March 27, Day 31, Bern

We woke up in the morning, and outside looked like a winter wonderland. Looks like it snowed quite a bit at night. Very pretty, and it was interesting to see all the narcissi, tulips, and cherry blossoms under the snow. Niiiiice!

We did a futile search for a protein breakfast. Gave up — I had a bagel with salmon at Fellows Coffee, and Dan’s overnight oats that were overnighted in something weird, and Danik did not want it. But, hey, it had a sliver of berries on top, so sure. Dan brought him a sausage and a croissant from a bakery near our hotel. There is an irony of either bakeries with no seating or coffee shops with no baked goods, so you have to combine them on your own.

Our tour with Bartosh was at 11, so we walked around in the morning, crossing one of the tall bridges from the Bern peninsula into an area that looks like it's where regular people live.

Right before the bridge, there is a hideous thing sticking out on the street, the Meret Oppenheim Fountain, the hideous-looking column that looks like a combo of construction waste and protomolecule filaments (reading The Expanse by James S. A. Corey). It’s actually a 1980s surrealist-style public artwork by Meret Oppenheim, meant to evoke organic growth and transformation — deliberately strange, a bit unsettling, and very much in line with her avant-garde approach. The art, for sure, does not leave one indifferent.

On the other side of the bridge, it is very pretty, “historic-looking” — all the buildings look different from the outskirts of Amsterdam. Also, remarkably, the coffee shops there had attached bakeries, and there were multiple of them on one street, filled with locals.

We wandered around and then got back into town to meet up with Bartosh from GuruWalk, who took us on a two-hour walking tour of the city. We were lucky to be the only participants. He is originally from Romania and has lived in seven other countries prior to settling down here. Because we were in Romania a few weeks ago, it was interesting to explore additional context with him.

It was a really intense informational session with him - will try to relay some facts without hopefully being too boring. It was useful to learn about Switzerland's governance. The country operates under a system of direct democracy — citizens vote frequently in referendums on national and local issues, and the federal government is run by a council rather than a single leader. It is very consensus-driven and stable.

Crows are starting families

A bit of early history: Bern was founded in 1191 and became a powerful city-state within the Swiss Confederation (that's what CH stands for on the license plates). Over time, it expanded its territory and became one of Switzerland's leading political centers, a status it still holds today. While Bern is the political capital, the federal parliament sits here, other cities act as informal capitals too: Zurich for finance, Geneva for diplomacy, Basel for pharmaceuticals and culture.

Now there are just over 9 million people living here, and there is an ongoing debate about limiting population growth, much of which comes from immigration, as the birth rate is around 1.2–1.3.

Famous Child Eating Fountain

Average income is roughly CHF 4,000–5,000 per month after taxes, but so is the cost of living, which explains why eating out feels expensive and why many people have no choice but to be practical with daily spending.

It is predictable, safe, and clean, kind of like a very well-functioning, structured system where basic needs are covered, but life is also quite regulated. His amusements are taking an inflatable boat with a picnic downstream on the Aare River or swimming in public pools in the summer. Bartosh said that water from fountains everywhere is drinkable.

He said people don’t like to make changes; they prefer predictable systems and can be resistant to change.

When Napoleon took over, soldiers had a hard time navigating the city and finding their quarters, so street names were color-coded across the peninsula — blue, green, yellow, black, and white — so even illiterate soldiers could find their way back.

They found about 500 statues buried near the Bern Minster, the main cathedral; these were religious statues destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century and later rediscovered. The massive cathedral is quite austere on the inside, with only the beautiful colored glass windows and a truly magnificent organ to enhance the visual impact.

Eventually, we worked our way to the bear park enclosure— there are three bears there now. Today, it was cold, and they were in their nests. 

At the end, near the bear enclosure, there is a large brewery. Danik and I decided to come back there for lunch after our next tour - that of the Zytglogge clock, due to start in 15 minutes. Bartosh gave us a final test of how well we memorized the information we learned on the tour, and we obviously passed, earning us some Toblerone chocolates. 

We ran back to the center of town to make it to our tour, cursing our frozen toes. If anything, it felt like it got colder since the morning, and two hours of slow walking (even if information-filled) did not help 😊

The Zytglogge is a medieval clock tower from the early 13th century that originally served as the city gate marking Bern’s edge, and was later transformed after a fire in 1405. Its famous astronomical clock, added in 1530, features moving figures — a jester, bears, and a crowing rooster — along with displays of time, zodiac, and moon phases. In today’s terms, building and equipping it would likely cost millions of dollars, making it a major civic statement of precision, wealth, and independence. The lovely and vivacious clock tower guide, Nina, took us inside and walked us through the city’s history and the clock’s inner workings. As Nina joked, the Zytglogge was essentially Bern’s way of wearing its Rolex on the outside for everyone to see 😊 We thought visiting Zytglogge was really cool — and a proper thing to do 😊

Then we went back to the brewery and got some beers and pretzels. Yes, still not cheap, but very, very tasty.

After lunch, we went to the Minster Cathedral, which we had visited earlier with Bartosh, and got the last tickets to climb the bell tower with its 300 steps. Dan was saying he had memories of climbing some really uncomfortable, steep, and scary steps the last time we were here, right after finishing college in 1999 (haha). But we could not place where those steps were —until, well, we finally did…

Beautiful, awesome views though 😊

After that, I went back to the hotel to catch up on reading and Spanish, and Danik went to meet with his friend — it was a productive meeting.

Then we came out one last time to grab a döner kebab — that too was one of the memories from a few decades ago — we tried our first doner in Bern. So we found a place.

And I got (at Danik’s urging) the mega-sized one for me, and he got a regular. The lady handed me my upper-arm-sized wrap and confirmed sarcastically, “Grosse??” Yes, indeed. Slightly ashamed, but ate it, and Danik helped.

I think this is actually one of the healthier food options — there is protein and fresh veggies to go with the ever-present carbs.

We braced for the cold, made our final run across the arcades, and went back to our hotel.

It was really lovely here — but on to warmer places tomorrow.

Georgia is in Switzerland too this weekend - in Zurich with a friend :)