いらつしゃいませ!!

In Japan, when you enter a store or a restaurant or a home, the hosts will call out "いらつしゃいませ!"(Ira'shaimase), which means something like "Welcome!" "Come on in!" Which is what I say to you, new and old friends, as I share random thoughts and creations to whomever is interested.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Bern, Switzerland

Bern etegami

On to the capital city of Switzerland, Bern, which means, yes, Bear.


Such a beautiful old city surrounded by the river Aare.  
The beautiful mauve rooftops  and green trees and sparkling clear aqua river.
The city dates back to 1353, hard to imagine.



I obviously did not take this photo but it shows what a neat city it is,
 horse-shoed in by the most beautiful emerald blue river!


This is the new enclosure for the bears of Bern. 
 But it was being renovated so we did not get to see the bears.


We visited Bern on August 1, Swiss National Day. The building above is the national parliament building. We hoped to visit  inside (open for the public on National Day)  but so did about another thousand people. Oh well. There were flags everywhere in the city.  The Swiss cantons each have a flag which are prominently flown. You seldom if ever see this in the USA, displaying all of the state flags. Very colorful.


There were a lot of people roving about preparing for the celebration.
There was a fun beer hall set up where we stopped to raise a pint and visit with Joerg's daughter Jenny and her boyfriend.  He is a lawyer but he did say he was "a nice lawyer"!!
They were so very friendly, we had a great time.


We decided to have some fun and all try out the cardboard cutout Swiss folk outfits.
I consolidated them into one, very fun picture.



Perhaps one of my favorite "sculptures." It stands right where the electric tram ends.
Bern did not want the tram coming any farther into the city since its cars were yellow.
They only wanted red or blue trains in the city to "match city colors".
 So the train stops here.


This is a very famous clock in Bern.
 Had to do the traditional tourist pose
.
Bern etegami

There were many bear statues, most of them have big bellies.
Perhaps I should've captioned this "The Brave Bern Bear Bears a Big Belly."

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