Day 12: Bern Stopover (Apr 2017)

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Monday, 24th April 2017

Since there is no direct train service between Geneva and Interlaken, I decided to make a brief stopover at Bern, the capital city of Switzerland for a couple of hours. On my way to Bern, my train passed by the city of Lausanne where it is home to the Olympic Museum. Due to time constraints, I had to forgo the museum but I'm pretty sure that I would have the chance to be back and visit it.

Intercity train travels within Switzerland is an absolutely amazing experience thanks to the stunning postcard perfect vistas that greeted me everywhere from where I was seated. This is akin to watching a live National Geographic documentary unfolding before my eyes. Snow-capped mountains, crystal clear waters and bright blue skies in spring weather - the view is no less than stunning as I made my final approach to the city of Bern!

Bern city centre is a busy intersection with shopping arcades and al fresco dining spots. The streets surrounding the train station is constantly busy as I made my way to the waiting area for bus #6 to Bern Bear Park. Journey to the beautiful park took no more than 10 minutes.

When I was there, I was lucky to get up close to the brown bears, the city's treasures for the past few centuries. Within the park grounds, there was a cafe as well as the bears' former enclosure that were open to the public.

Thanks to Lonely Planet's recommendation, I had my lunch at Tidbits, a casual vegetarian buffet restaurant that served fusion foods at reasonable prices. Essentially, you helped yourself with the servings you require and the food is chargeable by weight. This is a chic dining spot at the Train Station manned by friendly crews while I waited for my connecting train to bring me to Interlaken West Station.

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