Bern, Switzerland

As we drove through Switzerland, we saw more of the hillside farms and villages that we saw in Italy. These hills are not easy to walk on and the terraced plots are only mostly level. Our next stop was Bern, Switzerland. This is an interesting food idea - sausage in a baguette. yum!

The streets of Bern.

The old streets had these statues everywhere. This one is a fighting bear. Apparently, there is a story about the founder of this town. He said he would name the town after the first animal he killed during a hunt. He caught a bear, so the town was named Baeren (German for bears). Eventually, it was shortened to Bern.

The town has kept pet bears in "bear pits" for a long time. I saw the old pits and they were literally pits with a few rocks for the bears to climb on. The new bear pit is a nice hillside with trees and things right next to the river. It seems much more comfortable for the bear.

The city has a river flowing around it on both sides. It is beautiful!

We climbed up to a garden to see the view and the flowers. Sadly, the roses were not yet in bloom.

One last visit to the Bern bear.

We also saw some beautiful old churches and other buildings. I especially liked the stain glass in this one.

Goodbye Switzerland!