The travels of Tim and Megan: Switzerland

Bern

Friday saw us on the very fast 8am train from Zurich to the beautiful medieval city of Bern. Bern is the capital city of Switzerland, founded in 1191 by Berchtold V. It was named after the unfortunate bear ("barn" in local dialect) that was Berchtold's first hunting victim. The bear remains the mascot of the city today - there are statues and pictures of bears all over the city - and there are actually some real bears too!

Upon arrival, Tim got a fine hot dog down him and then we wandered the pretty streets, stopping to photograph the impressive clock tower (very similar to the Astronomical Clock in Prague) and the many statues lining the streets, including the rather odd statue of an ogre eating children!!!

We were told it was only -2 degrees in Bern, but it felt just as cold as Prague, so we still had to employ the "duck inside every 4th shop" tactic. We were very disappointed to discover that the Albert Einstein museum was closed for the festive season. It looked really interesting in our travel guide! Lunch was really tasty - pizza and pasta in an Italian restaurant - just a shame that it was excessively smokey in there!

We were in the capital for one night only, a bit unfortunate for Tim as he was struck down in his prime with a vicious dose of Man Flu, relegating him to bed for most of the afternoon. Megan soldiered on and took in (another) church, some chocolate shops and, after a bit of a struggle, a restaurant that would serve a meal for one.

Geneva

After a much slower start on Saturday, we caught the last of our extremely fast and efficient trains from Bern to Geneva. It was slightly warmer and very sunny in Geneva - a welcome change from the dull, grey skies that had followed us elsewhere on our travels.

After checking in to our "4 star" hotel (we would have given 1 star, if that), we wandered the streets and crossed the bridge to the happening side of town. Our first stop was the famous Jet d'Eau, a massive water fountain that sits out in Lake Geneva and shoots water 200m up in the air. It is quite impressive, but it appears that Geneva is so proud of its water fountain that it has become THE feature of the city. We were stumped as to what used to be on all of the postcards before this was created!

We were a little disappointed with Geneva. It was a lot dirtier and seedier (strip clubs everywhere) than the rest of Switzerland and there were far too many people everywhere! We suppose it didn't help that we happened to be in town the same time as the Young Christians' world conference!!!

We roamed the shops and enjoyed a hot chocolate before heading out to dinner at a big Swiss pub. Megan tried the local delights of Swiss Fondue, while Tim stuck with safety first and got a cheeseburger and fries.

On Sunday, we popped out and found some breakfast at a little bakery and then set off on the trams in search of the Red Cross Museum. On our way there, we stumbled across not only the World Headquarters of the United Nations, but also the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). Megan was a little kid at Christmas... Nestled between these buildings was an enormous sculpture of a chair, which was getting plenty of attention from the tourists.

The Red Cross Museum was again a little disappointing. It was interesting enough, but poorly laid out which made it difficult to follow and it was very dark, making it hard to even read the exhibits! After our morning adventures, we had wanted to explore some more shops, but it turned out that almost everything in Geneva was closed - who knew?!

So after a big walk we decided to brave the outdoor ice skating rink. Being the only thing open in the city, it was packed, making it even more dangerous. Tim now not only had to try to stand up and move, but also avoid crushing several thousand small children...After 20 minutes, we would have put Torvill and Dean to shame - naturals! OK, so we exaggerate, but we weren't too bad.

It was slim pickings for restaurants that night, but our last dinner in Switzerland was at a little Chinese restaurant and it was very nice. Then it was back to the hotel to pack our things and off early Monday morning to London to bring in the New Year.

Hunter and
Bear statue