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Bern and a Hike

Zug, Switzerland - We visited Bern last weekend and we went for a hike up the Zugerberg.

Bern

Bern is the fifth largest city in Switzerland with a population of 140,000. It is the de facto capital; the Swiss constitution intentionally has no official capital, making a facto capital an administrative impossibility. However, this is where many (though, not all) government institutions are located, such as the parliament and the federal council. 

Bern, like so many Swiss cities, has a lovely old town that's very nice to stroll through. Cars are barred from driving on many of these cobblestone streets, but weirdly, trams are still permitted and they aren't particularly well separated from the pedestrians (see here), so pedestrians will occasionally receive a horn to warn of impending bodily injury. 

Bears feature prominently in Bern - mostly in the form of symbols and legends, but also live bears. Legend has it that the founder of the city, Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen, vowed to name the city after the first animal he encountered on a hunt, which turned out to be a bear (the fate of that bear is uncertain). Bern, then, is some derivative of the medieval German word for bear. This legend has been disputed since at least the 1980s, with many now claiming that the city's name hearkens back to Celtic times, where the "Bern" was a toponym, borrowing from the Celtic word "berna" for cleft. But this is much more boring than a bear-hunting legend and anyway the Bernese long ago adopted bears as their spirit animal and heraldic beast. They are so enamored with bears that since the mid-15th century, they've kept a couple in a bear pit on the eastern side of the city.

Bernese mountain dogs were originally bred here as general farm dogs. If you didn't know, Bernese mountain dogs are large and vaguely resemble a bear in dog form. 

Image result for huge bernese mountain dog
Bernese Mountain Dog, courtesy of bluemountainbernese.com

Bern is also known for its fountains. There are over 100 public fountains in Bern with fresh drinking water and historically they served as meeting points for the city's residents. Eleven fountains have 16th century allegorical figures on top of them. My personal favorite is the Kindlifresserbrunnen, which translates to "the child eater fountain."

Well known nerd, Albert Einstein was a resident of Bern. It was here that he developed his Theory of Relativity. Paul Klee is also from Bern and there is a museum here that focuses on his work. The museum is located among pastures on a hillside just outside of town. It's a neat contemporary building, but we were disappointed by the museum, which was relatively light on the Klee on heavy on the price (20 CHF per person).

The Old City of Bern
Kindlifresserbrunnen, AKA the Child Eater

More Fountains

Bern's Astronomical Clock
Lovely buildings in Bern

Bern's obsession with Bears on full display here

Zugerberg

Zugerberg is the local mountain outside of Zug. It rises to 925 meters, but the altitude of Zug itself is already about 425 meters, so the overall prominence isn't that substantial relative to some of the other mountains in the area (Rigi, by comparison, is 1,798 meters). Like all of Switzerland's scenic natural locales, it's very accessible. Buses will take you to and from the base, and there is a funicular railway back and forth to the peak. For H and I, it is the closest of the nearby peaks: We can walk to the peak and back from the center of town in roughly three hours. Hannah and I took a bus out to the base of the mountain and then walked to the top along a steep paved roadway (cars were not allowed). The way was mostly wooded, though it let out onto pastureland as we reached the top. The top of Zugerberg has several restaurants and facilities for winter sports, picnicking, etc. It's all very quaint. We took a different way back, this time walking directly from the peak into Zug (rather than to the bus stop). This pathway lovely: it took us through a mix of pastures and woods and provided beautiful views of Zug.

From Zugerberg, looking down on Zug

From Zugerberg, looking down on Zug and prominently featuring picturesque farmhouse

Pastures on Zugerberg with more farmhouse

More pastures on Zugerberg
Lake Zug, at the conclusion of our hike


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