We made it to Bern!

Our accomplishment for the weekend: taking the whole family on the train into Bern. That required several smaller accomplishments like getting my passport pictures for my train pass, buying train passes for me and the kids, and getting the whole family to the train station on foot at a reasonable time.

Once we got to the city (only 8 minutes on the express train), we walked through the old town to one of Bern’s best known tourist attractions: the bears. The city (and Canton) of Bern is named after “the Bear” and displays a bear on its red and yellow coat of arms. So, for many years there has been a bear park (“Bärengraben”) in the city that houses three bears. The best part of it is its location and beautiful view of the Aare river and the old town.

On the way there we walked quite a long way through the weekend outdoor markets, past the beautiful old church (Munster), the city’s clocktower (Zytglogge), and under the arcades past many high end shops. The kids are conditioning their Swiss walking legs, and they did great. But, after lunch by the Bärengraben and climbing up and down about a hundred steps around the bears and down to the river, we decided to take the tram back through town to the train station. We were home for nap time, and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at home. But we can officially check off one more item on our to do list: visit the city of Bern (check)!