After an amazing time in Venice, we were eager to get back to our French home and friends, who we only have for 10 more days before getting the boot. Our 90-day visas are up, which is one big bummer traveling to Europe, its just not enough time.

There was one place on our “must-see” list, that we couldn’t skip. An opportunity fell into our lap that we couldn’t ignore. The flight home from Venice takes us to Basel/Mulhouse, from which is only a one-hour drive to the next place on our travel-docket; Bern, Switzerland.

You must be wondering why this seemingly random place is even on our radar. We learned about Bern when we moved our Bosco boat through the East Coast and landed in New Bern, NC. It is a place that has become dear to our hearts, and also happened to be founded by a Swiss entrepreneur, Christophe de Graffenreid, who named this newly discovered location after his home town, Bern. It is the second-oldest European settled colonial town in NC, and has many historical landmarks, many of which nod to the Swiss style architecture. And quite appropriately, the emblem of New Bern is the bear.

So our venture into Bern began the morning of our departure. We learned that our friends have a conflict of time for the next 24-hours, leaving us a window of exploration-opportunity…an EXPLORTUNITY (my made up word). We planned to rent a car at the airport and drive into Bern for the day.

The main complication is that the roadways in Switzerland require a specific toll pass and the acquisition of said item is a bit complicated, especially when renting from a French car company. The reason we did this instead of the Swiss car company is the cost was CRAZY CHER (on the Swiss side).

The other issue is that our phone with a French SIM card does not work in Switzerland…or rather costs a lot of money. So we will keep it off throughout the entire journey. That means no ability to use GPS maps, places to visit, etc, ability to contact anyone, we will be in a black hole of communication. Not that this is new for us (life on a boat, you know), but it is an added layer of complexity. We like to think of it as a challenge, can we travel Switzerland without a phone?

The logistics of the trip were not well-planned. In fact, we didn’t even have a booking for the evening until the day-of our flight. The initial place we booked had to cancel because the host got ill, so we were scrambling to find something that isn’t going to cost an arm and a leg (maybe just a few fingers instead) 😉

I found us a decent price on an apartment in a converted schoolhouse; and requested the booking just before our flight from Venice took off. Its a bit outside of the city, a village called Sumiswold, but with the car it shouldn’t be a big deal.

Fingers crossed that it all pans out. The flight was easy and quick, though very bumpy and left us a bit woozy from all the jostling around. Once we landed back in Basel, we are on familiar ground and it was easy to navigate through this airport, out into the France-side of the terminal. We can still use our phone, and I received confirmation of our rental and took as many screenshots and notes as I could. Maps, directions, any and all information, so that once we exit the airport, we will no longer have the SIM card turned on.

The rental car company was easy to spot. I had to get my French-language hat back on, but was still fumbling for words when we got to the counter as my brain was still in Italian-mode. Jake came to the rescue, greeting the attendant in French and asking if he spoke English (THANK GOD) he does! We made sure to let him know that we plan to drive in Switzerland and hoping for a Swiss pass and GPS. After some paperwork, we were told that we have to pay a deposit, €2000, which was shocking, since the rental price was only €45. That deposit is returned when (and if) we return the car. I guess this is one way to ensure cars aren’t stolen?

Our car was parked just outside, a very cute navy blue modern car with a keyless entry and a really swank GPS dashboard. We sat there for about 20 minutes playing with the GPS, trying to switch language to English (it was set to German) and then pulled up the map. It was so intuitive and brilliantly designed, even better than the phone. Its a huge relief!

And now the real fun begins, Jake pulled the car out of the spot and into a circular maze of roads. It took us a few wrong turns to find the escape and at last we are on the right highway, heading south into Switzerland. At least here everyone drives on the right side of the road (same in America). It was very cloudy today, threatening to rain but holding off as we followed the beautiful, wide and smooth road into rolling green expanses with Swiss-style homes and craggy mountains in the not so far distance. The fog grew thick and heavy, which only minimized the beautiful views that we were missing. At least driving wasn’t too bad and we followed our random point in Bern, via our amazing GPS map.

Now in my mind, Bern was a small and quaint village, much like that we have explored with Anthony in France, maybe like Kaysersberg or Riquewihr; small, easy to negotiate, easy to walk in just a few hours. So when we pulled across a gigantic bridge into a sprawling mecca that lay ahead, I was shocked. Bern, as the capital (we learned later), is the 5th most populated city in Switzerland.

The road signs were very confusing, and it appeared there was no parking to be found anywhere. I spotted a parking garage sign on one of the road signs and we followed it down into an underground arena. The signs were in German so it was hard to know exactly where to go, but we found ourselves a spot and were grateful to turn off the car. At least we made it this far, and honestly, how much could parking cost for just a couple of hours? (quite a lot actually, we learned later)

Completely famished, we stopped at the first place we came, which happened to be Starbucks. Not the quaint village cafe we imagined, but the idea of a hot coffee (caffeine) was too appealing. And for only €15 we shared a large coffee and 2 croissants. Its crazy cher here, I guess its good we are only visiting for the day. With a bit of fuel in the system, we took to the streets. This city was built on a hilly peninsula surrounded by the river Aare, which makes it extraordinarily photogenic. We happen to be in the Old City (German: Altstadt). It has preserved its medieval style through the centuries with sandstone structures and cobbled streets.

There was a significant amount of construction happening right under the Zytgloggle, or Time Bell; one of the most famous landmarks, not only for its incredibly unique design but because it was one of the earliest public timekeeping devices. We skirted the mess and continued along the promenade, one of the longest covered shopping areas in all of Europe. I was keen to visit all of the shops, but we wanted to walk the city first, since the bad weather is due to come later this afternoon.

Strolling through the Old City with distinctive sandstone buildings, charming alleys and grand monuments made me a
“photo-maniac” (as per usual) as we walked down the cobbled street. We passed through several cathedrals, parliament buildings and street corners with such beautiful medieval characteristics.

Every so often we passed a fountain with a different Renaissance allegorical statue, designed by Hans Gieng. There are eleven of these fountains decorated throughout Bern, but more than 100 public fountains in total, built for a public water supply. My favorite was Läuferbrunnen (Runner Fountain), particularly because of the cute bear that reminded me of a childhood toy that I used to own.

The very top of my list of places to visit was Bärengraben, the bear garden. Why are bears even in Bern? The founder of Bern, Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen, vowed to name the city after the first animal he met on the hunt, which turned out to be a bear. This attributes the name of the city and its heraldic beast.

The earliest reference to the keeping of live bears in the dates to the 1440s. We walked down to the far end of the Nydeggbrücke (The Nydegg bridge) and came out to a very steep hillside. At the edge is indeed a pit with three giant bears. There also happens to be a really lovely park and walking path, it almost looks like the bears are part of the path, but there are actually barricades to keep them safely apart from human interaction.

It was really fun moseying the streets. Jake met a funny cat along the path of the Aare River, who was very inquisitive. The water was so blue-green it held a rich contrast to the gray sky and green around the city. I spotted a huge bell tower peaking high above every other rooftop and we made our way in that direction.

The Münster of Bern, which is a Gothic cathedral that also happens to have the tallest bell tower in all of Switzerland. It was extraordinary in its fine detail, and towering facade. Above the main portal is a rare complete collection of Gothic sculpture representing the Last Judgment where the wicked will be separated from the righteous. So intricate and beautiful.

The Rose Garden sat right next door and provided a nice sitting spot to take in the Matte neighborhood, the oldest part of Bern and a beautiful overlook of the Aare. It would be so easy to while away the day here, with a cup of hot coffee and a sweet treat, but the rain started to fall, and not lightly. Thankfully we weren’t far from the promenade and found this to be the perfect time to pick up some nifty gifties for our New Bern friends.

With so many different boutiques, it was shopping heaven. My favorite was a small, out of the way store called Holz Art, with handmade wooden figurines, and owned by three women-artists. The detail of each piece was extraordinary, and I couldn’t leave without getting a small token for the “Travel Tree”. In one shop, one of the store keepers actually said that a lot of people from New Bern come here to visit, so I guess Jake and I aren’t that original after all.

Under the arcades and vaulted cellars, we were completely covered the entire walk back up to the parking garage. It seemed late under the canopy of gray clouds and rain, and it was in fact after 5pm. We thought that before leaving here we wanted to pick up some food to cook for dinner. There is a market just down the block from our car, so we headed there. It was packed with people, and kind of overwhelming to figure out what exactly we should get. Since we aren’t completely positive what our cooking facilities will be, we opted to get as much pre-made stuff as possible, that is until we saw the prices. Food here is OUTRAGEOUS! Especially compared to France and Italy. We only need enough food for dinner and breakfast, so we found spaetzel, green beans, cordon blue, hunter sauce, yogurt, cookies and kiwi, for about $40 equivalent. To add to the madness, we had to pay for parking, which was $20 for only a few hours!

From here we have to drive about an hour out into the Swiss countryside to Sumiswold. It started to rain a lot more when Jake pulled out of the parking area and already the roads were turning into flood-zones. We hoped conditions would improve as we left the city, but the streets only grew more narrow and winding. Jake was a good and cautious driver, but it amassed many cars behind us, obviously irritated by our slowness. Though it wasn’t particularly far, the journey took us nearly an hour.

It was with huge relief when we pulled into the parking of our abode, which actually had a sign with Jake’s name on it! How cute is that? The area is absolutely quiet and peaceful, and if not this deluge of rain, it would be a gorgeous place to sit outside and soak it in. But after today’s fun, I’m just glad to be out of the wet, cold death-roads and in our cute little Swiss-home for the night.

Our host gave us a tour of the apartment, a studio apartment with a really nice bathroom, a nice cushy bed (Actually two beds pulled together) and a kitchen. I was most excited for the bathtub, which has my name all over it! We unloaded our bags quickly and fixed a German feast in only 15 minutes.

After the hot bath, I was keen for a nice long sleep.