Bern

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I got to Bern early in the morning. I thought about getting breakfast on the train from Zürich, but I decided instead to look for a café when I got to the Swiss capital. I found a place but didn't realize until after I had sat down that it wasn't really a breakfast place. I got a cup of coffee and a basket of croissants, and on my way out, I bought some more baked goods. Then I walked in the direction of the Bundeshaus, the Swiss parliament building.

Walking through Bern was treacherous. The city was one giant glacier. More than once I did a little tourist dance and nearly landed on my butt. Luckily, I never actually fell down.

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From the Bundeshaus I walked toward Bern's famous bear pit. I ended up walking right by it, finding instead the Rose Garden (no roses in January, but there's a nice view). I backtracked and found the pit, though I didn't see any bears—I guess they were sleeping—but I went to the tourist bureau at the pit and picked up a few brochures. P had recommended the Swiss Alpine Museum, so that's where I headed next.

On my way back downtown, I saw a group of protesters carrying a flag that was unfamiliar to me. I decided to follow them and see if I could find out who they were. They met other groups at the Bundeshaus. It turns out that they were Assyrian and Aramaic Christians, protesting actions by Turkey against an important church of theirs in that country.

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After I finally found the museum, I found the frontdesk unattended. In place of a person, there was a sign that said something to the effect of 'please wait, I'll be right back' as well as a bell. The sign didn't say anything about ringing the bell, so I thought I'd avoid being obnoxious and just wait. A lady did finally come, and she told me I could've rung the bell. I continued suppressing my urge to be obnoxious and did not critique her ambiguous sign. Instead I plopped my backpack behind the desk (it was once again too big for the cubbyhole lockers), signed a form pledging that any photos I took were for personal use and began my journey of learning.

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The first exhibition was devoted to geology, geography, cartography and topography: lots of topographical maps. Upstairs there were a plenty more maps and tools, but there were also some portions on Alpine culture, before and after the development of Alpine tourism. The next floor continued with the theme of Alpine tourism and profiled hotel projects that were recently completed or are still in the works.

When I left the museum, I started walking in the direction of the Paul Klee Center, but I never made it there. It had been cold and cloudy all morning, but the sun started burning away some of the haze at this point. I ended up continuing to wander around, finding the equivalent of 'Embassy Row' in Bern and various photo opportunities.

It was sunnier, but it was still cold, so I decided to walk back downtown and warm up somewhere. I found a nice little tea shop and decided to thaw out there. I first looked around at the tea paraphernalia for sale. While I would've liked to buy a souvenir, they didn't really have anything I couldn't buy in Freiburg. I decided that the memory of having drunk tea in Bern would be enough. The gentleman running the shop was helpful and knew his stuff. I ended up ordering a rooibos tea with lemongrass: delicious. I left just as the store was about to close.

I asked the shopkeeper if there was a movie theater nearby; he said yes and pointed me in that direction, so that's where I went next. In the movie theater, I picked up a guide to all the movies playing at all the theaters in Bern. The only thing that really turned me on was the headline 'avantgarde' at the Art Museum, so that's where I decided to go. First I had dinner at an Italian place; most restaurants in Bern seemed to be Italian. Then I searched for the museum and bought my movie ticket.

I must admit, I felt really artsy going to see an avantgarde film at the Art Museum, and while I must've looked like I had been traveling for 12 days, everyone else matched the scene—andy they all spoke French. I felt artsy before I even found out that I'd be watching three silent black-and-white films with live musical accompaniment. Naturally, this raised the level of artsiness exponentially.

The first film was 'A propos de Nice', directed by Jean Vigo. I really enjoyed both watching it and pretending I understood it. The second film was Entr'acte, directed by René Clair. I feel less comfortable commenting on this film, because I dozed off a little. (I'd been carrying my backpack and shivering all day!) I definitely didn't sleep during the third film, though. Number three was 'Le chien andalou', directed by Luis Buñuel. I hadn't been familiar with Vigo or Clair, but Buñuel I knew. We had learned about him in my film class in Madrid. I was especially excited, because I had been wanting to see this particular film since learning about the director. It met my expectations: it was pretty 'loco'.

After the films were over, I went to a café and had an espresso and a beer. I started writing about my trip, but then I grabbed a Bernese newspaper and caught up on recent events. The biggest headline was about the Swiss thirteen-year-old who had a baby.

Finally ready to go home (!) I headed to the train station...