AUGUST 12th

So we arrived in Milan (The Last Supper baby!) after yet another sleepless-ish night and soon were on the connecting train to Bern.
Really weren't prepared for what a difference there was going to be between Italy (or Southern Europe in general) and Switzerland. But i guess something mystical happens as you cross those mountains cos it was flipping gorgeous!

The green fields. The milky green rivers. The brown cows. The wooden houses. The forests. And the mountains... it's difficult to not be enchanted by such towering giants.

SWISS (C)RAVINGS...
We fell in love with Switzerland from the beginning and it just got better and better the more we experienced.
The natural beauty is wonderful. The people are some of the nicest we've come across. It's so clean! Such a peaceful and calm place too.
We never wanted to leave...
But seeing as i'm writing this from my hostel bed in Prague, i guess we eventually did and i must continue my story...

Arrived in Bern and checked into Pension (or Hotel or Garni depending which sign you were looking at) Martahaus which was superb. good location and really nice and clean. headed out for lunch and started our roamings in beautiful Bern.

To compare Bern and Naples would be the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Bern... so clean, so peaceful.
Naples... so filthy, so hectic.

I'm sure there are people out there who love Naples for its energy or some other fantastical reason. They can have it. Naples' one saving grace is its pizza.
Bern is Gabriel. Forever beautiful and angelic.
Naples is Lucifer. Now cast down into the pit and never to be redeemed.

Enough ranting...

We walked around blissful Bern to Munster Cathedral which has some rather impressive 12m high stained glass windows. The old town is UNESCO protected and really beautiful. On to the bear pits (the bear is the symbol of Bern) where they've kept bears since the late 1800s.
Unfortunately the bears were sleeping when we checked it out, so no ursine action for us.
we cruised along one main street which has a fountain about every 100m. Each fountain consists of a bowl with four spouts and then a central column upon which sits some sort of statue. There was Lady Justice, Samson, a bear in armour and lots more, but the best was the baby eating ogre fountain! I was a tad disappointed though. I'd read both in the LP and a few comments on the net that "you've gotta see the baby eating ogre fountain", so i thought that it was gonna be like Roman scale fountains (ie big). But no. Same size as the others, just quirky! :-) Still worth a look though!

Before dinner, the weather drove us home to secure warmer clothing and umbrellas. Wanted to catch a tram to the restaurant but weren't sure which one. As we were pondering over a map, a very kind (and hot!) Swiss woman asked us if we needed some help. She was getting on the same tram and also suggested instead of changing trams to get to our destination, that we walk along a particular street which would take us straight there and was covered so we didn't have to worry about the rain.
Love the Swiss! :-)

The restaurant had been converted from an old tram depot (and retained the name) and is still running Bern's first micro-brewery. They make three different types of beer, my favourite being Weizen (which i've recently discovered means wheat).
Not sure, but think (for those in the know) that Schoffer Hoffer might be a weizen beer. Mmmm tasty!
Food was great too. I had a veal and mushroom dish with rosti (hashed potatoes) and Jee had a couple of boiled Bavarian sausages (they came out in a bowl of hot water too) accompanied by a giant pretzel and sweet dipping mustard. Superb!
Had to sample all three varieties of beer, so ended up pretty tipsy by the time we got home!

AUGUST 13th

The hotel has a great breakfast included in it's price so after we broke our fast, we headed to Gruyeres, about 2 hours from Bern. The country side on the way and surrounding Gruyeres was some of the most beautiful we'd seen (up until that time anyway!). Most people head there to visit the famous cheese factory, but I really wanted to check out the H.R. Giger Museum. Giger is the twisted little puppy who designed THE Alien for Alien (and Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection) (mind you Giger should have shot them for the fourth installment!) (maybe Sigourney Weaver should request to do a fifth to redeem herself!).

But Giger is definitely much more than jus Alien. He's got some amazing stuff, both pictures and sculptures. He does a lot based on biomechanical (as in humans or nature blended with machine), he's almost like a perverted Antonio Gaudi!

Grabbed a snack after the museum and then went to the Giger Bar for a coffee and to warm up. Basically rained all day long. :-(
Giger Bar has some funky seats and the ceiling is like a giant spine with ribs extending out.

Headed back to Bern to grab our gear before jumping on the train to Interlaken. Switzerland is small and the trains are fast, but due to the mountains the travel time can be a bit longer than you'd think by looking at the distance on the map.

Interlaken is another gem in the Swiss crown. Surrounded by massive mountains (the taller ones are snow capped even in summer), it's just peaceful and the air is alpine fresh.The walk to the Funny Farm Hostel was through quiet suburban streets and our souls were at ease. Ahh the calm before the storm... what a wonderful feeling...

We were booked in at the Funny Farm Hostel but it shares its reception with the Hotel Matterhof. When we were checking in with the lady (quarter Korean plus quarter Japanese plus half German equals Hot Stuff! Even the missus agrees!) at reception, she took our name and she said "oh" in a rather dismal fashion. I asked her if our booking had been filled or something but she just said the walk out the back might be a bit cold. Meh i think, no biggy.

But there was a biggy waiting for us. Drafty rooms with no locks (or even lockers for safe storage) in a building which probably used to be a barn! The communal showers were in a large open room which looked cold enough as it was but probably freezing in winter! There was a pretty healthy looking dope plant growing out the back too! It truly was a "backpackers" and not really a hostel.Jee just sat on the bed looking depressed and said she wanted to get out of Interlaken as soon as possible. This was a different Jee who got off the train staring at the mountains, deeply inhaling the fresh air and stating with glee "it's so beautiful".

After much discussion I went to the reception to see if we could upgrade to the hotel. In the LP, a double in the Matterhof seemed darn expensive but we were desperate.
The lady knew as soon as i returned what i was going to request. I said that I thought we were a bit old for that level of accommodation. She said that she was too old for it a couple of years ago when she went to South Africa with a friend and thought they'd try to rough it but changed their minds after the first night!
For only ten Swiss Franks more per night, we stayed in the hotel in a room which had a double bed and a bunk bed and a private bathroom. There was the potential that two other people might join us, but we didn't care and it never happened, so that was sweet!
What an emotional rollercoaster! Love it!

The Matterhof i think has been around since the end of the 19th century. Interior needs a bit of modernizing perhaps but it's clean and comfy and that's what's important!