We woke up this morning and looked out the window to discover that it was snowing in Interlaken. After breakfast, we made our way through the snow to the train station only to find the trains were way way behind schedule (much to the shock of everyone, Swiss precision hardly fails on any occasion!). A professor from the University of Bern sitting with me on the congested train was translating the German announcements on the train for me, and also telling me he was already 2.5 hours late for work. It seemed that no one expected snow in October! Not even the Swiss Rail!
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We made our way to Bern and checked into the hotel. The temperature gauge in Bern Train Station read 2 deg C. From the first day when we landed in Geneva, we had air-conditioning in our room, till now the last day, we were actually using radiators in our room! After dropping of our stuff, we took a bus to Barengraben ( Bear Pits). Bears have been an integral part of Bern since their Bernese troops brought back a real bear in 1513, and it is said the Bern is named after bears. Much to the dismay of the onlookers, the bears were asleep in their den and didn't want to come out. I made a few snowballs and tossed them to wake them up but they refused to budge.
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So, we walked back towards the Old Town. Bern is more quintessentially Swiss than other cities. The inhabitants of Bern were often mocked by Swiss residing in other parts of Switzerland for their 'legendary slowness', but this has actually resulted in the beautifully historic town being left intact for years. The people in Bern believaed in leaving things alone.
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However, it was easy to get lost in the maze of the town, where all buildings and roads are almost of the same shade and design! We decided to keep on the main road with the trams which led us to Zeitglockenturm, originally the western gate when the medieval town was extended. This clock tower is the most recognisable landmark in Bern and the road leading up to it is decorated with many different fountains. The clockwork and figures on the clock tower begins to twirl 4 minutes before the hour and attracts many tourists daily.
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After walking around Bern looking at their quiant shophouses for another 2 hours, we departed on a train to the industrial town of Olten, just 45 minutes outside Bern. Wen Lee had done some research and found out that famous Swiss chocolate Lindt has a factory outlet there which is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-4 pm. We reached Olten at about 12 pm, and promptly had lunch. We got lost for about an hour, as no one in Olten spoke English and we were lost. After all, this town is not exactly a tourists' spot! Finally we found a restaurant by the river where the waiter actually spoke English and he directed us to the factory. It actually felt like walking in Tuas ( albeit a very COLD Tuas), going to the factory. Finally we reached the Chocolate Factory and did our chocolate shopping.
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After that, we went back and combed the city of Bern some more, before getting into a small diner to have Crepes for dinner, along with Cafe Mocha with a dash of Bailey's Cream. Having satisfied our hunger, and longing for our warm beds, we went back to our hotel and packed our stuff.
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Early the next morning, we left for Geneva, about 2 hours away, where we were to fly to Amsterdam (Holland) for our flight home. ByeBye Switzerland.... Switzerland had been my dream country since i was a little girl, and finally i was able to fulfill my dream of visiting it, and it didn't disappoint one bit!
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