Beautiful Bern

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Leah and I didn’t think Bern would have that much to offer, but we both fell in love with it instantly! We were so intrigued by our bus journey to our hostel, we just wanted to get out and explore this beautiful and quaint city!

Our hostel was located just beside the River Aare - what a way to enter the old city! The aqua river was lined with large trees and old Swiss houses, and lead us to the cobbled-stoned streets of central Bern.

Leah and I felt like we really had gone back in time, as if nothing had changed here in over 100 years. Large grand flags lined the main street and we soon came across the Zytglogge, the clocktower from 1530 which was once a city gate - we even managed to time it just right to her it chime on the hour!

The few main streets were dotted with large fountains, like islands in the middle of the road. We found the famous Kindlifreserbrunnen, the Ogre Fountain - that shows him eating a small child! and then walked along the edge of the river to the bear pits, the symbol for the city of Bern.

We saw two cute large bears wandering around in a concrete pit, rather reminiscent of zoo’s in the 1970/80s with cramped conditions. They were very cute, and you could even feed the apple slices, but at the same time we felt a bit sorry for them stuck there.

We slowly made our way up the hill in the heat to the rose gardens which provided stunning views right across Bern. Then headed back just in time for ‘The Bern Show’ a fascinating 3D history of Bern at the information centre.

We checked out the tree-lined path along the edge of the Aare River to see the rapids, and then to the ‘Munster’, the large 15th century gothic cathedral, boasting Switzerland’s highest spire.

We walked around the corner to visit Albert Einstein’s House at No. 49 Krangasse. He lived here in a small 2.5 room apartment for 7 years and is where he wrote 5 papers, including his one on relativity. We spent quite a bit of time looking through his house and the displays, getting a little more insight from the helpful lady that works there.

The only thing left to do was go shopping 😊 until it was time to run to catch our train to Zurich, our last stop on this trip.

Check out more Photos

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Photos

The Old City of Bern
Over the River Aare

Over Looking Bern
From the Rose Gardens

Flags onthe main street
It really felt like stepping back in time!

Zytglogge
The clocktower from 1530 and once a city gate

River Aare
Lovely Tree lined river around surrounding the old city

Kindlifreserbrunnen
The Ogre Fountain

Cute Bears
don't ya just want to hung one!?

Albert Einstein
A lot smaller than we were expecting!