Back in Bern

The drive from Chamonix to Bern was mostly through the Alps and quite spectacular. We spent just two nights in Bern and it was too short for both of us, but our hotel is only affordable on weekends, so we had little choice but to leave on Monday morning. It rained most of the time we were there but we still really enjoyed it.

The hotel (Hotel Allegro Kursaal) was as fantastic as we remembered from our December 2006 visit, especially the magnificent breakfast. It's an attraction in itself (for us, anyway) so it deserves several pictures:







One of my favorite German treats - I call it a "pretzel croissant", but I don't know its real name.


There was a Ferrari in our parking garage! But it wasn't a fellow guest - the sign on the wall says "Only for Doctors." There's a clinic next door to the hotel.

Besides enjoying the hotel, our other main goal for Bern was to revisit our favorite rosti place, Restaurant Anker. This time we got to eat outside, which is a significant blessing because smoking is allowed (and popular) inside. The rosti was to die for, and die of, just as it was last time. I tried to implant all the flavors and textures in my memory, as I'm determined to re-create it as best I can back home! But unfortunately we didn't bring our cameras this time.

The second night we returned to the same place for an early dinner, but when we arrived at 5:30pm the kitchen had already closed. Apparently they close early on Sundays. We were so bummed, but it turned out for the best in the end, as we got to sample rosti somewhere else! We found a place called Le Mazot, which was full of local-looking old men (always a good sign).



In addition to many other delicious local specialties, they offer 14 varieties of rosti, making it very hard to choose. David went with my usual choice - ham, cheese and egg - and I tried something different: ham and mushroom in a tomato-based gravy. Both were absolutely delicious. And fortunately they offer a half-portion option, so I wasn't quite as sick afterwards!




It was really nice having been to Bern before, as we didn't feel any pressure to take pictures of churches. We only revisited one of them, in fact - the big Gothic Munster. The weather was cloudier than our Christmastime visit and it was closed by the time we got there, so it was mostly a bust photography-wise. But it was still nice to see it again. Mostly we just wandered around the city, checking out the shops and admiring the fountains that Bern is known for. It is a really pleasant city, the sort of place you could see living in.







David did more wandering than I did, and one evening he came upon a protest in a small area of town that apparently houses the city's illegal immigrants and ne'er-do-wells. He got to chat with some friendly policemen and watch the anti-riot trucks arrive (shown above). It's certainly not my idea of a pleasant evening, but he had a wonderful time and got to see a lesser-known side of the orderly capital city of Switzerland.