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Published: November 11th 2019
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The last day had arrived and it was time to say goodbye to our charming cottage and village. We packed and cleaned, taking some last photos, and leaving some of our leftovers in the wagon outside the honesty store (apples, oranges, drinks), which were gone by the time we left. Good!
We were able to lug all our stuff in one go down the gondola and to our car. Then we were on our way to Bern, with me driving. This was our last stop before getting to Zurich. My flight left that night and they left the next morning, but were staying in a hotel near the airport.
Bern was a good hour drive away and, after we had picked up our cuckoo clocks, we drove along the equally scenic south side of the lake Thunersee. Bern, the capital, is a much larger city than what we had seen besides Zurich and I was looking forward to it as it was highly recommended to me. Driving through the outskirts seemed easy enough, but suddenly, upon crossing the bridge to city center, it was chaotic! Lots of people out and about walking around and no real indication of where
Child Eater Fountain
notice monster eating babies to park. After getting turned down a small street and having to back out, navigating, through the many pedestrians, we finally found a "Casino Parking" area and got a nice spot to park.
We walked up to the city and enjoyed the activity of the people walking around - probably the most life we had seen in Switzerland the entire time we had been there. It was Saturday morning and there was a farmers and craft market along one of the main thorofares, so we enjoyed some more shopping. There were also a lot of food trucks, so decently priced food for lunch. We wound up at the Vietnamese food truck since it had the shortest line and the food was very good. The guy was also very entertaining, having met some americans. He asked if we were Trump fans (though we could not understand how he said the word "trump" so just nodded). Then he pulls out a red MAGA hat and smiles big for the camera. I found him endearing, though what would he have done if we said no?
This was the old town of Bern, a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site and I could
see why. After eating and shopping, we found another main street which was mostly pedestrians, with buses occasionally passing through and people moving aside. I cannot explain how busy it was with people everywhere, but I loved it. We stopped for a bit to admire their medieval clock, which seemed to have a little show of the figureines at random times. After not being able to figure out if and when the show would continue at certain times, we moved on. Did yet more shopping, a lot of it expensive, of course (like the chocolates). I loved the architecture throughout this portion of the city; the old buildings often had painted murals or statues, but I mostly loved that each section of the buildings were identified by slightly different balcony railings. There were also multiple fountains lining the street, dating back to the 16th century, including the most popular of an ogre eating babies, which of course we had to photograph. We found a nice little wine café where we had a good glass before making our way back to the car.
It was getting close to when I wanted to leave at the latest, and I was glad
we did because traffic going back was insane the entire way. I was able to drop them at their hotel, which I booked so checked in for them, helped them to their room and then we all drove to the airport for my flight and so they could drop off the car. Then they were going to take the train to the city for their last night. We said our goodbyes and I look forward to seeing them at Christmas..... Good memories!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Farewell is so hard
Great place to wrap up your trip.