June 29, 2022

We gave ourselves time to sleep in, but had a difficult time because of all of the clock towers that go off every hour in Bern. When we decided it was time to get up, we went back to Aldi to grab breakfast and coffee and ate back in the hostel’s lounge.

After breakfast, we went to the markets which just happen to be held on Tuesdays. We started at the produce market and looked at all the fun fruits, vegetables, and plants they had. Then we went to the other end of the block to see the traders market where we looked at jewelers, hammocks, clothing, woodwork, and lots more. It was really cool but we somehow resisted buying anything.

When we had seen everything at the markets, we went to find the last two fountains which weren’t too far away before hopping on a bus to go see Bear park (which seems to be the most famous attraction in Bern). It’s essentially a big pit in a small park which houses three brown bears that are considered to be a sort of mascot for the city. It was cool to see but also a little sad because the bears didn’t look very happy (but that could be because so many people were watching them try to nap). While we were in the park, we also found a bench with a statue of Einstein so we had to take a ton of pictures with him.

Our next destination was Gurten park which is at the top of a nearby mountain and had AMAZING views of Bern. We took a tram to the bottom of the mountain and then a funicular up the side. The reason we wanted to go was because they have a coaster along the side of the mountain which we really wanted to do. Luckily, the weather cooperated because we had a great time on all 5 runs. We got really fun GoPro videos of Stephanie’s runs. While we were on the mountain, we decided to also explore everything else we could find up there. It was definitely set up to be activities for kids, but that didn’t stop us. We climbed on the giant playground and played with a really cool ball machine where you have to help guide a ball through a track by performing different tasks along the way. We wanted to go on the little train but we decided we were too big for that one (it looked like it was designed for 3 year olds). We had a great time and stayed until we were starving and decided we needed to go back down for lunch. We took the funicular down and took a cool Timelapse of the journey down which shows great views of Bern.

In our search for places to eat that were less expensive, we found a sandwich place that had excellent reviews so we decided it sounded like the perfect quick lunch. The reviews were right and it was exactly what we needed. On the way back to the hostel, we ran into Aldi to grab some yogurts to go with it and then ate back in the hostel. Late afternoon showers must be a thing here because as soon as we finished eating we heard another clap of thunder and it started pouring. It felt like the perfect opening for another quick nap on the couch.

When we woke up, we were happy to see that the rain was done so we grabbed our stuff and took a quick bus over to the Rose garden, another popular spot in Bern for a great view of the city. We wandered through the flower gardens and sat on the ledge overlooking the city taking it all in until we realized we had to go back before the grocery stores started closing. Our first stop was to a chocolatier because we wanted to try some Swiss chocolate. Then we headed to the grocery store and grabbed some Ramen, a chunk of watermelon, and beer and brought it back to the hostel. While we were eating, we heard music outside so we looked out the window to see a circus performance happening in the streets outside our window.

Overall, we had a great day and really enjoyed our time in Bern. We are currently on the train heading to Interlaken!!