Block Leave, Part 1: Bern, Switzerland

To my small audience of beloved readers, thank you so much for your support and interest in my travels and life abroad in Italy. You all are quite amazing to stick with me through my negligence of upkeep. The blog shall continue, though, how could it not when I have so much to tell you all! As I write this, I am on a train from Lyon, France headed to Bordeaux with my wonderfully awesome and handsome husband! We began our journey on Easter Sunday (and since our sweet mothers were not here to stuff us with chocolate yummies we took it upon ourselves to do so...with authentic Swiss chocolate!) 

Scott's expensive, white penis sausage...
(Not as yummy as my sandwich)

We arrived Sunday evening to the still town of Bern, Switzerland. After checking into our hostel, we quizzed the receptionist what would be a good place to eat. She informed us that it was easter and nothing was open, but there was one restaurant that she knew would be open, so she marked it on our map of Bern and we walked out into the cool crisp night. With a great view of the city, we ate at our only option for the night, a tourist joint charging 19 Franc (about 20 dollars) for a small sandwich (yeah...ouch). 

My 20 dollar sandwich

Snoring bears.

Even though the city was void of life on Monday morning, Scott and I still found plenty to do. The Bears were out sunbathing in Bear Park and greeted us with load snores. We strolled through the beautiful swiss neighborhood with the most beautiful and quaint houses we’ve ever seen. We peaked inside to Einstein’s museum, but did not pay to enter because there was a zoo nearby that we wanted to check out! Sure enough the Pelicans and pigs were out and about on this easter weekend too! The zoo was pretty awesome. We were just walking along the river enjoying the peacefulness of it all when we happened across a large rock with goats peering down at us. We continued our walk along the river and then realized that this was no ordinary nature trail, but a nature trail with a zoo. No long lines, screaming kids, or Swiss Franc to worry about, just walk along the river and keep your eye out for the sleeping animals. Even though there were flamingos, which are pretty cool, there were no Giraffes (boo). So we headed back into town for some dinner. More shops and cafes were open in the later hours of the day, but to our surprise, the prices were still pretty steep, so we settled for some good ol’ SwissMex. Unfortunately, they do not serve unlimited amounts of chips and salsa at this Mexican restaurant but the food was decent, and though the prices were still astounding, they were cheaper than their cafe competitors (12 Franc for water, really!?) 

Scott says he wants to go cuddle with the sweepy bears.

Cute Swiss houses!

Scott in front of Einstein museum.

I got to pet a Swiss kitty cat. They are nicer here!

When we saw a mound of pelicans we realized we may have just stumbled into a zoo.

Then we saw the goats and knew we did.

Scott had to resist the kill, but I bet the bacon would have been good. 

Flamencos but no giraffes...I'd give it 3 stars I guess. 

The next day, we were on a mission. We had, like big dummies, packed all of our items for the trip into a big blue PX duffle bag....no bene. It ripped as I was walking to the Lerino train station (the one right behind our house). It was heavy and cumbersome, and we were more willing to throw it away with all of our belongings inside rather than carry that thing around any longer. Fortunately we were in Mountain country where everyone backpacked and hiked so the sport stores were plentiful. Needless to say Scott and I got us some good swiss backpacking back packs, split our items and were happy campers...worth every Swiss Franc if you ask me, worth every Swiss Franc circulating in the hugenormous banks next door if you ask Scott, (he was the one who was bearing the load of the dumb-heavy duffle). 

Look at me all backpacker like. 

Just look how happy he is!

Once our bags were packed, we headed back out, bought another small stash of chocolate, and went to reserve our train tickets. As I was standing in line, Scott wanted to spend the rest of our Franc cash to buy a pair of sunglasses (his walmart pair could not withstand the intensity of our traveling). When he came back, and I had our tickets in hand, Scott had a huge smile and a huge cone of ice cream. But not just any ice cream mind you. There is history behind this. When people ask me from my previous travels what were some of the best foods I had eaten, this particular swiss chocolate ice cream always ends up somewhere near the top ten. As Scott and I walked to the train station, we saw an ice cream stand and there it was in all of its smooth rich glory, swiss chocolate ice cream with large shavings of dark chocolate. We demolished, I mean savored, the ice cream, hopped on our train and headed to our next destination: Lyon, France.

Scott liked the man eating ogre fountain. 

Aww, what a sweet bear.

But I'm a mean Car. 

I've always wanted to be part of the landscape. 

These storage looking doors along the street...

...turned into full on stores, bars, and clubs!

Walk along river Aare. 

Sampson killing the lion. 

Scott making sure his watch is on time. 

Scott found his high school statue of himself throwing discus..

Can anyone guess why Scott loved our hotel in 

View from our hotel.

Ok, really freaky witch looking lady with a stroller full of dolls.
I was a little afraid when Scott snapped the picture,
 that she would turn him into one of his dolls. 

Overall, we liked Bern...and this harpist.