Bern

So Bern was almost a month ago by now...relying on my diary to remind me what we did! We left our hostel in Zurich around 8 am after Karen bought a Swiss Army knife (they were selling them at the hostel). We took the train into Bern, arriving late morning. After leaving our luggage in lockers at the train station, we wandered around the Zyglotte (parliament) and clock tower. Following lunch in a local cafe, we went to Einsteinhaus, the place where Einstein lived and worked from 1903-1905. The house has been restored to the style of that period, with various articles, such as the table that Einstein stood at to write, on display. Finally, we walked across the Aare River to get to the Bärenpark, a 6000 metre sq. park with small and large bear pits that has housed bears for several hundred years--since 1513. The brown bears have a long narrow swath down near the river to move about in. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and then returned to the train station where we picked up our luggage and caught our next train.

Here's a site for the Bear Park we visited. http://www.baerenpark-bern.ch/index.php?id=info&L=0