Our second last night in Europe was spent in Berne, Switzerland.

We had left the last day wide open when planning our trip -- the only thing that was certain was that I needed to get back to Geneva for my flight Monday morning. After flipping through our travel books, we picked Berne. Berne was absolutely lovely (just look at the view of the Aare River flowing through town on the left!). We spent all of Sunday morning exploring a virtually empty city. As with all European cities, nothing in Berne was open on Sunday and it was nice to be able to take a leisurely pace while strolling its quaint streets.

There are 4 miles of arcaded walkways along streets decked out with fountains and clock-towers.

On the top we have the main shopping drag and on the bottom, the Zytglogge.

Berne's center is largely medieval. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge, an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. It also has an impressive Gothic cathedral, the Münster. The Munster was one of the most impressive churches we saw (and that is saying something because we saw a lot of beautiful churches) -- here's a short video -- note the details above the door.

We also stopped to look at Einstein-haus. Albert Einstein rented this small flat with his wife during his years working at the Swiss patent office. The special and general theories of relativity were born here, where Einstein's writing desk overlooked the busy street below! I made Dr. Neil, the physicist, pose out front!

Berne is inseparably linked with bears. According to legend the city’s founder, Duke Berchtold V von Zähringen, named the city after the first animal to be caught here. The saga lives on in the form of the real-live bears in the Bear Pits and the heraldic bear in the Bernese coat of arms. While I thought it strange, we did go and see the Bear Pits. Apparently these pits have caused a lot of animal activists to go squirrelly -- so these bears in the next few years are going to see the pits enlarged, complete with the capability of going for a swim the the Aare River.

Around noon, we headed back to the train station and took the hour long ride back to Lausanne. The last 15 minutes of the ride is along Lake Geneva and it is glorious! Vineyard after vineyard. We had picked up a brochure on the small wine making towns along the lake and when we go back (and one day we will), we plan to walk from Lausanne into wine country. The views alone would be magnificent without the added bonus of getting to tour a winery or two and sampling their wares!

Lausanne is more steep than big. If you head north of the train station, you find yourself walking straight up (literally) into the old town. If you go south, you head down towards the lake community, Ouchy. We spent most of our time down on the lake as we had amazing weather when we were here.

After a quick lunch, we wandered the promenade around the lake and then it was time to head back to Geneva. This marks the end of our trip!!

To view all the pictures from Berne, click here.

To view all the pictures from Lausanne, click here.