siestas...not all they´re cracked up to be

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so today was our first full day here in Berne, sweeetserland. it is much different than our other host cities. it is ridiculus expensive. we went to the cheapest place that all the books and hostel recommend, a self serve caf style place 33 sfr! max it should have been 20. i had quite the hankering for some thai food, and since there is one next to our hostel i took a look at the menu- 20 sfr for pad thai, come on!! pad thai is 8 bucks in canada and enough for seconds! how sad for my thai aching tummy.
anyhow, today chris and i went to Albert Einstein´s apartment, which is now a museum. it was very cool. difficult to actually imagine that he conceived his theory of relativity there, which i have no clue really means anyway. i loved all the photos and the video of him, he just looked like a lovely man, i have a crush on his hairdo. afterward we wandered over one of the bridges to check out the famous bear pits. ohhh and there Pedro the bear was. he was just beautiful in his brown and fury way. he was licking the side of his pit because someone had poured honey down. he had a pretty big space, i guess. but he did have sadness in his eyes. it was loud, traffic and construction. so i did my best to send him blessings and love. we did have quite a moment when our eyes were one, i felt his tender bear heat throughout my being. chris and i both were concerned about Pedro, and there was no signs or someone to talk to about how he´s taken care of. i just wanted to know if i could throw him a piece of orange, but i did not want to upset his bear belly.
it was 2pm swiss time when we left pedro, and boy oh boy were we hungry! but those darn swiss it appeared they had all gone for a siesta! no one was on the streets, almost all of the shops we passed were closed, along with the restaurants. tragic, very tragic. i love siestas, when i´m the one siesta-ing. i do not know for sure this was the deal, but that is my best guess. we eventually found the oh so cheap self serve place, yeah right. afterward we made the wise decision to buy some food at the market and make dinner back at the hostel. we were tres tired so opted for going to see the new james bond movie, which was in english with german and french subtitles. and surprise surprise the movie for the two of us was 34 sfr, yuck.
the rest of the night we hung out here at bern backpackers, which has an awesome common area and is nice and clean. we don´t have a double bed, but our bunk beds do have duvets, a very nice touch.
berne has many cobblestone streets where you never know if it´s for pedestrians or cars, because everyone is everwhere. it is packed full with shops, shops and more shops. our hostel is above a night club, so when we came back from our expensive dinner last night there was a long drunkin´ line of swiss folk. i felt very elite and tres important because we waived our key and the 2 humungo security guards, that more looked like police, ushered us in. i think the trendy swiss folk were judgin why us bundled, unshowered canadian folk were skipping the line. but ohhh how it felt good, for like 12 seconds.

it is past our hostel travelling bed time, but we are waiting for our very overpriced dryer to finish.

we miss all of you, and are looking forward to english speaking cities.
...and i still miss italy, my home country in a past life.

love love love
chris and meg

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Comments

[Barb and Sue/Callander/nosbonigsing Cougars]

Your parents just had a lovely dinner with us and your Mom tried to make conversation with Scott. Difficult at the least. The "tender bear heat: that you felt was kind of creepy for your Mom and I. Be good and bring us home some good Swiss chocolate, bye for now

[Blazing BListers]

Berne Burns??
Good to talk to you tonight, Chris. You can go back in a few years and see that Pedro is OK in his new surroundings. After Austria and Italy, you both need a good rest before you go on to Paris and the British Isles. So take time to refuel...I know with the price of food you might not be able to do it that way but get some good Swiss chocolate and enjoy.