Berne

The program directors here at CESA decided that we as a group would probably not make it out to the capital of Switzerland, and its really something we shouldn't miss. About two weeks into our semester the CLAHS students were taken for a weekend trip to Berne.Its about 5 hours away from Riva, and in a completely different Canton. Ticino, the canton that Riva is part of is the only Canton in Switzerland that speaks Italian, the one that we went to was one of the many German speaking cantons, so our Italian classes were of very little help. We started off early Friday morning, almost leaving a few people behind on the way out of town. The day went by quickly as I slept most of the ride, I have no idea why but I tend to fall asleep very well in motor vehicles. I was able to stay awake enough to watch the landscape change, and also the architecture. One of the ways to get from Ticino to Berne involves one of the longest underground tunnels in Europe, and the change from one part of the country to another is interesting to see. When we got to Berne we had about an hour to get settled in and then we had a quick tour of the old town, and then were taken to the Einstein Haus. Einstein lived in Berne for 7 years and they were able to take one of the apartments that he lived in and turn it into a museum. It was interesting to see where one of the greatest minds of our time was living, one of the most astonishing things was that he only lived there about a year, and just thinking about how the family moved in and out of that house was impressive, the staircase was intimidating. After the Einstein haus we were allowed to just wander about for a while. That night I went out with some of the group, it was a fun, late night. On Saturday Eva (our Italian teacher)walked our group around the Old town. We visited the Berne cathedral which was really interesting, because the church went through an iconoclasm(destruction of images and statues) when the Reformation swept through Europe. Sadly for me, my camera battery died almost as soon as we got into the church so I wasn't able to take many pictures. Wandering through the cathedral was very peaceful, I always love going into old churches, but some of these place are so spectacular that sometimes it overwhelms you. This one wasn't as busy, or crowded so it was an nice change of pace. Leaving the Cathedral we walked across the river to the bear pit. Bears are very closely associated with Berne, in fact there are bears all over the city, on the man-hole covers, as statues on public fountains, and live ones in the bear pit. At the visitor center we were treated to a interactive show about the history of Berne that was actually quite funny and enjoyable. The teacher lead tour ended there, and after giving us a list of places they wanted us to see the teachers cut us loose again. I walked to the History Museum of Berne, it was across town, but it was a nice walk. The museum was really interesting, it had sections on the history of Berne, ancient Asian culture, and a special exhibit on the life of Albert Einstein. I actually think that the entrance into that section was my favorite part of the museum. The entrance was a darkened staircase that is surrounded by mirrors, images from Einstein's life were displayed on screens while violin music plays. Its very interesting, and even moving.... peaceful. After the museum I decided to just wandered around the old town, and walking through the street market that was going on that day. There also was a protest, or rally of some sort going on, so there were a lot of police around in riot gear, it was an interesting experience. Sunday morning we left Berne and Started back toward the Villa. We stopped at a town called Thun(tOOn) on the way back. It was built by the same man that founded Berne, and is actually up river to Berne. The water locks that Thun has across the river help control the water level for the cities downriver, and helps prevent flooding. It was very beautiful and because it was Sunday, it was very peaceful as well. Getting back to Riva was a wonderful thing. As much as I love traveling, it was only out first weekend here and so I was happy to have a little time to relax after a busy weekend.