, and that they will pay attention when they go back inside!).
