Bern - July 8, 2011

We spent the last evening at a Holiday Inn express just outside the city of Bern. It was located inside a large shopping mall which was convenient as we got breakfast there the next morning. They had a smoothie store in the mall where Soph and I got a yummy berry smoothie as well as my favorite pastry shop "Paul" where I picked up a croissant for breakfast and an eclair for snack later that day. After we got our breakfast we drove into the city of Bern. We parked at the main train station near the center of all the action/attractions.

Again our guidebook had a little city walking tour. It first took us to the Heiliggeistkirch (or Holy Ghost Church) I thought it was so pretty inside with the pastel colors on the ceiling.

Sophie kept herself entertained while we looked around

Next our tour took us to the Swiss Parliament building as Bern is the Swiss Capital. They had a fun splash fountain out in front of the Parliament as well as a farmers market across the street where I picked up some garden peas.



Around the back side of the Parliament building was a park overlooking the river. Soph and Chris played a bit of chess.
Views of the river.

Next it was on to the towns famous clock tower. Can you spot Soph?

A closer view of the clock. Can you tell what time it is? We couldn't either. Apparently it is supposed to tell you the date, stage of the moon and zodiac.
One of the 11 colorful fountains commissioned for the city to brighten it up from all the grey buildings.
Our tour then took us to Bern's Catholic turned Protestant Cathedral.

Chris and Sophie climbed to the top of the bell tower for some city views while I stayed below to tour the interior of the cathedral a bit.

Near the cathedral we found a park and stopped for a few minutes to play.

Our tour ended at the bear pits. The bear is the symbol of Bern so they have always housed a few bears in town.

Soph's holding tight to Teddy Lion so the bear didn't eat him.

After visiting the bears we then found dinner in the pedestrian area of the city and ended our day with a popsicle.
We then had an hour drive to the Interlaken area where our next hotel was. We knew it was just ouside of Interlaken but little did we know that our hotel was on a cliff side half way up the mountain. More to come from Interlaken.