Bern promotes baby eating... Thomas Swift would be pleased

Today was my only full day in Bern. I had a leisurely morning, and headed into town on foot for about 11 o'clock. As I walked I noticed I was heading downhill, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to the walk home. In town I decided to just wander the streets. Bern’s Old Town is really pretty. The streets are mostly cobblestone, and there are lots of fountains and statues all around the town. There is also a clock that has little figures that move around on the hour. My favourite site, however, was the Ogre fountain, which is a fountain with a statue of an ogre eating babies. Lots of children were disturbed by this (okay, just one that I saw), but I thought it was pretty magical. I spent most of my time in town walking the streets and trying to resist the urge to go shopping (I was successful!).

At around one I was pretty hungry so I went to the grocery store and bought some cheese, bread, and water (my typical lunch for the past month) and found a picnic table overlooking the river to eat. I was actually starving at this point (it took me at least half an hour to decide what to do for lunch) but I always find that the more hungry I feel the less I can actually eat. I ate half the bun, and about a quarter of the cheese, and the water was frizzante (I really need to learn to check that) so I ended up sharing the bun with some birds and then carrying the cheese and water around with me for the rest of the day.

After lunch I walked along the river, before heading to the tourist centre to buy some more postcards and stamps (as well as some un-fizzed water). The tourist centre is located at the bear pits, which I had decided I did not need to see. I kind of ended up there accidentally. Basically they are just these concrete pits where they keep bears for entertainment purposes (like a zoo, minus any vegetation). None of the bears were actually out in the pits when I was there. Bear pits in Bern actually date back to 1441, and the name of the city, Bern, actually means bear (presumably in German, but don’t quote me on that). Supposedly the founder of the town (forget his name) said he would start his town on the site where he made his first kill while hunting, and he would name the town for that animal. That’s what a postcard told me anyway.

After the bear pits I decided to walk up to the rose gardens. It was actually quite a steep little walk, but it was worth it because at the top you got a view of the entire town. Also, the gardens were beautiful and they smelled great. I think I said I wasn’t impressed with them, but that was before I got to the main gardens. I stayed up in the gardens with the many old people and wrote post cards a wandered around. All in all it was quite a pleasant day. Tomorrow I am off to Grindelwald!