The Ham Nomads

9 Sep 2015. <CH> Bern; Basel; <FR> Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, & Romanswiller, Alsace —

We went straight into Bern. We had noted a possible parking place at the Botanical Gardens, just north of the old city and an easy walk in. We tried to find a park closer, but the closer in, the shorter the time they allowed. As it was, we got three hours — just enough for a walk through the old city to remind us of its beauty. This time we weren't going to revisit the Einstein House — we had been there before. We were going to visit the famous bear pit, which was closed for refurbishment when we were here last. Turns out the refurbishment was not as successful as they expected — it is again closed for a major refurbishment! So, with two things out of our agenda, this left us a fair bit of time to walk around.

We walked up to and through the Hauptbahnhof, coming out at the rather modern covered area for the tram and bus interchange behind it. We went over to the Heiliggeistkirche (The Church of the Holy Ghost), hoping to find it open — it wasn't. We then started walking down the main street (which changes its name as you go along it, from Spitalgasse to Marktgasse to Kramgasse to Gerechtigkeitsgasse, before you get to the Nydeggbrücke, which takes you across the Aare River to the (currently closed) Bearpark.

Bern is a city of green limestone, with all the buildings built of this material, and along the main streets, basically to the same design. Even where construction is obviously of some other material, it has been painted or rendered to match this colour. There are arcades on either side of the streets — a concession to the winter snow, which can be quite heavy here. The basements of the buildings are accessible from the street, and contain even more shops.

Bern is renowned for its numerous polychromed statues — there are numerous 16th century fountains in the streets that have recently been refurbished at a huge cost. There are similar statues, dating from a similar period, on the fronts of many of the buildings.

As you pass from Marktgasse to Kramgasse, you pass the Zytglogge. The tower was built in the 13th century, and a clock was added in the early 15th century, and extended to its current form in the late 15th century. This is a major tourist attraction, and is usually surrounded by tour groups.

Another way to do your touring —
via Rikscha Walla (Rickshaw-walla)

Some of the buildings have very old wall paintings adorning them. The one at Junkergasse 22 is particularly well known. Its painted inscriptions read thus:

(beneath the windows)
Hier herrschen Schönheit und Geschmack.
Hier riecht es angenehm nach Lack.
Hier wird gemalt in Öl und Kleister:
Friedrich Taffelet Malermeister

Here beauty and taste prevail.
Here it smells pleasantly of polish.
Here is painted in oil and paste:
Friedrich Taffelet, master painter

(and between the upper windows)
Aus Tauf- Hochzeits- und Grabgeläut
mischt sich der Klang des Lebens.
Woher Wohin Wozu?
Du fragst vergebens.

From baptismal, wedding and grave bells
the sound of life is mixed.
How Where Why?
You ask in vain.

Although we didn't visit this time,
we did go past the Einstein House

We detoured round to Rathausgasse and the Town Hall and the lovely Kirche St. Peter und Paul (Church of Sts. Peter and Paul).

We walked down to the Aare and took in the view before we turned about and made our way up towards the Cathedral. There's a lovely park behind the cathedral, and on a fine sunny day like today, it was full of people just enjoying the day. There's a view down to the Aare. On the riverbank, just by an outfall, is another bear statue. The bear is important to Bern — it features on its flag and coat-of-arms. About a century ago, before being hunted to extinction, bears were plentiful here. The legend is that Bern's founder, Count Berchtold V, named the city after killing a bear here.

One thing about Bern — bikes! People ride their bikes into the centre of town, and then the parking problem is no less for bikes as it is with larger vehicles!

We then made our way out of town and started our journey towards Calais, driving northwards, to cross the border near Basel.

The Swiss do their tunnels with style!

The French border took us entirely by surprise. We had taken a wrong turning, and were trying to find our way back onto the highway when, all of a sudden, there was this not-so-old border post ahead of us and a sign reading "France". We were in the city of Saint-Louis before we knew it. The buildings, especially in the towns, in France have a totally different character to those in Switzerland.
 

You can just see the French border sign on the right!

We had found an aire in the village of Romanswiller, in Alsace, through the book All the Aires of France — we could have relied on the Garmin, but the book also has photos. It was just a lay-by at the edge of the village, opposite a horse pasture. The surroundings were pretty, and the traffic on the road was minimal, so we were set for a good night's sleep in country France.

Distance driven — today, 167 miles ( 269 km ); to date, 28,038 miles ( 45,123 km )