The Reitschule and the Bicycle

We woke to pounding rain, but it eventually let up, and we headed off to the monthly flea market at the Reitschule.  This alternative area in Bern was originally a Riding School (Reitschule) but it is now the well-tolerated hang-out of the radical left which uses it as an arts center and activist collective.  It has an alternative theater and some impressive graffiti.  Trains rattle over the bridge overhead.

Vendors and buyers at the Reitschule flea market

Vendors in front of the entrance to the theater

There were hundreds of vendors at the flea market.  We were in the market for a bike for me, especially after my misadventure with the flat tire on the borrowed bike from yesterday.  We eventually bought one from this Portuguese man and his partner.  Somehow we bargained in miscellaneous Spanish, German and English and arrived at an agreement on a decent mountain bike with 21 gears (more than I can get out of mine at home!), and a bike pump, lock, and a basket for the back of Darrell's bike.  Most people have baskets here for transporting everything from groceries to puppies!

The Portuguese couple we bought the bike from

The picture above is a little weird looking because I tried to blur out the background a little.  I don't have a picture of the bike - I'm sure one will show up eventually - but here are two pictures that show how bike-friendly Switzerland is.

Note both the separate bike lane and the light that has a bike on it!

The bicycle in the light is a little tough to see - but at busy intersections they actually have separate lights for cars, bikes, and pedestrians!

Convenient bike routes are well-signed and easy to follow!

Yesterday, Darrell and I followed Route 99 for part of our trip.  Today I followed 94 through Bern to a bit out of town.  The routes are not the most direct, but they take advantage of quieter and more scenic roads.  There is a great website at www.veloland.ch/ that you can use to check out different routes and get information on areas of interest, where on the route there are bike shops available, where you can rent bikes, catch trains, etc.  So, for now, my hiking has been overtaken by biking!

Bicycle trip to the Emmental region

The forecast was for a partly sunny morning and afternoon rain - so we decided to get in a bike ride before the rain came.  I went to the "Bern Rollt" loan area downtown and borrowed an electric bike in hopes I would be able to keep up with Darrell.  We packed a lunch and some snacks and were out the door by 8:30 am.  It only took us 70 minutes to go the 20 km to the precious town of Burgdorf.  Burgdorf has a large castle begun in the 7th century and then expanded in the 12th.

Largest of the Zahringer Castles at Burgdorf

The castle had a real live moat with a drawbridge (grabenbrucke).  The picture isn't the greatest but check out the greenery in the moat.  And the drawbridge is just to the right of us.  Awesome!

Moat at bottom, castle at top

The view of town wasn't too shabby either!  You can't see the river Emme here but it runs to the east of town and we were later able to bike along a nice section of it.

View from the Burgdorf Schloss (Castle)

We walked back down to our bicycles and wandered a little through the old part of town.

Heading down from the castle to town

We were feeling so spry we decided to go up to a higher viewpoint town, Lueg, and then maybe all the way to a tourist dairy that sounded like a good place to buy and eat cheese!  All was going well - I mean look at the view south to the Jungfrau Region...

View south to the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains

and then I got a flat tire...  Such a bummer!  Of course we have two borrowed bikes with no tire repair kit or any tools.  But, heh, this is Switzerland.  How far away can public transportation be?  Darrell used his iphone, got online and discovered exactly where we were and accessed a map that showed us where the closest train station was.  Thank goodness we had climbed so high that it was mostly downhill.  We coasted down to the fair town (a new favorite town for me) of Sumiswald, and bought train tickets for both us and our bikes back to Bern.  The bikes cost as much as we did, but the train was (of course) completely set up to have them onboard with a special car labeled with a bike and special straps to hold them.

Me, the bike, the flat tire and my new favorite train station

When we got back to Bern and went to return my bike they said we owed them 35 franks for the flat tire. So we went around the corner to a bike store that had tools you could borrow and put Darrell's good tire repair skills to work.  For a 10 frank patch kit (that would cost $2 in the US) Darrell managed to fix the flat.  Phew!  And now we have some extra patches to work with.

My favorite mechanic - saving us $40

We were getting hungry after all these adventures, and all stores (except those in the train station) are closed on Sundays - so we went shopping for tonight and tomorrow.  Even if we didn't get to a nice tourist dairy - you can see the outcome of it in the local markets.  This picture is about one-third of all the yogurts you could choose from.

Small section of the yogurt choices at this store

And yogurt is NOTHING in comparison to cheese.  Here is one of the four main cheese displays that they had.  It took Darrell and I at least twenty minutes just to figure out which cheeses we want to try next.

This represents just a tiny part of the cheese choices available

Now onto dessert.  After you've spent time choosing your fresh bread, yogurt and cheese, you have to look for chocolate.  Note the large bars at the bottom of the picture.  We haven't gotten the large bars yet because we are still tasting all of them to determine our favorites - but it won't be long...

Dessert choices

Now we are recovering at home, and wondering if maybe the flat was sereptitious.  I'm not sure I would have had the energy to bike all the way home!

Gardens and Food

What goes better together than gardens and food?  We had a delicious dinner last night at Heinz and Lily Wanner's house just outside of Bern.  And they have a gorgeous garden that inspires me to do more with our rocks and clay in Flagstaff!  Heinz is the past director of PAGES (PAst Global changES) where Darrell is working while we are in Bern.  He and Lily are headed off to Greenland, Svalbard and Iceland on a cruise soon where Heinz will be one of the speakers giving talks about the geology and history of the areas they visit.

Heinz and Lily in their beautiful yard

Lily made a delicious appetizer of cheese-stuffed apricots surrounded by bacon and then broiled.  I really need to get this recipe from her!

This corner of the garden features well-trained grape vines creating an arbor.  Lily added roses to the table which was absolutely gorgeous.

Dinner was sausages on the grill, rosti (hashed browns) and grilled veggies.  Excellent... And I should have taken a picture of the dinner and especially the dessert.  The dessert was a Panna Cotta (an Italian custard) surrounded by three fruit purees; blackberry, plum and apple.  It was spectacular.

Sorry for my lack of umlauts and accent marks - I haven't figured out how to add those without writing this in Word first...

Heinz cooking sausages with Lily's supervision

Here is a picture of their garden as the evening light faded.

When we first arrived - almost three weeks ago now, I discovered some gardens by the river where people were sharing a large lot so they could each have a section and grow their own flowers and vegetables.  Some of them even had tiny cottages with stoves in them so they could spend the day there.  When Vera came for the INQUA meeting, I asked her about the gardens.  She said that when people started moving into apartments and didn't have space for their gardens, they would get a space in the country.  Here are a few examples of these gardens.

Some people like flowers even more than food!

Note the stove and little cottage in the far back.

A charming garden with a cottage in the back and some good Swiss pride.

Trolls, butterflies and flowers!

I'll leave the trolls for now - but you can expect a troll blog at some point in the future!

Swiss National Day

August 1st is Swiss National Day.  This date represents the oldest charter of their confederation from 1291 - a mere 500 years before the United States.  To celebrate, they had an open house at the Bundeshaus so I got in line at 9 am sharp and was one of the first to enter.

Bundeshaus (Parliament) with celebrations in the plaza in front of it.

The Bundeshaus (Parliament and Federal Palace) was completed in 1902 in the Renaissance style - making it one of the newest buildings in Bern!  The Parliament consists of two chambers with identical powers.  You can't see their two domes (one on each side of the central dome) but they are separated by the central Hall of the Dome.  Similar to the United States, there is a National Council which is made up of 200 members allotted in proportion to the resident population of each canton (like our states).  The Council of States has 46 members, two from each of the 23 cantons.  Elections take place every four years.  Unlike the U.S.A. they have six parties represented in both councils - the Swiss People's Party, the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats, the Green faction, and the BDP faction, whatever that is!  Not that I know what any of them actually stands for though I could make some guesses.

The next picture is a close-up of the front with some explanation of the three figures you see below the flags.

The flags represent the 26 cantons of Switzerland

The three sandstone heads over the three front entrances (which are a little hard to see in this picture) represent the three qualities you want in your government officials.  The man in the middle is for wisdom, the wolf on the left is for courage, and the bull on the right is for strength.  You want your government to be wise, brave, and strong!  There are also three heads above (which are not pictured here) which represent the three primary languages of Switzerland – German, French, and Italian.

You could guess what statue flanks the main staircase as you enter the center of the great Hall.

No surprise here!

The stained glass ceiling of the dome displays the coats of arms of the cantons.  They surround a mosaic depicting the federal coat of arms with the motto "One for all and all for one".

Central dome of the Bundeshaus

The entire parliament is, of course, exquisite.  I particularly like the ceiling in one of the floors above.  It had to be round of course because it goes around this central dome.

All of the inset paintings are gorgeous.

The chambers for the National Council were opened up from 10 am to 11 am for public questions to both the President of the National Council (proportioned like our House) and the President of the Council of States (proportioned like our Senate).  There was no fanfare when the two heads of these groups entered the room and sat down.  People just drifted in and out.  There were introductions and then the questioning was quite informal.  One of the men spoke primarily French, the other primarily German, and there was an interpreter between them.  It was really interesting.  My picture of the Presidents was out of focus, but I have a picture of the duo singing group that preceded them.

Singers known as "duo edeldichte" in the chambers

Okay - I know you want a close up with those awesome Swiss outfits.

Just picture Harry Reid and Eric Cantor in these cute dresses!

And, just for fun, here is a picture of the chairs in the chamber.  I can't get enough of the carved wood, statues, paintings, etc. all over Bern - not just in the Bundeshaus!

Chair in National Council Chamberss

After the excitement of Parliament (I'm really glad I went - plus we got free Swiss chocolate bars as a bonus!) I went to the Einsteinhaus - where Einstein lived for several years when he worked at the Patent Office and where he wrote his special theory of relativity paper (Remember E = mc squared?).  But that blog - a special for my sister Jenny - will be coming later.

Then I met Darrell for a lovely picnic lunch.  We invented a new dessert that should be all the rage.  We cut a croissant in half, sliced a banana in half and put some chocolate on top and tucked it all inside.  The curve of the banana matched the croissant, and the chocolate made it dessert!  Yum.  Oh, and I had bought a tiny bottle of prosecco to enjoy with our picnic for the holiday.

After lunch I headed down to the river.  Really, if you can't find me, and there is a river anywhere near by - that is probably where I am!  Especially after drying out for 12 years in Flagstaff...

I think most of the town was down by the river, and many of them were IN the river, despite how cold it is.  The number of people that just drift down with the current is incredible.  I will try to imbed a little movie clip - it is just 14 seconds - if I can figure out how to do that.

And now for some bridge jumpers - caught in mid-air.

Jumping off the footbridge near the local zoo

And some campers willing to camp in a very crowded place near the river.

Eichholz Campground near River Aare

And lastly, a noisy beach, where I could get in the water slowly!

Come on in!  The water's COLD!

Hope you all had a lovely August 1st.  I may add more later if I get some good fireworks pictures for a grand finale!

Interlocken and the Bernese Oberland

The closest mountains to Bern (the Bernese Oberland) are also the most spectacular, and comprise the heart of Switzerland's alpine region.  Do I sound like a tourist guide?  Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy all day and rained at the end.  But we had a marvelous day and spectacular scenery anyway.  And this is a longer post so you may want to get a cup of coffee and put your feet up.

Katherine and I took the 8:34 am train to Interlaken (of course it both left and arrived on time) and were in Interlaken just after 9 am.

Interlaken is a major tourist center and entry point for this alpine region.

We exited the train on the west end of Interlaken and then walked along the main road, and tourist shopping district, to the east end where we caught a train to the next town UP towards the mountains.

Keep your hands inside or you'll lose them at the next pole!

Lauterbrunnen is an incredibly darling town and we were both ready to move there and look for work.  Minimum wage in Switzerland is around 20 CHF (Swiss Franks) per hour - which is what you would need to survive here I think!  This translates to about $24 per hour.  Let's see - that is over three times our minimum wage in the States and the cost of living here is expensive but I don't think it is even double what average costs in the U.S. would be...  No wonder we don't hear anyone complaining and Bern ranks as one of the top ten cities to live in world for quality of life.

And do you have a waterfall as a background in your town?

Katherine got a cup of coffee and a croissant from a Swiss Kiwi - so his English was excellent with a New Zealand accent!  Then we walked a little over an hour up the valley towards a waterfall.

Bridge on trail towards waterfall

You might think this is the gorgeous waterfall we are headed to, but no, this is just one of many that if falling off the shear walls of this valley.  We are headed to a more hidden waterfall.

A private residence with an amazing garden

Many of the "Wanderweg's" (trails) go across private property so you can get up close to many homes, gardens, and farms.  Most of the trail was through meadows and the meadows are rimmed by forest.  We eventually made it to Trummelbachfalle.  The map on the left shows the stops on the walkway/stairs where you can get views of this "hidden" waterfall.  The dotted line shows a shortcut you can take in a gondola-type apparatus that goes up a STEEP track so you don't have to walk up as far.  Then you walk up the rest of the way from there and then down all the way.  It was wild being so close to such a powerful waterfall!

So now you can see just a bit of the power of this waterfall.

The rock walls are polished by the force of the water through this "corkscrew".

You can see a bit of the walk and railing at the bottom of this picture.  It is so impressive that Swiss engineers managed to design, and the workers managed to build, something this close to the waterfall.  I wonder if they built this during winters when the fall must be frozen or much less voluminous anyway, but then how did they get the concrete to set?  It is a conundrum.

Some beautiful harebells growing off the side of the waterfall.

This is looking down valley towards Lauterbrunnen from near the waterfall.

After we finished the waterfall climb, we walked farther up the valley towards our next destination and we could now see where the hidden waterfall was located.

You can see the crack that hides the waterfall!

Our next stop was at the gondola that begins the climb up to Schilthorn, the famous rotating restaurant at the top of a 9,748 ft mountain.  We weren't going all the way up because it was so cloudy we would have paid 98 CHF just to see whiteness, so we decided to go to a lower point.  While we waited for the gondola we talked to two base jumpers from the United States.  They told us this region is the center of base jumping activity.  If you don't know what base jumping is, it is a giant thrill sport where you hurl yourself off a mountain, cliff, bridge or other high spot.  You may need to wear a "bat" suit so you can spread your "wings" to clear obstacles before you free fall and then pull your parachute cord.  I don't have any pictures of the action, but here is one of the base jumpers in the gondola.  He looked so happy I asked if I could put him in this blog!

Happy base jumper before his next jump!

The first gondola takes you to the tiny town of Gimmelwald, and then we transferred to a second gondola that took us to Murren.  All of these towns access ski slopes in the winter and hiking trails in the summer.  There were also mountain bikers on our gondola so they get a lift up, and then go cruising (or screaming) down the trails!

Murren is a quintessentially darling Swiss mountain town.  There were still gorgeous gardens, but not a view of the famed peaks...

There is a mountain back there somewhere!

We walked through Murren and more marvels of Swiss engineering are there to keep transporting people higher and higher into the mountains.  This is a funicular like the one that takes people up the Gurten, the hill in Bern that I posted on earlier.

The tracks split in the middle so the tram going up can meet the tram coming down which helps pull it.  You can barely see the uphill tram coming out of the tunnel to pass this one.

We were both getting a little chilled with all the mist around us, so we headed into a restaurant and got a window seat in case it cleared so we could see a view, and ordered some lunch.  We both had a luscious and hot carrot soup and bread as well as beer.  The beer looks even bigger than it was because of perspective!

Katherine and her bread, carrot soup, and Swiss beer!

We came out to rain, so we headed to the train station, caught a small train that met a gondola that met a train in Lauterbrunnen that took us back to Interlaken.  These connections are built so tightly that we have been on trains that have shared tracks and just passed at the small part where they have created double tracks for passing.  No wonder the Swiss are known for clocks, watches, and perfect timing!

This is the view from the gondola as we returned to Lauterbrunnen.

We walked through Interlocken in the rain and bought a few little treats and tourist items.  Katherine heads back to Flagstaff tomorrow so she was looking for small gifts for friends and family.  This last picture is of the train station in Interlaken.  The slab in front is a large flat structure with water flowing over it.  It was reminiscent of the giant vertical walls of these valleys with their waterfalls coming down.

East train station in Interlaken with massive flat fountain in front

We got back to Bern a little after 9 pm after a long but wonderful day!  Safe travels Katherine!