So today was a Bern day.   I decided against doing a couple more day trips and to spend the next couple of days exploring Bern.

I moved into my new hostel down the street in the morning and decided I would take advantage of the lack of rain (still grey cloudy skies) and walk around town.

The night before I had looked up things to do in Bern and came upon the Albert Einstein house.   He actually made up residence here in town for a few years before he was “discovered”.

His house is actually pretty nondescript and if I wasn’t out looking for it I would have easily walked on by.   I paid the 6 Franc admission and walked up the stairs.   In one room were tile boards about the different times in his life from his birth straight up to his death.   In the adjacent room they were showing a 15 minute video on his life.

The final room was a mock up of his living quarters.   The whole thing wasn’t much but it was still pretty cool to learn a little bit about Albert Einstein.

I had no idea what to do next and figured I would just walk around and explore.   It didn’t take long til I was passing by a puppet show theater.

Oh.   My.   God.   How cute!   And since it was Saturday today they had a show that afternoon a couple of hours later.

I had to do it!   I bought my ticket for 20 Francs and got one of the last 2 seats remaining for the show.

I had an hour or so to kill before the show started so I walked back to the Bear Garden to see the bears asleep on the grassy cliff side next to the river.

I walked back a different way just to explore another street and before I knew it I was back at the Puppet Theater.

As I stood in line for the show it became glaringly aware that I might be the only adult there not accompanying a child.   Yes, it was a show for children.   For some reason I didn’t clue into that or maybe I just didn’t care.

I smiled and laughed – I was going to see a children’s puppet show in German on a grey, dreary Saturday afternoon and I couldn’t wait!

Did I understand any of the story?   Of course not.   The kids were laughing and having a great time and I joined along.   It was just such a random thing to do and I was so happy I was doing it.

To my delight, this wasn’t the only random thing to happen to me today…

Later on in the late afternoon after exploring a different part of the city I turned a corner to the sound of outdoor music.   I walked towards the music and found a crowd of people around an outdoor stage.   There were vending booths for beers and hotdogs and people waving Bern flags.

I wasn’t sure what it was all about but I knew I wanted to hang out there for awhile to figure it out.

“We are the champions” by Queen played over the loudspeaker and shortly afterward an MC started introducing players.

I had happened upon the victory celebration for the SC Bern Hockey Club.   They had won the championship earlier in the week and this was their time to celebrate.   How truly random.

After hanging around for awhile to take it in I headed back to the hostel to get myself ready to visit the restaurant I had gone to the last two nights for dinner.

I went to the restaurant but was dismayed to find that the girl who had served me the last two nights – the friendly one who spoke English – wasn’t working and instead a man who spoke no English greeted me.

Sigh.

To top it off there was no feature menu.   I just couldn’t stay so I left in search of somewhere else to eat.

That search went on and on as it had the other day when I stumbled upon the place I just left.   I gave serious thought to going to McDonalds and as I walked back towards the center of town I could hear the music again.

The celebration, it appeared, was going into the night.   I got there and alot of people were still out partying to the DJ on stage.   I looked to my right and the concession stands were still open – I had found my dinner.

For 8 Francs (about 6 euros) I got a humongous bratwurst in a bun with mustard – it wasn’t my “ideal” meal but it sure beat the McDonalds option and the price was right.

All in all an interesting day.   Nothing really planned and I just happened upon some really neat stuff.   I’m hoping there are many more days like this in the future.

Euro Trip 2013, Bern, Switzerland, Trip Journal
Europe 2013
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