Sitting on the roof-top deck of my hotel, listening to the church bells ring as the sun set over Bern, I decided that perhaps my trip to Switzerland was a rousing success. Sure, I’d only been in country less than 12 hours and a few of the things I wanted to see were closed, but the weather was beautiful, I’d managed to enjoy a couple local beers through the afternoon and I had 360 degree views of the area as evening set in on the Swiss capital. What was not to enjoy?
It actually got even better as another hotel guest discovered the patio. His English was far, far better than my Japanese and we chatted for a few minutes about his travels and mine and our impressions of the city. I love meeting other travelers like that, even if the conversations are less than fully coherent.
The sun finally set on my day but that wasn’t the end of the exploring. I still needed dinner and the city had in incredible glow about it at night. The Capitol was particularly well lit:
The other buildings in the old city were also lit up reasonably well.
Also, in a display which was incredibly kitsch but also reasonably entertaining there was a group of men playing Alphorns at the end of the block outside my hotel. I only caught the end of the performance but it was fun enough. And the guys were quite friendly after the show. I was also impressed by how the instruments separated into smaller sections to be packed away for transit.
My meal that night was rather unmemorable and probably overpriced for what it was. I don’t have many dining recommendations at all from the trip really. But walking the old city at night definitely evoked some of the historical aspects of the area, making me think it might be a bit more worthy as a UNESCO world heritage site than my initial impressions gave me.
Read more from this trip under the Sunny Suisse tag here.
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I loved Bern! I loved the marketplace and watching the bears. What a neat little traditional and historic Swiss village. It was a long time ago that I visited there. Thanks for the photos.
We bought food from the Coop supermarket when we were in ZRH! Cheapest place to eat and the food was decent. Eating out is very expensive though we did find a couple of cheap doner places!
If you were here in Bern after Oct 26th, there is the light show at the parliament building, once at 1900 and another at 2030. Otherwise, you’re spot on: There is not much to see/do here at night… (been here for 2 years and I could see my apartment in one of your photos from the post on the bears of Bern!)
Food is overpriced for what you get in Bern. If you drop by next time, I would say head to Fribourg 25 km away for some outstanding French cuisine.