6th - 8th July 2006
The train drew into Berne at about 3pm. It was a little late in the day, but thankfully it was summer, which means the sun sets at about nine pm. This would give us some time to walk around the city before night falls.
After putting down our bags at Bern Backpackers, we wasted no time in discovering what Berne (also Bern) had to offer. Berne is the capital city of Switzerland. Its city centre is largely medieval, and the city has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site.
Our first stop for the day is the Münster, which is a gothic cathedral. I don't really recall much of it, but I think it was pretty. Just behind the cathedral, there is a path that leads to a platform where we had a nice view of the River Aare, and the lower old town.
Berne's actually quite a small city by capital city standards. and it actually feels like a small town with its quiet cobbled lanes lined with sandstone arcaded buildings straddling the pavements. In no time at all, we had walked from Münster to the Bundeshaus, which is the House of Parliaments.
There was a flea market near the Bundeshaus and we spent some time walking through it. From here, we decided to walk over to the Rosengarten, which is a park on the other side of the river. Along the way, we passed by Berne's famous Clock Tower.
The Clock Tower is a medieval tower, and it's one of Berne's most recognisable symbols, with its 15th Century astronomical clock.
Moving on, we arrived at the Bear Pits near the Rosengarten. It is a major tourist attraction in Berne, but the bears were nowhere to be found when we arrived. We had arrived after its opening hours.
From here, it's a short walk uphill to the Rosengarten. There is a splendid view of the city from here, and in the warm glow of the setting sun, Berne looked really beautiful and charming.
There's a restaurant at Rosengarten but it's slightly pricey, and so we decided to head back to the city centre.
View of Bern from Rosengarten
Before dinner, we decided to drop by Einsteinhaus. No prices for guessing but yes, it was where Albert Einstein used to stay. We didn't get to go in as it was closed, but from the outside, it looked a little nondescript. Anyway, it's what went on inside that's important. Einstein came up with the general theories of relativity when he was living here, but don't ask me to explain what these theories are as I've no clue.
After dinner, we walked around the city a while more before retiring for the night.
We got up early the next day. After breakfast, we packed up and headed to the train station. Our destination for the day is Friedrichshafen in Germany.
It was easy enough getting to Friedrichshafen. When we arrived in Romanshorn by train, we transferred to a ferry that was departing for Friedrichshafen. The one-hour ferry ride took us across the Bodensee, and across the Swiss-German border.
It was a rainy day and we didn't get to see nice views of the Bodensee. In fact, visibility was pretty low. Our first sight of Friedrichshafen was the Moleturm or Jetty Tower, and the white-coloured Zeppelin Museum.
After disembarking from the ferry and getting our passports chopped, we headed to our guesthouse, the Pension Wurster. It took us quite a bit of time to find the guesthouse in the pouring rain. The addresses given were wrong. After asking around in my limited German, we finally found the place.
After putting down our stuff, we walked over to downtown Friedrichshafen. The picture below will give you an idea of what Friedrichshafen looks like- full of pastel-coloured buildings that are a little characterless. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Friedrichshafen's pretty low-key but it's actually quite a pleasant place. I've a soft spot for small towns that are not overrun by tourists. But of course, that's provided I don't stay so long that I get bored of it.
After lunch, we walked along the pleasant lakeside promenade to the Schlosskirche (Palace Church). The twin onion-domed, baroque Schlosskirche was built between 1695 and 1701, and it's Friedrichshafen's architectural highlight. Unfortunately, the church was closed when we were there.
We then decided to head back to the Zeppelin Museum, which is Friedrichshafen's number one tourist attraction. In fact, this museum has probably played a major part in putting Friedrichshafen on the tourist map.
Friedrichshafen is best known for having been home to the Zeppelin airship company. From 1900 until World War II, Friedrichshafen served as the manufacturing center for the giant airships. These airships were used for passenger transport as well as for military purposes.
In 1937, while landing in Lakehurst after a transatlantic flight, the tail of the Hindenburg airship caught fire, and within seconds, it burst into flames. 35 of the 97 people on board and one member of the ground crew were killed. This disaster contributed to the demise of the Zeppelin.
Today, in the museum, there is a recreation of the Hindenburg. We had arrived near closing time, and Kaiyen didn't think it was worth paying the entrance fees for a one-hour visit, so I decided to go in alone.
There were many exhibits but most of the signs were in German only, so for me, the main attraction is the recreation of the Hindenburg. I climbed into the Hindenburg and within it, there's a full-scale replica of the lounge, writing room, and some passenger rooms. It's really quite interesting to see how air travel was in the past.
After a whirlwind tour of the museum, I went to look for Kaiyen. He had gone shopping around town when I was away. It was still raining, but I wanted to climb up the Moleturm. The tower is situated at the entrance to the boat harbour. After climbing six levels up the half-spiral staircase made of steel, I arrived at the viewing platform. Apparently you can see the Austrian and Swiss Alps from here on a clear day, but it was not a clear day, so I had to contend myself with views of town and the Bodensee.
Dinner was next, and after dinner, we headed back to our guesthouse. The next morning, we took a cab to the airport to catch our Ryanair flight to London, and the story continues on my London travelogue.
