Day Trip to Bern, Switzerland With Kids

Everyone was still feeling healthy, so Joe and our kids and I set out for another adventure today - this time to Switzerland's capital city of Bern. It was about a two hour train ride, so the kids were super excited to find that there was a family car on the train. It's a train car with a small play area on the upper level, and all of the tables have board games drawn on the top of them. Definitely makes the ride go by a lot more quickly, and it's much easier to let Katie run around than it is to try to keep her sitting in a seat without a seat belt!

Local legend has it that the founder of the city named it after the first animal he slayed on a hunt, a bear. Whether or not this is true, Bern has a strong association with bears and bear symbolism can be found throughout the city. I told the kids this story on the train ride over, and told them that they should be on the lookout for bears today, and that I would take pictures of all the bears they found for the blog. All day long they shouted and pointed, "Bear! Bear! Bear!" So, here you go:

On the train! 

Business logo for a locksmith

Parading around the base of this fountain

Fountain of a bear wearing a helmet 

On all the license plates

Graffiti bear 

On a public bench

Inside the Bern cathedral - there are bears up there!

At the end of a bridge 

Museum entrance (we didn't go into this one)

Inside the museum that we did go into

[Almost two weeks later and Katie is STILL shouting "Bear! Over there!" all the time, along with any other animal she sees. She also often insists that we take photos of them.]

When we arrived at the train station we were surprised to find they were handing out free samples of this chocolate drink. Score! Malorie says it's quite common for there to be giveaways like this in the train stations. One other time we all got free apples.

Then it was off to explore Bern! First we walked through the Old City (Altstadt). This website was super helpful in planning our day.

Our first stop was this fountain - the Child Eater of Bern! It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but it's some kind of ogre eating a baby, and he's carrying several other terrified babies to devour next. The origin of this 500 year old fountain is uncertain, but basically the message is for kids to behave themselves or they'll be eaten by this monster, I guess. 

At the Zytglogge (Clock Tower). Made in 1530 and still working - the Swiss are excellent clock makers.
Every hour when it chimes it moves, with the little bears going around in the circle. I thought it would be really cool to see, so we made a point to come back on the hour later in the day. It was a little anticlimactic though, and the kids weren't that impressed. Oh well.

Mary in front of the 2nd floor apartment where Albert Einstein lived for a couple of years with his family during the time he was working on developing his brilliant theories. 

Cool fountain features. I love fountains!

Strange little car we saw zipping around in Bern.

View of Bern's old city.

We visited Bern's Bear Park to see the live bears kept there. Bears have been kept in Bern for more than 500 years. For most of that time they were kept in a giant pit, which you can still see today. However, recently they have been moved into this larger more bear-friendly enclosure. 

"I hope he comes closer!"

"I hope he gets in the water!"

"I hope he swims for that apple!"

"YESSSSS!!!" (Click here to see the video.)

Interesting downspout 

Bern cathedral

The kids thought this public toilet outside the cathedral was the best idea ever! The sink is the toilet! The toilet is the sink! So efficient! After you stand up, the toilet seat automatically raises itself, which flushes the toilet. Then you push the little button and a stream of water squirts out over the toilet so you can wash your hands. The toilet seat is up and out of the way so it doesn't get wet for the next person.

The kids wanted a break, so we hung out for awhile at this playground outside the cathedral.

Her hair is getting so long!

Much better!

We only had time to visit one museum and we let the kids choose. They picked the Natural History Museum, which turned out to be a great place for kids. It was filled with animals native to Switzerland, and had a really big room full of games and toys and puzzles and things to touch and explore.

Another bear! They saw the picture in the upper corner of the glass. The one on the right is a bear skeleton.

Match the pelt with the animal.

After the museum we considered heading home. It had already been a long day. But there was one more thing I really wanted to do - visit Gurten Park at the top of the "mountain of Bern" (it's more of a hill really, but the tallest thing around the city). We had some difficulty finding the bus stop location, and tempers were short and we nearly abandoned our journey to the top of the hill, but ultimately we persevered and walked all the way to the tram station where we caught the funicular (uphill/downhill railway). At the top were spectacular views of the city. We had packed for bad weather since there had been a forecast of rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with clear views all around. There was also a really amazing playground up there with an incredible Rube Goldberg type structure where you had to turn cranks and spin things and complete other tasks to maneuver a ball through the machines, and it was totally free! There was also the hugest tree fort I have ever seen, since it was handicap accessible so all the ramps and platforms were wheelchair friendly.

These beams whistled when you rocked them back and forth. Check out this video to see it in action! 

"Look how big our shadows are!"

Funicular train headed down the mountain. 

Katie found this Ronald McDonald toy and is keeping it. 

Waiting in the train station to catch our train back to Pfaffikon.

A very long day, but we had a great time in Bern. By the time we started to head down the mountain, I began to feel a little queasy. I was worried that the virus was finally bringing me down, but when we got home I shut myself in the bedroom and went right to sleep while Joe put everyone to bed. I think I just really needed to catch up on sleep, because I felt fine when I woke up the next morning. Hooray!!!