Bern

I met up with my American friend again, this time in Bern. Bern is the capitol of Switzerland, and it located about 30 minutes away from me. It is in the Swiss-German portion, so it was interesting to see the German influenced cuisine and architecture so close to my home. It was really fun to just wander leisurely through the city, something you would not get to do if you were visiting Europe for a short while.

Highlights of the city were:
(pictures not necessarily in this order)

1) A Bear pit (the cities name Bern comes from the German word for Bear)
2) Albert Einstein's apt. where the foundations for the Special and General theories of relativity were developed
3) a medieval clock tower
4) the parliament building for the Swiss government
5) an awesome car
6) and finally at the very end of this post you can see a random woman singing opera from a window, so random, but really good

Other random pictures are included, such as the paintings on buildings, the river and bridges. It was a cloudy day so we couldn't see the Alps, but usually they are amazing from Bern.

At the end I have also included more pictures of the Bern temple from our last trip. I just like taking pictures of it every time I go. I get a different angle every time. The Alps also look amazing from the temple. Amazing!

Spring is almost here! I am so ready for pleasant weather! So ready.

Below is Albert's Bern apartment. It wasn't that cool, but I can now say I have been to his apartment. Life is all about bragging rights, right?














Oh, just a cathedral. They are so common here, especially in Paris.



















Above is an interesting angle of the parliament building. The picture below was taken after at temple trip, hence the darkness.


It was an overcast morning, but this was a great view of all of Bern.





I can already hear my mother looking at that picture and saying "It just looks like a Death trap." I do not intend to own one, but I think it looks awesome. I wish there was someone standing next to it for scale purposes. It was tiny.


The amazing Alps! They look so beautiful from Bern, unfortunately we couldn't see them at all the day we visited.

Basel

I traveled an hour and a half by train to visit Basel, Switzerland. Basel is located in the north-west corner of Switzerland, directly adjacent to France and Germany. I went there to visit a girl that I met who is in my same situation. She also is from Dallas, graduated college in Aug. 2009, was living at home and decided to go on a European adventure to Switzerland working as an Au pair. Anyway it was fun to hang out with another American girl. The first few months I was here I was feeling slightly deprived of American culture/English, but now I am fine. It is still fun anyway.

So the following are pictures from the city of Basel. Nothing too exciting, but it was fun to get out and see a new place. I did see a movie in the theater, but it cost $18.50. And we did visit a museum, which had some interesting pieces. A few Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Warhol and possibly a Degas I don't recall. In Basel they speak Swiss-German, so it was interesting to hear that and try to figure out which door is the woman's restroom and such. Thankfully my friend is studying German, and most people speak English. So its all good.