We have done a lot more today, even though we started late. I slept in for the first time on this vacation! how long did I sleep, you may ask? Till 9:40! Whew, late i know! :P
we started the day at the Bear Park (fun facct, Bern got its name from the bear, barn[ with the funny dotted thing over the a] in Swiss-German, and bear hunting). A bear pit, like a bull ring, but for bears, was a huge attraction for the city until the 1800s. Realizing the cruelty, they stopped the bear pits and gave the bears their own sanctuary in the city. we went to the bear preserve and watched for a while. the bears were boring and lazy. that's about it. we then ventured to the Canton's cathedral with a huge tower (which i refused to pay 8 francs to go into!) it also has a pretty famous door ornamentation of the Final Judgement. I took pictures (it was allowed). After the church, we went to the Museum of the Alps, where we learned about mountains and argued about the origin of man. I also kicked Joe's ass at a mountaineering dice game. fun stuff! We then found the Natural History Museum, which we made it literally 5 steps away from yesterday before giving up and turning around (OXBRIDGE!!!) and we had a good time there. There was a huge real-life anthill, interesting because we watched A Bug's Life 3 days ago, and then looked at animals and the environments of the world, interesting because we watched Fern Gully 2 days ago :P
They had some cool skeletons (the Swiss are obsessed with death, just as a sidenote) and a room of mirrors, which is always fun! We walked around the Swiss government buildings (we couldn't go inside) and found security is much more lax in other countries than it is in the US. No death threats from armed guards in Europe, no sir-re!
Ummm...i think that's it, but since it's the end of a country, here are some...
BITZ O WIZDUM!!
Things i learned in Switzerland
1. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE!!! I think that's all that needs to be said about that.
2. Switzerland is beautiful!!!! Come and take lots of pictures wherever you go! I think it sort of cancels out the cost! lol
3. The Swiss walk slower than Brits...come to think of it, really everyone walks slower than the Brits. It takes some getting used to.
4. SWISS CHOCOLATE IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!
5. Canadians are just as loud as Americans...maybe louder.
6. Fondue is Swiss. I know right?
7. Given the option, i would rather travel alone. 'Nuff said.
We're headed to Italy tomorrow!! Venice here we come, but for now, I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
from Day 14:
GELATO IS AMAZING!! Thought i would start off with that. We arrived in Venice at around 2:30, only about 7 hours on the train. not bad considering the distance. Once we found our hostel, where Jenni was waiting for us, we all went out exploring around the city. Venice is beautiful, but kind of boring. There are tons of churches (yay) and lots of canals. that's about it. Thank God for gelato! So amazing! I've already had so many scoops! other than walking around, we didn't do much besides getting stuck behind slow walking people and talking pictures of an all-Asian Palm Sunday service. we are all dead tired and i'm sure Joe will want to start early tomorrow, so I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
From Day 15:
I was right. We left the hostel at 9. We all went to the Ghetto, the Jewish ghetto that is. It was interesting, but barren. Apparently, stuff doesn't really go on there unless it's a Jewish holiday. other than that, it's just the ghetto.
...We split up after that cause me and Jenni didn't want to spend money on stuff (except for gelato!), so we left Joe to do his expensive things and we went off our own way. It was a lot of fun! we walked along the Grand Canal for a bit and got serenaded by a really food old guy (he was a Tenor II if you care to know) singing while walking behind us for a while. We turned off the canal path into a park with statues and fun walking paths down in a random wandering motion until we reached water again. We were apparently near a small island with a church taking up most of it, so we made our way there, but it looked super sketch, so we didn't go in and we sat on the park benches outside and people-watched.
We stopped by Il Penguino (hehe! the penguin! I had to!) and got some gelato before starting the trek back to the hostel. she left later on, so after we walked to the station (and getting more gelato :P) I met up with Joe again and we went on a fail trip to one of the churches he had gone to earlier. It was closed of course when we got there, so we went souvenir shopping.
...We planned out Florence, which should have a lot more to see! Tuscanny and then Spain!!!!! I am SO EXCITED!! Not to excited for some rest though, so I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
From Day 16:
Florence is so much nicer than Venice (to me at least)!! On a less awesome note, I have discovered 5 days is the longest i can travel with someone else. After that, every little thing starts to annoy you. Sigh. i am destined to be a loner. Anyway, we got to Florence at around noon and (of course) couldn't check in yet. So Joe decides we should immediately go to the museum with the David in it. If he had waited another 10 minutes, I would have been able to read about the advance tickets you can get so we wouldn't have had to stand in line for an hour and a half! ANYWAY, we got in and saw all the stuff in the galleria della Accademia, Including the original David, which i took illegal pictures of! :P
...We also went to the Medici Basillica and we went to the crypt where Donatello is buried and there are a lot of saint's bodies/bones there as well. The Palazo Vecchio was our last stop for the day (rrrrrgh... I didn't want to do a lot on the first day cause i was tired and i didn't want to end up like we had [and probably will], being done at like 1:30 and just doing nothing for the rest of the day >:O sigh.) and we went through and took pictures, then got caught in an actual rain storm, which hasn't happened since i left the US!! When we got back to the hostel, we had our free dinner and then i got some cheap groceries and Joe went to do work and I am going to bed early cause (of course) Joe wants to start at 8:30 in the morning. I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
the final days of Italy are coming soon!
Jojo
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