We left Lauterbrunnen on a Wednesday morning, stopped at Saint Beatus Caves for a couple of hours, and then traveled on to Bern. We wandered around a little in the late afternoon, and then met up with Joanna's Swiss friend Yoshija in the evening after he got off of work.
I regret that we were there such a short time! It's such a beautiful city, and we barely became acquainted. I'm particularly sad when we see gorgeous architecture, especially cathedrals, and can't go inside.
This is the first building we stopped to see from the outside, St. Peter und Paul Church, built in the mid 19th century.
Then we parked in an underground garage and walked around.
The clock tower (zytglogge) was the first western gate of the city (1191-1256) and the astronomical calendar clock was added in 1530.
The Bern Münster Cathedral of St. Vincent started out Catholic but became Protestant. Construction started in 1421, with the steeple finally completed in 1893.
These garden terraces are nearby.
The Federal Palace of Switzerland is where the parliament and other government functions meet.
At night, a spectacular musical light display is projected onto it.
Joanna and her friend Yoshija, who is very sweet and smart and encouraging.
After our hot drink, we walked around more. Exhausted, I sat down on a bench near a rose garden overlooking the city while Joanna and Yoshija chatted nearby.
I felt so peaceful just resting and gazing down on the cathedral and thinking thankful thoughts. I wish I could have gotten a decent nighttime picture of the city, but this abstract one below is a bit interesting to me. It's sort of a metaphor for my afternoon and evening, which went by like a blur.
Also, I somehow managed to twist my ankle while walking down the steep brick path from the rose garden. It's a good thing I had an ankle brace packed in my suitcase, because we were flying to Paris the next morning!
And I have to say that we were even more tired driving back to Geneva late at night. We had so much stress filling up the rental car at a strange gas station with no attendants and a weird method of doing things - and then returning it after hours at the airport before finally making it back to our hotel via Uber. But we managed. We're good like that. Phew.
The next several posts will be about Paris! Yay!
My Europe posts so far:
#1: Off to Europe!
#2: Our First Afternoon in Geneve
#3: On the Shores of Lake Geneva
#4: All Around Geneve, All by Myself
#5: Sweet Sunday Morning in Geneve
#6: Saint-Pierre Cathedral
#7: Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
#8: On Our Way to the Swiss Alps
#9: O Little Town of Lauterbrunnen
#10: Mürren and Gimmelwald by Cable Car
#11: Staubbachfall in Lauterbrunnen
#12: Foggy Days in Lauterbrunnen
#13: Trümmelbachfalle, Ten Waterfalls in a Big Swiss Cave
#14: St. Beatus Caves at Lake Thun in Switzerland
#15: An Evening in Bern
God bless!
Virginia
