First let's take a look at the food scene. These photos are from a farmer's market.
And these are from shops. The first is pastries and the second is chocolate. Mmmmmm.
Bern, founded in 1191, started with a castle at the tip of the peninsula, and expanded with a series of walls—each defending an ever-bigger city from its one land-accessible side.
This clock tower (Zytglogge-Turm) marks the first wall (1218). The clock, which dates back to 1530, is an astrological clock which displays the day of the week, the sign of the zodiac, and the phase of the moon as well as the time. The figures beside the astrological clock perform four minutes before each hour: The happy jester comes to life, Father Time turns his hourglass, the rooster crows (in German, that’s “kee-kee-ree-kee” rather than “cock-a-doodle-doo”), the bear turns his head, the horses circle around, and a golden man on top hammers the bell.
This is the clock face that is above the astrological clock.
This is the clock face on the other side (where there are loads of wires for the trams). The painting depicts Chronos swooping down with cape fluttering and, below the clockface, Adam and Eve's eviction from Paradise by an angel.
A second wall was built further west in 1256. This tower, called the prison tower (Käfigturm), was built in 1642 at the site of the original gatehouse for the second wall.
There is also the Dutch Tower (Holländerturm). Swiss soldiers were famous mercenaries who fought all over Europe. Returning from a battle in the Netherlands, the soldiers brought back the habit of smoking. But smoking was forbidden within the city walls of Bern, so they hid in this tower to smoke secretly.
This is the Parliament house (front and back).
This is the Bern Cathedral's (Berner Münster) main portal. Its theme, the Last Judgment, showed that no matter how rich you are or what rank you have in Church hierarchy, anyone can end up in hell. Notice the humorous details in the commotion of people heading to hell (especially what the little green devil is doing to the sinful monk). (Click on a picture to see a larger version)
We enjoyed our final meal of the tour in an amazing restaurant, the Kornhauskeller. Once the city wine cellar, this cellar was built in high Baroque style (1718) and renovated with paintings inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites in 1897. The columns show traditional costumes of Bernese women.
As we left the restaurant after our meal we were treated to an Alpenhorn concert.
Our next tour, a needlework sampler tour in England, will begin on Friday.
[thanks to Rick Steves and Wikipedia for all of the details in this post]
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