Switzerland Day 6- Bern

We headed back to Bern for our second last day in Switzerland. We checked in and walked out to the nearest bus stop. For some reason, waiting for the bus on this road was so pleasant!

We took a bus to Rosengarten (Rose Garden). So far, we have nothing but praises for Swiss transportation. The buses are punctual and clean. No continuous devilish pressing of bells happening as befalls the buses in UK.

The garden had many varieties of flowers. We quite enjoyed 'stopping to smell the roses'.

Had to get a picture with my namesake- the Lotus flower (莲) Blossoming from the mud below.

At the edge of the garden, this view of Bern met us.

After a nice relaxing stroll, we headed towards the Bärengraben (Bear Pit). The thing I love about Bern is it is mostly accessible by footpath and the distance from one viewpoint to another is not too far. They also provide a stellar tourist map.

On our way down the hill, we saw another brilliant view of Bern. Love the overlapping roofs!

Bears!! 

Love their shiny coat. Not missing clumps of fur like some unhealthy ones I've seen in zoos before.

The bears have quite a huge portion of landscape to wander about. Their habitat is equipped with pools and is located on a slopy hill which allows for plenty of climbing. As you can see, it was clearly a hot day. 

All around Bern, there are these interesting fountains. We managed to see quite a few (we took them as check-in points sometimes as they were plotted clearly on the map). The one to the right is a bit disturbing- known as the Ogre/Child-eater as is clearly portrayed.

Another view of interesting buildings- on the top right is the Church of St Peter and Paul. Particularly love the allotment-like gardens behind the houses that were very neatly kept. 

Clearer view below. Don't you just love the sloping terraces?

Hubby loves trams and tramlines so this picture is for him.

Love the long tram.

 We were on our way to the Munster Cathedral when in front of me there was water that seemed to spurt of nowhere! For 2 seconds and it was over. We looked high and low and couldn't see anything. It would happen again after about 1 minute or so. After standing there for a while in silence, a lady emerged from an underground shop, saw our confused faces and told us a story about the 'Devil'. There was a coin lodged in the bricks on the floor and whoever was tempted by the coin would be spat on by the 'Devil'. Aha! We managed to catch the 'Devil' 'red-handed' (pun intended). It was really not this bright and easy to spot. The building was very high up but with the magic of zoom lens....

From afar, it looked deceivingly quiet.

The lady emerged from this quaint shop. Pictured below was an interesting display in the playground. From what I can make of it, being German-impaired, it is a complex ball-rolling machine? Kugelbahn??

The cathedral entrance. Majestic.

We went to the centre of town to get some lunch and saw some men playing giant chess in the square. How intense. Some very yummy baked goods pictured below as well.

We walked hurriedly to the Zytglogge Tower which was built in the 13th century. The clock faces are epic and have so much story behind them. You can click on the link and slowly read about them. There were so many other tourists standing there, cameras poised, ready to capture the bell when it rings.

We walked around for a bit after, admiring the beautiful architecture.

The bank.

Parliament House.

This was the outside hallway of Parliament House.

Bern Postal Monument

Goodbye beautiful cobbled streets of Bern!

Switzerland Day 5- Gorner Gorge, Zermatt

The view that greeted us the next morning.

We had brilliant weather again and there were people paragliding through the skies.

We managed to see a landing.

We had read online that the Gorner Gorge was worth visiting but the spot was not plotted on the tourist map that we had. So we asked for directions along the way and also looked out for signs. 

We passed this interesting obstacle course next to the cable cars headed up to the Matterhorn. 

After about 30 minutes or so, we came to a bridge.

 We finally saw a sign. From there, we needed to hike up a steep hill for about 15 minutes. 

We were just about reaching the top when we saw a cottage in the clearing. The man in front of us was told that there was a charge of 4CHF to enter the stairwell which was guarded by the occupant of the cottage, a rosy-cheeked woman. Unfortunately they only accept cash! Poor man did not have any on him and he was turned away as they did not take cards. He had to climb back down and presumably walk for about another 10 minutes into the edge of town to find some cash/small change. On a side note, I loved that the plaque on the side of the cottage which had Psalms 111:2 on it.

 'Great are the works of the Lord'

The owner's beautiful dog, lazing in the sun.

The promising aqua blue beckons and so does this little chap here.

The path was made of wooden platforms affixed into the rocky side of the gorge. The platforms were stable although as all wooden platforms, they would creak and move with footsteps.

Can't get over how stunning the light blue is.

After a few minutes of walking and climbing up a flight of stairs, we finally came to the upper source of the waterfall.

Switzerland Day 3 & 4- Zermatt

Our journey to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn began early next morning via Visp. En route, we finally saw some Swiss cows with the giant iconic bells which rang with a happy hollow ding when they moved about. We also saw many people on rafts and kayaks in the river alongside the train.

Spotted cable cars and some beautiful bridges. The Matterhorn rears its head in the distance.

Approaching Zermatt which is nestled comfortably at the foot of the mountain.

We stayed at Patricia Residences- neat self-catering place with the view of the Matterhorn from the balcony. You can squint and try to see it on the bottom right but the hotel staff at the Alpenblick were right. The good weather in the morning turned into cloudy rain in the afternoon.

So we took a short stroll around the area, bought some supplies and got some much needed sleep.

The next day, bright and early we set off to explore Zermatt. The village is quite small so the center was about 10 minutes walk away from the residences. Little did we know but we were there during the Zermatt Festival.

 We saw some interesting folk carrying the Alphorn around and also some tribal dancing by the station.

The Matterhorn was shrouded in thick cloud but every once in a while we could catch a glimpse of its distinctive peak. We had decided not to go up given our recent trip up to Jongfraujoch and my inherent fear of cable cars.

So we admired it from the distance.

We decided to check out the Matterhorn Museum.

Progression of photography

Zermopoly!

I got to feel the feathers of a Steinadler (the Golden Eagle- not the Grimm equivalent) as well as some other rare animals.

We headed down Hinterdorfstrasse (the Old Town) next as we were told that it would make for a romantic stroll. It dates back to the 16th Century and we got to see how the houses stood on peculiar round slabs of rock which was then anchored on chunks of wood. Very fascinating.

After a good walk, we were starving so naturally McDonalds it was. The McBaguette was and still is the best McD product we have ever tasted.

Spot the paraglider. We went into Fuchs bakery to pick out a dessert and called it a day.