2 years and 71 days since the start of the 1st lock down in March 2020
Our first full day in Switzerland and Bern did not disappoint. After a very good breakfast and taking time to sort out waterproofs etc. we headed off to the old part of the city which is just a few minutes from our hotel. The city is really attractive and virtually every building is at least three hundred years old and some much, much older. The weather started off sunny but gradually the clouds started closing in as forecast. Just as we arrived at the Bears’ garden the heavens open which forced us to stop for ice cream at a place that I had identified before we had left the UK. I had excellent salted caramel and raspberry with elderflower and Colin had coconut and black vanilla - delicious.
Afterward we had managed to get our waterproofs on, covered our rucksacks and put my camera rain cover on… the rain started to go off. We were very lucky to see all three bears and they have a lovely enclosure. Bjork is 22 years old, Finn - 16 years old and Ursina 13 years old. The rumour (rather like the ravens and the Tower of London) is that Bern will fall should the bears leave the city!
The rain stopped, sun came out and we walked along the fast flowing river Aare until we could cross the river and take an 1897 elevator designed by Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) up to the higher level of the city. It was beautiful with views over the best kept allotments I have seen. We had illicitly made up mini rolls over breakfast which we enjoyed for lunch along with a very good coffee - Switzerland is definitely very good for coffee.
After our break during which I fed the sparrows by hand, we walked on through the city and stopped by Migros supermarket that I had spotted before we left. The plan had been to have an early dinner there but we went one better and bought salads and desserts to eat back at the hotel.
After our classy dinner we headed back out in the evening minus rucksacks and enjoyed the sunset over the city and we finished the evening by riding the trams using our free passes to test out the route for getting back to the train station. A definite improvement to the hot walk with cases and heavy rucksacks yesterday.
