Day 2 (Ducks over Bern)

The morning started with a bit of sleeping late and enjoying a really nice breakfast in Barbara's kitchen.

The weather was a bit dreary so we took our time to get ready to see Bern. At around noon we left the apartment and made our way to the public rose garden. Sandra is a big fan of roses so we just couldn't skip that one.

The city of Bern is built around the meandering river Aare, which has carved it's way through the soft chalky stone of the area. From the rose garden we had a great view of the city.

A steep path lead us down from the rose garden to one of the bridges we could use to cross the Aare.

The current in this river is pretty strong, but sad enough the weather wasn't nice enough to go for a swim. I know from experience that it's great fun to walk along the river upstream, jump into the water and let the stream carry you through the city.

We continued through the city where we bumped into the famous Zietgloggeturm (lit: Time-clock-tower).

And the Bundeshaus, the place where the Swiss parliament resides.

Then we walked down to the river where some of the older buildings of the town can be found. Some of these are built in the 15th and 16th century.

As the river is about 60 - 80 m lower than the main part of the center, there are a lot of stairs to be found. Many of which are covered with a roof.

We also found a nice example of what over-regulation can lead to.

The top sign reads Soccer playing prohibited and the bottom one reads Soccer playing allowed. Strange people these Swiss.

Around 4 PM we picked up Barbara at her office, where we encountered a rather weird bath companion.

To give you an idea of it's size, the fire-extinguisher in the pic is a regular size one. We debated for a short while as to what to do with dinner. Sandra and I wanted to either invite Barbara to dinner in a restaurant or cook her a meal at her place. As we were all pretty tired we decided to go shopping and then cook together at home. It turned out to be a great four course dinner. Sandra made her famous goat cheese with honey-mustard dressing salad, Barbara made Äpfelwaaie which is a Swiss sort of mix between pizza and apple cake and I made corncob with creme fraîche. For dessert we had Dutch Bitterkoekjespudding that Sandra had made in the morning.

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