Day Trippers

Delicious fondue

Switzerland is a ilttle country so day trips are easy to do. Graeme and Caroline wanted to see one small place and one larger place, so we chose Gruyères on Wednesday and Bern on Thursday. We enjoyed our journeys to and from both places, and the destinations were full of delights.

The castle above the town

Gruyères

As I mentioned in the last entry, Dan generously loaned us his car for a day so we could get to Gruyères in good time. It is a very popular tourist destination, but it is impossible to reach by train in under two and half hours. By car, it took us less than an hour and a half. Yay Dan!!

Chocolate ice cream to die for!

Gruyère cheese wheels

The old town is tiny (basically one street) with an economy based on tourism. Below the elevated main street, there is a factory where the famous Swiss cheese of the same name is produced. Visitors can see all that Gruyères has to offer in a few hours. Caroline and I visited the castle perched at the highest point in the town, Graeme and Bob saw the Giger museum, a tribute to the artist who is famous for Alien, the movie; and we all ate fondue and chocolate. We also visited some shops. As you can see from the photos, the place is lovely. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there!

Bern, the Swiss capital, is easily accessible from Neûchatel by train. With our demi-prix cards, the return trip only cost Bob and me 38 Swiss francs (1.20 Canadian dollars). Trains left every half-hour, a journey that took about 35 minutes.

The old city

The view from the Rosengarten

The entertaining clock.

The old part of the city has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. It is very charming, with its many colonnades, and fine buildings. The best streets are festooned with flags from various embassies, but the most evident flag is that of the Bern bear, the symbol of the city. While tourists are directed by guides to witness the old town clock "perform" every hour, my favourite sight was the Aare river, which snakes around the old part of town. It is a beautiful, with its Alpine water running fast and high this year. We brought our bathing suits in order to participate in the local custom of floating down the river, but the speed of the current has put an end to that practice this year.

The old city and the Aare

Another view of the Aare

We climbed to the Rosengarten high above the city to have lunch and to take in the view. Afterwards, we visited the brown bears, and then walked along the lowest part of the city beside the river. A funicular took us back up to middle ground. (Bern is a very hilly place!) I counted my steps this day, and believe me, there were lots of them - some 20,000!

We were very lucky with the weather in Bern. The forecast had been for 90% chance of rain, but the skies remained clear until about 4:00 when it started to drizzle. We took that as a sign to end our day trip and hop on the train for home.