A little scenic Bern shot. It's a really cute town.
And here is the Bern bear park:
The park is along the bank of the Aare river, which borders Bern on three sides. There are also "bear pits" but those were closed in 2009 when they opened the park you see here. There are currently 4 bears in residence here. Bears have been kept here in Bern since 1441 as a symbol of the city. They are not only what Bern is named after, but they are also on the Bern flag and coat of arms.
Ever since I went on safari in Africa and then watched the movie "The Cove", I have vowed to never support or set foot in a zoo or sea world-type park again. But the bear park in Bern is hard to avoid since you can see it from far away and you have to walk by it when you wander around Bern. It's completely free so at least I didn't give any money to support the captivity of the bears. I will get off my pedestal now but I dare any of you to watch "The Cove" and not walk away with the same feeling. It did make me sad but the bears were cute and so Martin took some pics of them:
I think they look pretty bored and like they'd rather be wandering free in the mountains instead of stuck in a cage in Bern. But, that's just my opinion.
Some fall colors along the Aare:
Looking back at the old town of Bern from the bear park:
Next we climbed to the top of the church you see in the left of the above picture. Here are some shots of the details of the outside of the church, before we went inside:
350 stairs later, the view:
Looking over the old town of Bern:
And then we found some sunshine on our way back to the train station to go back to Zurich:
And that was our day in Bern.
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