A day trip to Bern

 July 18 was a day trip to Bern.

We took the bus from the hostel to the train station, then took a 1 hour train to Bern.

We walked around from the train station to the old town, and walked around exploring.

The Bern area is good at growing onion, olives, garlic.  Lots of olives here!

We went to the main cathedral in town, and walked around the church and then up, up, up the winding stairs to the top to get some views of the old town's red rooftops and the river.  Rachel climbed up all the steps herself, and Ava was in the carrier.  On the way down, we also saw the huge church bells.

We walked further downhill, through a neat street with old architecture.  Stores and homes were accessed through cellar doors that opened to the cobblestone street.  Then we crossed the river to a view point of a small area where bears are enclosed in a fence and roam for people to see.  The bear must be the symbol for the provincial area of Bern or something, because we saw many flags and bear symbols.

After a picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the girls caught the bus back toward the train station and Jason walked along the river.

We met at the city hall building, which had a wonderful water fountain out front that kids came to play in.  We didn't have bathing suits, but it was hot and we enjoyed getting soaked.

After that, we walked back to the train station.  We being able to fill our water bottles with clean, free water from decorative fountains.  Then we caught the train back to Lucerne, and drooled at the chocolate and pastry shops in the train station.

Bern transit center

Chocolate slabs

Pastry/pretzel shop

Bedtime story back in the hostel bunk bed