Bern: Switzerland's Capitol City

We had been planning for a while to take a trip to Bern, the Capitol of Switzerland.  While it is only one hour by train from Lausanne to Bern, we decided to make a weekend trip of it.

A friend back in Durham had connected us to her sister who has lived in Bern for a number of years (thanks Barbara!).  We had several lovely email exchanges with our friend's sister (Carol) and had hoped to meet up in Bern.  Alas, the only weekend available to us was a weekend she and her family were going out of town themselves.

While we did not get to meet Carol, she suggested several places and sights for us to visit in Bern.  We followed her suggestions and had a wonderful time. Thanks, Carol!

Our hotel was right on the edge of old town.  This was a funky little place, housed in a former brewery, with an ancient elevator that could hold a maximum of three people at a time.  The kids really got a kick out of working the old fashioned doors.

Going up?  Guys in old fashioned elevator.

  As only three could fit in the elevator at time, and since we were too impatient to take two elevator trips, one of us had to walk the five flights up to our room each time we returned.  A little grueling, but at least it was good exercise!

Our first evening in town we went to see the laser light show that was projected on the Parliament Building on weekend evenings in November. We did not know what to expect, but we had been told this was a "must see."  We arrived a little early, about a half hour before show time, and were surprised to find no one in the square.   After a quick stroll and the purchase of a few sandwiches for dinner at a nearby deli, we headed back to the square.  Now at 10 minutes until show time, the place was packed!  Mark estimates that there were about than 3,000 people standing in the square outside the Parliament building on what was a very chilly night.

In front of the Parliament Building

The show was amazing.  I wish we had taken some photos, but I suspect a photo would not have done the performance justice.  The building came alive with laser-created animation and whimsical characters that told some of the story of Switzerland's history--using the building itself as a character.  A really unique experience.

On our first full day in Bern, we took a walking tour of old town that was suggested in our guide book.  While we were walking, we encountered a ton of bikes.  Interestingly, the bikes were parked and we didn't see too many people riding around town on their bikes.

Bernites like their bikes!

We walked through the old streets and markets.  Bern's old town is known for its multiple fountains, dating from the 1500s.

Boys in front of the Zahringer Fountain

This walk also included a stop at Bern's famous clock tower.  The bells and moving characters that come alive every hour have been in operation for centuries.

The Zytgloggeturm Clock Tower

We were surprised to learn that Einstein had lived in Bern for several years, where, after failing to secure an academic position, he finally landed a job in the patent office.  And it was here in Bern that he wrote his most famous papers, including his paper on relativity.  We toured his apartment and learned about his life in Bern.

Guys in front of Einstein's House

We then walked to the far side of old town to see the famous Bern bears.   The city of Bern is named after the bear and bears have resided in this city park since 1480.

After a picnic lunch in the park by the bears, we made our way to the Cathedral of St. Vincent.  This cathedral was built between 1421 and 1573, though the spires weren't erected until the 19th century.  We walked all the way to the very top of the spires -- 370 steps up!

At the very top of St. Vincent's Cathedral

Bern is situated in a bend Aare River, and there are several bridges across the river.

Guys on one of Bern's Bridges.

Late in the day we made it to the Natural History Museum. The museum was interesting, but we were all tired by this point in the day, and most of the signage was in German, so we didn't get as much out of this visit as we had hoped.

Day two:  The Bern Adventure Continues.

After a good night's rest, we were ready for day two!  We started with a little play at a park near our hotel.

Kids climbing on a monument dedicated to the postal service.

Fun!

There are outdoor chess sets at various places around Bern.  After the park we stopped at one for a game.

Chess in the shadow of the Parliament Building

Enough play! Time for an educational activity! We decided to tackle the History Museum first.

The Bern History Museum was great.  It had a large exhibit dedicated to Einstein.  This was particularly interesting as it interwove Einstein's personal history with the history of the time -- first world war, second world war, etc.  This gave us many opportunities to talk with Christopher and Matthew about important historical events.  Challenging, to be sure.  Try explaining devaluation of currency after World War I to a 6 and 9 year old.

From the History Museum we walked a couple of blocks to the Bern Communications Museum.  This was Christopher's and Matthew's favorite place in Bern.  It was a hands- on museum which provided them lots and lots of opportunities to try things out.  For example, typing on an electric typewriter. (Matthew asked “What is a typewriter?"  I am not kidding.)  And they got to make a call using a rotary phone.  It was funny to see Christopher pick up the receiver and stared at the dial.  He had no idea that you put your finger in the hole and turn.

All in all, our visit to Bern was full, fun, and diverse.  And both boys have added electric typewriter to their Christmas lists.  How's Santa going to secure that?  I guess he'll have to stop at an antiques store.

Sion

We are getting to the bottom of our "must see" list for Switzerland.   We are lucky.  We really have done and seen a lot.  And there are still a few highlights left.

This past Saturday (11/12/11) we went for a day trip to Sion.  Sion is the capitol of the Canton of Valais and about an hour away by train.  We had heard there were some great hikes and castles.  We were not disappointed!

From the train station we headed to the Information Office to load up on maps and other pertinent info. Here we discovered that there is a nice walking tour of Sion that would lead us past local landmarks and up to the hilltop castles.

Part of the walking tour took us through Sion's old town, filled with lots of cute shops and restaurants.

Walking through Sion

The old part of town has a large, pedestrian friendly street running down the middle called Grand Pont (Large Bridge).  Here a river used to flow and there was a large bridge that spanned the river.  That river was diverted underground and this street remains.

There are two large hills above Sion.  On the hill to the left of the main path (Chemin de Chateau) are the ruins of Chateau de Tourbillon.  We headed there first.

Mark and the boys on the way to Chateau de Tourbillon

It was a very steep hike.  Of course, Christopher and Matthew ran almost the entire way while Mark and I stopped to take a rest now and again and marvel at their energy and strength, not to mention the views.

About half way up the boys stop and wait for us to catch up

While Chateau de Tourbillon is a ruin, it is still very impressive.  Chateau de Tourbillon was built by a 13th-century bishop to defend Sion against the House of Savoy.

Lots of fun places to explore inside the walls of Chateau de Tourbillon

We had a picnic lunch at Tourbillon, inside the castle walls.

Picnic in the castle courtyard. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves!

The view from Chateau de Tourbillon. In the background is Valere, the other hilltop castle in Sion.  That's our next stop.

At the base of Tourbillion is another path leading up another steep hill and Sion's other hilltop attraction, the Chateau de Valere.  The foundations were built as a fortress by the Romans.  The basilica, which was built in the 12th and 13th centuries, is still an active church.  (The Canton of Valais resisted the Reformation, remaining heavily Catholic to this day.  It is one of the most religious cantons in Switzerland.)  Inside the church is a 14th century organ that is thought to be the oldest playable organ in the world.  It remains in regular use.

Under the old organ. It would have been really something to have heard it played!

At Valere there was also a museum which told (and displayed) the town's history from the neolithic period to today.  Our trusty museum pass got us in for free.  It was a great museum filled with artifacts from every age.  And we were literally the only people in the museum for the duration of our visit.

After a long day, we headed back down the hill and through town to catch the train to Lausanne.

Hard to believe that near the bottom of our "must see" list is this fascinating town with major ruins, great hikes, and the oldest playable organ in the world.

A Day in Martigny

We had not heard of Martigny before we arrived in Switzerland, but our day trip there last Saturday has made it one of our favorite places.

Martigny (located about an hour from Lausanne) is in the valley just below the Saint Bernard pass, a famous and ancient pass through the Alps.  Both Julius Caesar and Napoleon crossed here.  The pass also is home to the Monks of Saint Bernard and their famous dogs.

The monastery up in the pass is not accessible to visitors at this time of year, but in Martigny there is a museum honoring the history of the Saint Bernard Monks and their rescue dogs.  Here they have all kinds of interesting artifacts and displays about mountain climbing, the Monks, and rescues in the Alps.  But the best part of this museum is that they have eight Saint Bernards on site.

Christopher and Matthew love dogs, so visiting the Saint Bernards in Martigny was a trip we were all looking forward to.

These dogs were incredibly large, incredibly cute, and super friendly and gentle.  If not for the slobber, maybe there'd be a Saint Bernard in our future.



We didn't know what else Martigny might have to offer beyond the dogs, but after a long visit at the museum in the morning, we decided to walk around town just to see what might be there.  This being Switzerland,  we wound up exploring more Roman ruins, climbing to a medieval castle, and, the biggest surprise of all, stumbling on an amazing exhibit of Monet paintings in the town's art museum! 

The Roman ruins were located adjacent to the St. Bernard museum and kennel.  There was a large amphitheater, and some homes and baths.  We read an account of the famous battle of Martigny, a battle in which the locals almost succeeded in chasing a Roman garrison out of town, but the Roman army prevailed in the end.  (Our Latin wasn't quite up to reading this account in the original language of the contemporary historian who wrote it, but there was an English translation alongside the French and German translations.) 

It's perhaps a sign that we've been here long enough to have grown accustomed to certain aspects of Switzerland that it didn't even occur to us to take pictures of these ruins, not even of the large and nicely restored amphitheater.

After lunch in a cute little cafe, we climbed up to the castle ruin (Château de la Bâtiaz). We didn't know about this castle before arriving in Martigny that morning, but this imposing structure can be seen from every corner of town, so we decided to find our way up to it.

Château de la Bâtiaz

After a healthy hike we got to the top of the hill.  While we were able to look around the grounds, we could not go into the castle.  It was closed for a private party.  Yes, you can rent this castle for your next shindig.  Something to think about!



On the way back down, we crossed over this wonderful covered bridge that spans the Dranse river.  The bridge was built in 1820 and is the only covered bridge in Switzerland that is still open to car traffic.

And then there's the art.  While we had made the trip to Martigny to see the dogs, and while we weren't all that surprised to find Roman ruins and a cool castle in town, we had no idea that we were in for a world class art exhibit.  All over town we noticed signs for a Monet exhibit at the Fondation Gianadda museum.  I checked our trusty Swiss Museum Pass, realized that the museum entry fee was covered (as was the entry fee to the St. Bernard museum), and we headed to see some major works of art.

Boys in front of the Fondation Gianadda Museum
(no photos allowed inside)

The exhibit was incredible.  There were 70 Monet paintings from throughout his career.  There were water lilies and cathedrals and train stations.  The museum was small and we were able to get up close to the paintings. So close that on many of them we could see brush strokes and layers of oil paint.  Wow! We were able to talk to the boys about Impressionism and what Monet was trying to capture and the differences among the paintings based on light and perspective.  I'm not sure they got the significance of it all, but being surrounded by Monets brought tears to my eyes. 

While our wonderful visit to Martigny had come to a close, our fun day had not.



From Martigny we headed back to Lausanne to see our first professional soccer game. 

Allez Lausanne!

The start of the game.  The professional players are accompanied by youth soccer players.
Lausanne is in blue, so Christopher and Matthew fit right in by wearing their Duke hats!

Our team is called Lausanne Sport. We are in last place in our league, and we were playing the first place team, Bale (which is how the French say Basel). So we were the underdogs.

But we scored first!

Lausanne scores and the crowd goes wild!

It was a super fun night. Lausanne played hard. We got to see five goals, a number of fouls and yellow cards, and the Lausanne Sport coach thrown out of the game.

In the end, Lausanne lost 3-2.  But a good time was had by all!



Switzerland isn't Ireland or Italy (where our first cab driver in Rome told us it wouldn't be safe to go near the soccer stadium that night during the game because of the potential for violence), but we did see more police presence (including several dozen officers standing by in riot gear) at the Lausanne soccer stadium than we've seen during our entire stay in Switzerland.  And the Bale fans were cordoned off in their own section that was fenced off from the rest of the stands.  There was no violence, and we also were thankful that, while the boys definitely have learned some French, they haven't learned enough French to be able to understand the rabid fan behind us who was cursing up a storm during the game. They could tell something was going on because the kids in front of us kept turing around and pointing at the guy, but they did not seem to be able to follow his foul-mounted diatribe against the players and the ref.  Whew!

Something about the combination of things we did today -- playing with St. Bernards, walking around a Roman amphitheater, hiking to a medieval castle, stumbling upon a Monet exhibit, and singing "Allez Lausanne" at our home team's soccer game -- encapsulates our experience of living in Switzerland.  It was a good day.

Fall Break Part I: The Eternal City

The kids' two-week (!) fall break from school just ended.  This is the first of three posts about our fall break adventures, which started with four days in Rome.

Inside the Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

Palatine Hill (where the Emperors lived)

With our guide, Guiseppe, at the Roman Forum

Walking up to the Pantheon

(Ami is in jeans and Matthew is in red pants)

We finished off the day with a run in the Circus Maximus, where the chariot races were held.  Well, the kids ran.  Mark and I walked.

And that was just day one!

On our second day, we visited Rome 3-D, an interactive museum near the Colosseum.

We'd fit right in to ancient Rome

The gladiator's life is spared!

Eating gelato (which we did a lot of in Italy) in front of a fountain at Santa Maria Maggiore

Learning how to be a gladiator at Gladiator School

Hanging out at Trevi Fountain

Whew!  That was a long day!  Onto day three.

We started day three visiting the catacombs.  No photographs allowed.

In the afternoon, we took the bus to another country: Vatican City.

Mark and the boys outside St. Peter's Basilica

Waiting on line to get through security at St. Peter's--where they confiscated my Swiss Army knife!  UGH!

Actually, rather than confiscate it, they allowed me to hide it under a garbage can near the security scanning machines.

Would it still be there after our visit?

Swiss guard posted outside St. Peter's Basilica.

He wasn't impressed that we were from Switzerland.

The knife was still there!  Yay!

Day four and it is time to leave Rome.  But there was still one more site on our list:  Michelangelo's Moses, which was located in a church (San Pietro in Vincoli) just up the street from our hotel.

We headed for the train station thinking that was the end of our Rome adventure, but at the station we encountered a loud demonstration, which we think (based on Google Translate) was a demonstration by railway workers involved in a contract dispute.

Arrivederci, Roma!

Fall Break Part III: The Matterhorn

After our Italy adventure and three days back in Lausanne catching up on work and laundry and sleep, we noticed that we were in for a few days of gorgeous weather, so we headed to the Matterhorn!

We took the train from Lausanne to Zermatt (the town at the base of the Matterhorn).  Zermatt is a super cute, no-car village with tons of little hotels, restaurants, and shops.

The Matterhorn is in the Pennine Alps.  As we walked from the train station to our hotel, we wondered which one of the dramatic peaks around us was the Matterhorn.

Is the Matterhorn one of those peaks in the background?

Oh, that's the Matterhorn! Hard to miss, once you look in the right direction!

The photos don't do it justice, but in person it's easy to see why there's so much romance attached to this particular mountain.

We rode gondolas into the mountains, to the Glacier Palace, which is a visitors' area carved into a real, live glacier.

The gondolas were packed with skiers as there is skiing here year round.

The Glacier Palace had ice sculptures and an ice slide.  It was cold, but spectacular.

Matthew on the ice slide

Christopher on the ice slide

Mark and I went on the ice slide, too.  No photos available.

The Matterhorn from an observation deck in the mountains

On our way down from the Glacier Palace, we stopped and played in the snow.

Making a snow man

The next day we hiked a bit under the Matterhorn before catching the train back to Lausanne.

Having a chat with a sheep on the trail.

Alvederzein, Matterhorn!

All in all, a pretty good fall break.  Now it's back to school and work.