Bern

Bern is the de facto captial of Swizterland, and one of my favorite cities in Europe.

Switzerland technically has no capital among its Cantons, but Bern is centrally located, so they put the Swiss parliament there.

Bern also has excellent fountains. The Kindlifresserbrunnen is over 500 years old.

MUST FEED!

The Zytglogge is a 15th century clock tower.

The symbol of Bern is the bear. Here is one of many depicted in the city.

Bern's History Museum is one of the best museums I have ever visited.

This is a Greek vessel from 570 BC that made its way to Bern through trade.

This sword with Greek writing from 100 B.C. is one of the oldest examples of writing north of the alps.

Bern's 15th century cathedral was marvel in its day. They put this stone block in it, stating "copy if you can."

The original statues from the cathedral are preserved in the museum now, with copies taking their place in the church.

The Dance of Death is an artistic genre of the late Middle Ages.

Bern conquered many territories surrounding it with its legendary pikemen, including the Hapsburg's ancestral lands. Enguerrand Coucy of France, a prominent French leader of the 100 years war, tried to claim these lands, and was repulsed by the Bernese in the 1300s. This is his captured battle standard from the Gugler War. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman is an excellent book that details Enguerrand's life.

Swiss mercenaries loved their codpieces.

Gotta weigh your cannons.

Bear squires are the best squires.

All Swiss marriage contracts and peace treaties bear the seals of the signatories on the bottom.

A Swiss heating apparatus.

Coconuts were incredibly valuable in 16th century Bern.

Owl cup.

A great room of old oddities of the rich.

Rich Swiss had custom waffle irons made with the two family's insignias for their weddings.

Bern has historically kept bears as mascots. When Bern was conquered by Revolutionary/Napoleonic France in 1798, France took the bears to humiliate the once mighty Bernese. They left the bear cub, which was stuffed.

This is the Burgundy room. The Bernese beat Charles the Bold of Burgundy in combat in the 15th century, and obtain many of the treasures of that dying dukedom, which is never bothered to give back.

A view of old town Bern.

Bern has a bear pit. Bears have been kept in Bern since the 1500s. This pit was built in the 1800s.

They have a much larger enclosure now, but are still put in the pit when the otherone is being maintained.

There is a great brewery next to the bear pit.

We got to see some bears up close.

It was pretty hot that day.

Another first-rate bear statue.

Did I mention Switzerland is expensive?

Just a normal Sunday outside the church in Bern.

Zurich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and its banking hub for German speakers. The Limmat river flows through the city.

Theses views are from Lindenhof hill, a park built over the demolished royal residence. This site has been inhabited by Celts and Romans.

The fountains in Switzerland are awesome.

The Roman name for Zurich was Turicum, as seen on this grave stone from 200 AD next to the park.

Next to the park is a bar called the Old Crow. Switzerland is incredibly expensive, but the drinks at this bar were worth it.

Grossmunster is one of Zurich's major churches. There is an epic statue of Charlemagne inside.

Another great fountain.

Zurich has more swans than any other city I've been to.

The water of Lake Zurich is light blue.

We ate a lot of Swiss chocolate.

The Swiss National Museum is way too high concept.

Behold the rotating wheel of Swiss history.

And... this was in the basement.

Hundreds of Zurichers floated down the river while we were there.

The Kunsthaus is Zurich's excellent art museum.

It had some great pictures of Venice.

And cows.

Villach

Villach is the second largest city in Carinthia, a state of Austria. Every year the Villacher Kirtchtag celebration is held in summer. It started as a church day in 1225 when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick decreed Villach could hold a funfair on the day of Jacob.

Austria is trapped in the 80s. Or all the carnival rides in Villach were 80s carnival rides from America.

Make sure to turn the volume all the way up before playing this video.

Every good European festival has a costume parade.

Never go full Schuhplattler.

The horror. THE HORROR!

Every good parade also needs floats pulled by tractors.

Villacher is the main beer around town, and they have a Beer Garden next to their brewery that's pretty good.

The jester wears many masks.

Food not found at most fairs.

There were plenty of alcohol options at the fair.

Sometimes its hard to take this country seriously.

The churches are imposing.

Landskron Castle is next to Villach and houses a bird and monkey sanctuary.

Free-range macaques from Japan roam the grounds of the monkey sanctuary.

Most of the pictures in the blog will be monkey pictures.

Landskron Castle is in the background.

The monkeys learned how to operate pulleys to obtain apples.

The view from Landskron Castle.

The Romerweg, an ancient Roman road, also runs through Villach, near the hotsprings.