Day Fourteen: Bern and Zurich

Today was our last day in Grindelwald. We pack our things, said goodbye to Johaan, and then headed out. Before leaving however, we stopped at the hardware store owned by our mountain guide Marcel's father. Inside, Parker and Elliott each bought authentic Swiss cowbells which were very cool. Elliott's cowbell was actually used by a cow. Somehow, the cow cracked the bell and then the farmer exchanged it for a new one.

We then headed to Bern, the capitol ofSwitzerland  and the capitol of the Bernese canton, essentially the equivolent of a state in the U.S. (There are 26 cantons in Switzerland). 

Bern was established as a fortified town in 1392. The town was strategically placed on a peninsula formed by a river. That way, the city of Bern could be protected from invaders with a single stone wall. Centuries later, the population of Bern grew and available space within the city wall diminished. The town was expanded twice and two walls were built. 

Legend has it that the first ruler of bern didnt know what to name the new city so he organized a hunt in the surrounding woods, promising to name the city after the first animal that was killed. Fortunately they killed a bear first instead of a rabbit or butterfly. The bear is the symbol of the city and Canton of Bern this day.

As bern continued to grow into a flourishing capitol of trade, the city decided to boost security by putting wild animals in the moats which were infront of each of the walls. In the first and outermost moat there were deer, in the second moat there were bears, and in the third an innermost moat there were sharks with LASERBEAMS ON THEIR HEADS. (There actually wasnt anything in the third moat).

Everything from the third wall in is now a UNESCO world heritage site. We saw a lot of buildings that dated back to the 15th, 16th, and 17th century. Our tour guide showed us a few of the 15th century fountains in Bern, a large protestant church, the prison tower, clocktower, former resodence of Albert Einstein (where he came up with the theory of relativity E=mc^2) and a few other landmarks around the city. 

The above statue is one of the many water fountain statues in Bern. This one in particular depicts the father of time. Your eyes are not deceiving you, he is in fact eating babies. Not to promote cannibalism but to show quite vividly how quickly time passes.  

The clocktower. At the top is a large golden figure with a hammer who strikes the bell according to the hour.

17th century art in Bern:

21st century art in Bern:

My, how far we've come.

 After the tour we stopped at an antique store where i got a really cool cast bronze dish from the 60's and a postcard from the 90's for a combined $12. 

We then crossed the Aare river to a restaurant for lunch before heading back to the car. 

We were quite amused to see that some swiss parking garages (including ours) have special parking zones for women and the handicapped. We left at 4 for Zurich. 

We got to zurich around 5, checked into  our hotel and then took a tram into downtown zurich. We walked along the river and saw a bunch of old buildings before heading to a street with a bunch of bars. 

We chose a traditional German restaurant with great food but we had an awful waiter. After dinner we went and saw some live music and had some more drinks at a bar before heading back to the hotel. 

-grant

One of the coolest things we saw in Bern was a giant Catholic Cathedral.

It was decorated with stained glass windows and tons of statues. 

My favorite part of the Cathedral was a Frieze of the last judgement. 

The left sided depicts those who are going to heaven 

and the right depicts those going to hell.

St Micheal the archangel is in the middle fighting with the devil.

-Elliott