DAY 18: Bern

Thursday, August 24th 2010

We were gonna have a whole day in Bern so we slept in. The distance to the old town was about 2.5 km, so we decided to walk. We followed the river Aare, which was very pretty. The current was quite strong, and there were several signs saying that it's dangerous to swim in the river. I don't get why anyone would even attempt it, but we did see some people swimming there during the day. Crazy.

Yet another strange-colored river...

It took us about 25 minutes to walk to the old town. And as always the first thing we did was start looking for a place to eat. The info booklet that we got at the camping site had some suggestions, and we decided to check out Spaghetti Factory. The pasta there was very good, and the portions were pretty huge. I wasn't all that hungry to begin with, so I couldn't finish my spaghetti with bacon, mushrooms and onions :(

Something weird. Note the painted toe nails.

After lunch we started exploring the old town - the astronomical clock (Zytglogge), the Federal Palace (Bundeshaus), Einstein's house, some of the many fountains along the way. The child-eater is definitely my favorite :D

The backside of the Astronomical Clock, and the Bundeshaus

The Child-Eater Fountain

We basically walked through the old town and ended up in the bear park, BärenPark. We thought it was very cool. Mama-bear and the two cubs were sleeping when we got there, and Papa-bear (Finn, from Finland) was pacing around his enclosure. We spent some time there, but since 3/4 of the bears kept napping, we decided to come back later.

The bear park

Björk, the mama-bear

One of the cubs during nap time

The bridges of Bern were spectacular, in my opinion. They were all very high, and unlike any other bridges I'd seen before. The views from the bridges were awesome too. I really liked Bern in general, it didn't feel like a capital city at all, so calm and down-to-earth.

...See what I'm talking about? I <3 those bridges.

We had coffee at a small cafe somewhere near the old town. It was starting to rain, which wasn't very nice. But it didn't last long, and the weather was fine otherwise. We strolled in the old town some more, saw the city hall (Rathaus) and the church of St Paul and Peter, which was right next to it. Eventually we crossed the river again and walked to the Botanical Gardens. The plants and flowers were pretty, although my knowledge in botany is far too limited to fully appreciate it all. 

Another fountain, and the Astronomical Clock behind it

The day passed pretty quickly, and we couldn't leave without seeing the bears again, so we went back to the bear park. All the bears were awake then, and it seemed to be dinner time. One of the cubs was eating (and playing with) a carrot. They were very cute. The cubs looked especially cuddly. After that we took a tram back to the camping site. The day doesn't seem eventful at all now that I wrote about it, I think we were probably quite tired of all the walking :P

Some of the stuff that has fallen into the bear pit over the years :D

-Brain

DAY 17: Geneva and Bern

Wednesday, August 23rd 2010

We got up insanely early, at 6 am. Packing the tent was a bit of a nuisance because it was all wet on the outside. We tried wiping the bottom of it with paper towels (it was muddy), but that didn't help much. We didn't bother waiting til 9 for the reception to open, and just left. We figured we could do that since we paid when we got there. We took a train to Geneva. It stopped in Zurich, Bern, Lausanne and Fribourg, and the journey took about 3 hours. 

In Geneva, we left our bags in a security locker at the station. We didn't have the right amount of coins for it, but some nice locals exchanged a 2 CHF coin for two 1 CHF coins, which was very friendly of them. We wanted a map of the city, and headed for the tourist info, which was supposed to be near the railway station. It took us a while to find it, but eventually we did, and got ourselves maps, yay.

Our second mission was finding a place to eat, and we settled on a Mexican restaurant that seemed affordable. There was a couple speaking English at a table close to ours, and both of us were eavesdropping on their conversation. It seemed like they were on a date, and the guy made very bad small talk: he started talking about how once he ate so much mango he got a migraine, and then continued with how people that suffer from migraines are prone to suicide. Smooth. Very smooth. 

There hasn't been a picture of food in a while :P

There was an ad for some internet cafe in the map, and it said that you get 15 minutes of free internet if you show your map there. We did that, and it was nice to connect to the outside world for a little bit. After that break we started exploring Geneva. We walked to St Pierre's Cathedral, which was quite a long way uphill. After that we walked downhill to the University, and saw the Reformation Wall as well. Realized that neither of us really know much about the significance of it. I'd at least heard of John Calvin, Pinky hadn't. I guess it's safe to say that neither of us is a history nerd :P 

St Pierre's Cathedral, or at least the part that fit into the picture...

 Gigantic chess in the University park, and the Reformation Wall

The University

We walked through the park by the University and ended up on a street that we nicknamed "Helvetin Bulevardi". Followed that until we reached the shore, and then walked up to the Jet d'Eau - the very tall fountain in the lake. We got quite close to it, and at one point the direction of the wind changed, so we got some water on us. But not too badly. It would've been possible to walk through the jet, but neither of us dared. It wasn't a very warm day, so it would've taken too long to dry.

 Heh heh heh, easily amused? Who, me?

Jet d'Eau

We continued towards Jardin Anglais, where the flower clock is situated (it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be), and then back towards the railway station because it was starting to get late. Made a pit-stop at Starbucks, after which took a train to Bern. There, it took us a while to get our hands on a map, because there was a line at the tourist info. After that we had to figure out whether or not we could get a discount from travel tickets with our InterRail passes. Turns out we couldn't, so we just got a ticket for 6 trips and took the two buses to Camping Eichholz. While looking for the correct bus stop we saw a bus going to a place called Wankdorf, which amused us greatly :D 

Taken from the train, somewhere close to Bern

Anyways. We got to the camping site and checked in. The receptionist was very nice and helpful. He gave us another map of the city, along with an info booklet, and also explained where the nearest grocery store is. We had about 20 minutes until the store would close, so we left our bags at the reception and hurried back up the hill to the main road. Found the Coop shop and got what we needed. We even bought a couple of strange flavored beers, forgetting that we didn't have a bottle opener with us. But we managed to open them with a can opener - took like half an hour, but I felt very proud of our success.

We got back to the camping site, put up our tent for the last time, and eventually went to sleep. There was a pretty bad thunderstorm in the middle of the night. It rained heavily, and there was thunder and lightning. It was a bit scary to be in a tent in that kind of weather, but we survived.

-Brain

DAY 16: Zurich and the Rhine Falls

Sunday, August 22nd 2010

It was yet another early morning. The showers were interesting: as I mentioned earlier, we'd gotten tokens for hot water, and I was worried that 5 minutes would not be enough for me, but it was actually fine. I managed :) The weather was very nice - sunny and warm. We walked to the Friedhof bus stop and waited for the bus that would take us to the train station. We got on a train heading for Schaffhausen and got out at the Schloss Laufen stop, which is where the Rhine falls are situated. At first we followed the people that got out at the same stop, but they were heading towards the boats and we weren't sure that was the right way to go. So we turned back and started walking uphill, in the direction of the ticket office. We bought tickets that entitled us for a visit to the falls and a tour of the castle, they were 5€ each. I guess we walked through the castle when we were going towards the falls, although I'm not sure. There was also a youth hostel in the castle. We followed the "Adventure trail" down the hill, and there were several observation platforms along the way. The view just kept getting better. I'd never seen a proper waterfall before, so I was impressed. Here are some pictures, all of which are clickable:

We made our way down to the small harbor, and realized that separate tickets were needed to get to the cool observation platform smack in the middle of the falls. We thought about it and decided it'd be worth it. There were several route options, so we made our pick and got on the boat. It took us to the other side of the river, and we then had to change into a second boat. That took us to the observation tower-cliff thingy. The water was very cool - greenish turquoise and bubbly. Looked almost like mineral water. The current seemed to be pretty strong, but the boat handled it just fine. We got out and started climbing up the stairs to the very top of the cliff. It was very cool. I was a bit surprised that we didn't even get much water on us though :D Along with the Untersberg mountain, the Rhine falls have got to be my favorite experience of the trip. Also, the weather was just right. Now for some more pictures:

When we were getting back to the docks, we apparently sat on the bad side of the boat and water splashed on our backs. Iiishk. We eventually got back to the train station and got on a train to Winterthur, only then realizing that we would need to change trains to get to Zurich. It took a really long time to get to the main station of Zurich, because the S-Bahn that we took from Winterthur kept stopping everywhere. Finally, we arrived in Zurich and were shocked by how hot it was. The sun was shining, and there was barely any wind. Pinky got cranky pretty fast because she isn't a fan of the sun :P

Our first mission was to find some place to eat. We expected Zurich to be very expensive, so decided to just go to McDonald's and ordered 2 BigMacs, large fries and two milkshakes. Instead they gave us 2 BigMacs, 2 large fries and 2 frappés, because apparently they don't have milkshakes in Switzerland. I paid with my credit card and didn't really pay attention to how much it all cost. When we were eating we started converting the 27 CHF to euros, and it was only then that we realized how expensive Zurich really is: ~20€ for two people at McDonald's. Probably the most expensive burgers of our lives... A pretty cool thing about that McDonald's was their bathroom system. The receipt had a code on it, which opened the bathroom door. So basically you can't enter the bathroom unless you buy something, and keep the receipt.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the old town of Zurich. Saw the three cathedrals: Grossmunster, Fraumunster and St Peter's. They were all a whole lot modest than all the churches in Austria, for example.

The Grossmunster

The street leading to St Peter's Cathedral

As I mentioned already, it was very hot, so we sat by the Limmat river and dipped our feet in it. The water was refreshingly cold. Unfortunately, we never made it to Lake Zurich. On our way back to the camping site we stocked up on groceries and the rest of the evening was uneventful.

-Brain

DAY 15: The journey to Switzerland

Saturday, August 21st 2010

We left the ever-so-lovely Natterersee Camping with the 10:17 bus. Had brunch at a cafe near the railway station, bought some snacks for the road and went to the platform. 

Goodbye, Innsbruck, you will be missed

Our train left at 11:58 and it was a pretty long train ride (~3.5 hours). There were some lovely views out of the window though, gorgeous scenery:

We arrived in Zurich and went looking for an ATM to take out some Swiss money. Tried two different ATMs (different banks) and neither of them worked - they said our cards are damaged and we need to contact our bank. I started getting a bit worried about the prospect of having no cash. Luckily, we managed to get money at Western Union, phew. Swiss money looked like Monopoly money, and don't even get me started on their coins... Like what is the deal with the 1/2 coin???

Once we had the money problem solved, we took a train to Winterthur, which is where we were gonna camp. The train ride took about half an hour, and then we had to take a bus as well. We asked the bus driver for two tickets, but he said that we can't buy them from him, we need to use the machine outside. The instructions were all in German and we didn't really get them, so we asked a young woman for help. She told us what to do, but we didn't have enough coins for two tickets, so I had to get one from a nearby kiosk. So complicated. Why can't the bus driver sell tickets?? We'd only been in Switzerland for a few hours and were already irritated by those little things.

Anyways. We took a bus towards Rosenberg, got out at the right stop, and had no idea which way to go. So we just started walking along the road until we passed some guy and asked him for directions. Turns out we were going in the right direction, which was a relief. We found the camping site (Camping am Schutzenweiher), and the reception was closed. We sat outside for like 15 minutes and there were two men sitting at a table eating and talking. Then some lady came there and asked us something in a language we didn't understand. Then she asked in English if we wanted to check in. We said that we did, and she told us to just go and put up our tent somewhere, and take care of the paperwork later. She also said something to the men, and it seemed like she was telling them off for not telling us that we didn't need to wait for the reception to open. More annoyance :P 

We found a spot for our tent and got settled, then returned to the reception which was now open. Took care of the paperwork and paid for two nights. The lady gave us tokens for the shower, and I was a bit worried about those. Only 5 minutes of hot water seemed like very little. We asked the lady about a grocery store, and she said that most places close early on Saturdays, but that there is a small shop at the gas station that is always open. So that's where we headed. We found the gas station, and got ourselves food. Barely anything had a price tag, so we had no idea how much anything cost. But we needed food, so we didn't really have a choice.

We got back to our tent and just chillaxed until bedtime. Our tiny flashlight died, so we had to use our cellphones to get some light inside the tent. It was very very dark in the evening.

Our tent, and the laundry line :D

-Brain

Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), with a population of almost 190 000. It is situated where the Rhône river exits Lake Geneva and is surrounded by two mountain chains - the Alps and the Jura. The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital", and in 2009 it was ranked the 4th most expensive city in the world (ouch :S Although I don't know how reliable that list is, cause Moscow is 3rd and whenever I go there, I feel very rich)

In Geneva, French is the most commonly used of the official languages, unlike Zürich and Bern, where German predominates.

Geneva, like most cities in Switzerland, is a marvel of public transportation efficiency. Transports Publics Genevois provides frequent bus, tram, 'mouette' (boat), and suburban train service to within a block or two of most locations in the city and canton. Apparently, anybody staying in a Geneva hotel/hostel is entitled to a free daily travel pass for the local Transport TPG. There are trains from Bern to Geneva every hour and the trip duration is about 2 hours.

Places to see:

• Jet d'Eau: one of the largest fountains in the world. Situated at the point where Lake Geneva empties into the Rhône River, it is visible throughout the city and from the air. Five hundred liters of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 meters, with the water leaving the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h. Shouldn't get too close, cause apparently it's easy to get soaked when the wind changes :D

Jet d'Eau

• St. Pierre Cathedral is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the Cathedral, there is even a chair that he used to sit in.
  

St. Pierre Cathedral

• Palace of Nations was built between 1929 and 1936 as the headquarters of the League of Nations. It has served as the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946 when the Secretary General of the UN signed a Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss authorities, although Switzerland did not become a member of the UN until 2002. The palace is located in the Ariana Park overlooking Lake Geneva and with a clear view of the French Alps.
• The International Monument to the Reformation, more commonly known as the Reformation Wall honors many of the main individuals, events and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in sculptures and bas-reliefs. The Wall is in the grounds of the University of Geneva, (founded by John Calvin) built into the old city walls of Geneva, and the monument's location there is designed to represent the fortifications', and therefore the city of Geneva's, integral importance to the Reformation.
• The Flower Clock: Geneva's "L'horloge fleurie" was created in 1955 as a symbol of the city's clock makers and dedication to nature. It is situated at the western edge of the Jardin Anglais. Usually, around 6500 flowers and shrubs are used as decoration for this clock. The decoration is changed frequently.

The Flower Clock

• There are many parks in addition to the aforementioned Jardin Anglais: Parc des Bastions and Parc des Eaux Vives, for instance.

Places to sleep:
We won't necessarily need to spend the night in Geneva, since there's not that much to see and if it really is as expensive as Wikipedia claims, then maybe it's better to be there for the day and continue on our journey in the evening (a night train to Amsterdam, perhaps?)
But just in case, here is a couple of hostels I found: City Hostel Geneva looks REALLY nice, close to the railway station and costs about 22€/person/night. The website has a virtual tour of the rooms, how cool is that? There's also Geneva Youth Hostel.

Bern, Switzerland

Bern is the capital and the fourth most populous city in Switzerland (it's smaller than Tampere!!) The city center is largely medieval, built on a narrow hill surrounded on three sides by the Aare river. The Old City is home to Switzerland's tallest cathedral as well as other churches, bridges and a large collection of Renaissance fountains. (Wikipedia) Public transport works well there and InterRail passes are valid on the S-Bahn so getting around shouldn't be a problem.

Places to see:

• Bundeshaus (the Federal Palace): houses the national parliament, government and part of the federal administration. There is also a set of fountains in front of the Palace.

Bundeshaus

• Einsteinhaus: a museum and former residence of Albert Eistein, who worked out the theory of relativity while living in Bern. The living conditions of Einstein and his family are shown accurately in the apartment on the second floor with furniture from that time. Einstein’s biography and his life’s work are presented on the third floor.
• Zytglogge: a landmark medieval tower, built in the early 13th century. Over the years it has served the city as a guard tower, prison, clock tower, center of urban life and civic memorial. The tower is one of Bern's most recognizable symbols and its 15th century astronomical clock is a major tourist attraction.

Zytglogge

• Münster of Bern: the tallest cathedral in Switzerland. The bell tower is open to public - the lower platform (254 steps) offers views of the entire city and on a clear day even the Alps; to reach the higher platform there is an additional 90 steps to climb.

Münster of Bern

• Untertorbrücke: a stone arch bridge, that spans the river Aare - the oldest bridge in Bern. Its construction was completed in 1489, although it has been renovated several times since then.
  
• Fountains: the city of Bern is known for its 16th century fountains designed by Hans Gieng. There are over 100 public fountains in the city of Bern of which eleven are crowned with Renaissance allegorical statues. This one is particularly good, in my opinion. No no, you're not mistaken, it really is a sculpture of a man eating babies:
  

The Kindlifresserbrunnen

• Rosengarten: little park with a splendid view over the old town. Can be easily reached by bus number 12 from the railway station in Berne in direction Zentrum Paul Klee.
• Gurten Hill: The Gurten is a lovely hill just outside the city. It features a park and great view over the city on one side and a nice panorama of the Bernese alps on the other. The park is visited heavily by locals to play ball, to barbecue or to just lie in the sun. Tourists are not an unusual sight, though this little attraction is missed by most of the many that visit the city. A wooden look-out tower allows an even better panorama than that you would already have. The Gurten can be easily reached with tram number 9 from the railway station in Berne in direction Wabern. (Wikitravel)
  
• Apparently the bear pits (bärengraben) is currently empty, but there is a bear park (bärenpark) as a replacement. It is situated near the Aare river. If I understood correctly, it's free to visit the bear park - only the guided tours have an admission fee.

Where to spend the night:
Just like in Zürich, hostels are roughly 35-40 CHF/person/night. There is Hotel Glocke, which is right in the center of the old town and a Youth Hostel also in the old town.
Camping Eichholz is not too far from the city and costs 7.50 CHF/person/night (or 6.50 CHF, if they accept our student cards..) Finally, there's Camping TCS Bern-Eymatt, but I haven't had the patience to try and make sense of their website yet, so I don't know if it's any good.

Zürich, Switzerland

• Official languages of Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansh
• Currency: Swiss franc (1 € = 1.5 CHF)
• Railway info: the Swiss Federal Railway connects the major cities and reservations are only needed for special scenic trains. InterRail passes are also valid for travel on many private railway companies and various buses will give discounts. Switzerland is very well connected to the rest of European countries. For example, the trip from Austria (Innsbruck) to Zürich only takes about 3.5h with the ÖBB train. There are also high-speed trains to France - the TGV train ride from Geneva to Paris is only 3.5h, but tickets must be reserved in advance.

Swiss cuisine is largely influenced by that of its neighbors - Germany, Italy and France - but the Swiss do have their own unique dishes. Switzerland was historically a country of farmers, so their specialties often incorporated potatoes and cheese (Rösti, Fondue, and Raclette), and also more exquisite ingredients, such as chocolate. As everyone knows, cheese and chocolate are the two foods Switzerland is world famous for. Tarts and quiches are also traditional Swiss dishes, and tarts in particular are made with all sorts of toppings, from apples to onions. Cervelat or cervelas is considered the national sausage and is popular all over Switzerland. Zürcher Geschentzeltes is a Swiss dish from the Zürich region: thin strips of veal with mushrooms served with a cream sauce and rösti.

Rivella, a carbonated drink based on lactose, is one of the most popular drinks in Switzerland. The chocolate drink Ovomaltine originates in Switzerland and enjoys ongoing popularity, especially among young people.

Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland and its main commercial center. It has been named the wealthiest city in Europe and also the city with the best quality of life in the world. In Zürich, most of the action revolves around water, with the River Limmat, which splits the old city in two, flowing into the lake and the Sihl joining it north of the center.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get around Zürich, since InterRail passes are valid on the local trains (S-Bahn) and the best way to see the old town is on foot.

Places to see:

• Grossmünster: a Romanesque-style church. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site. Richard Wagner (the famous composer) is known to have mocked the church's appearance as that of two pepper dispensers.
• Fraumünster: for most of the middle ages, Zürich was ruled by the abbesses of Fraumünster. Today it is mostly interesting for its stained-glass windows created by Marc Chagall in 1970.
  
• St Peter's church: located near the Lindenhof hill and was built on a site of a temple to Jupiter. The tower's clock face is the largest church clock face in Europe.
  

View of Zürich (and St Peter's church) during the day

• Lindenhof and Niederdorf - the oldest parts of Zürich, with settlement traces dating to pre-Roman times. The Lindenhof hill is the site of a Roman castle.
  

In Niederdorf

• The Guild houses along the Limmat river
• Üetliberg - a mountain with a panoramic view of the whole city as well as the lake (the summit is accessible by train, 20min from the central station)
• The Chinese garden and the old botanical garden are not too far from the old town (in the Seefeld quarter). The Chinese garden was a present to Zürich from its Chinese partner town Kunming.
  

The Chinese garden

• The Bahnhofstrasse is a shopping street, starts at the main train station
• The Langstrasse (Red light district) is supposed to be very safe
• Of course, if the weather is nice we should explore the old town in more detail and see Lake Zürich from up close
• Finally, the Rhine falls are a must see: the largest plain waterfalls in Europe, located near Winterthur and easily accessible by train (~45min from Zürich central station). There are observation decks, guided tours, two castles... Definitely worth visiting.

The Rhine Falls!

View of Zürich at night (Limmat river, Fraumünster and a guild house on its left)

Where to spend the night:
I found several youth hostels that aren't terribly expensive (35-50 CHF/person/night), but I think a good option would be going to the Rhine falls in the evening and camping at the Winterthur Camp Site (the website is all in German, aaargh!) We could go back to Zürich in the morning and continue on our journey.