The bears born in Bern are not barned

Though I slept so well the first night in Langenthal, I slept poorly the second night. I had a headache when I went to bed, then a mosquito kept buzzing around the room (I thought I left all those back in Florida). It just divebombed my ear often enough to keep me awake for a few hours. When I finally fell asleep, I slept lightly and woke up early, headache worse.

Today's expedition was to go to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Bern is Swiss for bear, and the local story goes that when they were settling the area, they decided they'd name the town after the first animal they shot. And a bear it was. (I'm glad the founders of Bulgaria didn't use the same plan. The capital of Bulgaria is Sofia.)

We drove to Bern, and everyone else took the train. We hit some bad traffic on the freeway, so those who took the train beat us and waited for us until we finally got there.

I've got to admit that I was not at my best this day. I still had a nagging headache after my crappy night of sleep, not improved by my failure to have a cup of coffee or tea at breakfast (what was I thinking?) And I just felt yucky, the way I feel when I've stayed up all night. So I mostly endured Bern rather than truly enjoying it.

 Pretzels!

 Brigitte leads the tour

 We made a quick pass through a farmer's market. Brigitte bought artichokes for dinner.

 The parliament building

The Zytglogge tower, a medieval clock tower built in the 13th century that has served as a guard tower, prison, clock tower, center of urban life, and a civic memorial.

Bern is an interesting city. I particularly thought the cellars along the shopping street were cool. Some of the cellars are used for storage, but some of them are actual shops or restaurants.

A park near an old train station (turned into a restaurant) had real live bears to look at. Some were getting hungry, and we hadn't packed snacks, so Brigitte treated us to chips (French fries) at the train station restaurant. She also got the kids ice cream, which was much appreciated.

 Overlooking BearPark

 Mmm...French fries are good in every country

 The little wafer fans with the ice cream were cool

We climbed a very steep hill (ach, my throbbing head) and met Anne (the gymnast sister) at the rose garden (another Bern landmark) overlooking the city. It was getting late by then, so we bused back to the parking garage and then drove back to Langenthal. Eli and Neil had gotten free tickets to a Military Tattoo (a display of military drums and such), so they left from Bern to go to that.

Beatrice was home from scout camp. Our introduction to the Tardent clan was slowly expanding. Before dinner was served, Emanuel (Eli's dad) also returned home. So we had our largest dinner party yet: 10 people.

 The kids learned how to eat artichoke

Bella and Dominique watched a video in English, while the others played cards.