Bern

Saturday, I took a trip to Switzerland's capital, Bern with an Austrian student from my foyer.  We left very early on a train and arrived in Bern at about 8:30 am.  When we arrived, nothing was open yet, so we wandered around exploring the old city.  It was quite a bit colder in Bern than Geneva, and there was even a bit of snow on the ground.

Early morning sun over Bern.

Later in the morning, we went on a tour of the Swiss parliment.  The Swiss system is quite unique, so it was interesting to learn about.  Plus, the tour was free, which is a bonus!  After the tour, my Austrian travel mate met some other Austrians and decided to go off with them.  She was on a one day rail pass, so she wanted to take advantage of being able to travel all over the country on that pass.

Once she left, I followed my trusty Lonley Planet book's instructions to Gurten Hill, the highest point in the city.  There was a gondola, but I hiked up instead. The views from the top were pretty incredible, and helped me get my bearings in the city.

View from Gurten Hill.

After my hike, I kept exploring the old town.  I went to the Barenpark to see the bears (Bern's namesakes), but they were all hibernating for the winter.  You can watch them hibernate online on webcam, but the park itself was a bit of a bust.

In Bern's old town.

I caught the 6:30 train back to Geneva, and then met up with some friends from work for an Australia day party at a British Pub.  It was nice to socialize with them outside of work, and to I didn't even have to eat any vegemite.