Bern Switzerland

For the last few days I have been in Bern Switzerland, taking in the sights here. It is the Swiss capital and is a sleepy little city nesstled into the mountains of the Alps. I love it here, it is much more friendly and much more inviting and beautiful then Paris.

By my last day in Paris I was about ready to pull my hair out by the roots. I was so sick of the city, there was nothing left to see and I wanted to just be gone. I did visit an area that made my heart swoon though, a place called the Jardin de Luxembourg (Garden of Luxembourg) on the south bank. It is a place where the Parisians go during the weekends and after work to relax, and I could really see why, the area itself was beautiful.

The weather was also permitting and it started to rain softly as I made my waz back to my Hostel. I felt like I had finally caught a glimpse of the Paris that I had been hoping to see. The gardens were a site, and I sat for a while to do some doodling.

The next day was not so lovely. I got up at 5am to head to the train station and catch the train out of Paris. But I was told, in contradiction to what I had been told the day before that I needed a reservation no matter what to get on the train there. I was upset, had no sleep, and so I went to the reservation desk to see what was up. The woman there treated me with anger, saying no matter what that I needed a reservation to get on the next train. They then said that I could take a train at 3pm to Bern, I did not have sleeping accomidations at the time and did not know what would happen, since I was now due to get there around 10:30pm. I started crying, and they seemed to now feel some sympathy and even brought me some tissues so I could wipe myself off.

I sat in the train station, too jaded by Paris to really go out agaibn, when I spotted this women I had met in mz hostel to daz before. Her name was Wendy and she seemed as equally confused and angry and upset as I was. I called her over and we talked some. By that time I was laughing at what had just happened to me and Wendy told me about her hellish morning, where the taxi driver scammed her out of money, yelled at her and dropped her off at the wrong train station. I asked if she wanted to come to switzerland with me, since she had missed her train to Prague, and she said yes, so off we went, talking and laughing and taking comfort in each others company.

Upon arriving in Bern, our cabbie and the people here are much more open, warm, friendly and helpful. I did not experience too much rudeness in Paris, but what I did made me snarl a bit.

The next day we went to the post office here, had lunch, and then walked around the area. I went to the house that Einstein had here in Bern, the place where he actuallz developed the theory of relativity in 1905. The house was purprisingly quant and small. I saw some of his original writings and watched a video, in Swiss German that told all about his life. I picked up a few words and dates from it, but not much else, although it was fun to pretend to be Swiss for a small amount of time.

I then walked up to the botanical gardens here, which were pretty. You can see the whole city scape from there. I sat and drank it in for a good while before I noticed a thundercloud off in the distance approaching rapidly and decided it was about time to go.

As I meandored down the sloping tiny streets, watching people power up the steep inclines or whirl down them on bikes, it started to softly rain, eliminating the scorching heat of the day for a small period of time. I managed to make it back to mz hostel here before it really started to pour. It was nice to get a bit wet though, I rather enjoyed it.

At dinner that night I met a young woman named Cassy, and todaz we will be heading to Brienz Switzerland. I will probably go bungie jumping at Interlaken, and see a castle inbetween. Today I want to go to the Bear Park here in Bern (pronounced Bearn) and the Einstein Museum.

Speaking of, everzone here assumes I'm German, and thez pronounce my last name as Bear-duh instead of Beard. I think it is rather interesting. Maybe I'm more German that I thought I was.