Swiss Missus!

Yup! We did it! BOTH of us broke away from real life and took a girls trip to Bern Switzerland. I left the kids in the care of their favorite babysitter's and took off on a bus with Bree. Can't beat that; girlfriend to share with, couple of great books in a bag, plenty of diet coke and snacks and a driver to do the hard work. With Swiss Francs in our pocket and a skip in our step . . . well, really there was absolutely no skip as we were still in full recovery from our Alp dissension, we were off to find chocolate, cheese and whatever else Switzerland had to offer.
The city is really pretty for how large it is. With the river running through it with beautiful crystal blue water (due to the glacier runoffs), a grand cathedral (aren't they all grand?) and a 6 km shopping walkplatz we were set for the day. This cathedral really caught my eye as we walked around inside. All along the ceiling we discovered this magnificent vintage floral pattern in black and white. I've never seen that before and instead of having that dark Gothic feeling of foreboding, I left a little less forboaden, ehr forebade, uhm forborne (is that a word) and lighter . . .

. . . look, this cathedral liked me too. The seat I choose for my picture is my birthday!

Bern is famous for the bear pit that sits at the end of the main city street. We were lucky, he was out and about that morning.

This is the clock tower near the main square, where we got to see it's performance at the strike of noon.
This next picture shows that people in large Swiss cities can still have a garden. At the top of the picture I cut off the massive apartment complex than runs down the riverside. As you descend down the hill toward the riverbed there are plots spotted along the way, visibly marked off and with either flowers or fruits and veggies growing. I just loved that!

We were lucky enough to visit Bern on market day. All the vendors were selling their goods which included the famous braided butter bread, varieties of cheese, flowers, fresh meat and fish, crafts and the fabulous Easter eggs shown in the picture below. I can't figure out how they made the image show up, maybe a bleach stamp? No matter, I fell in love with the rustic look of them.

This next picture is of fresh ravioli.

Next we traveled to a small countryside village where we toured a cheese factory. We were able to see how it is made, taste to our hearts content and then spend the franc left in our pockets on yummy treats and of course lots of Swiss cheese (holes included)! Here are the cows that help us to have the cheesy experience!

And here is the swiss cheese piano in the dining hall.

And now are you wondering about our Jane Austen experience??? Yes, Mr. Darcy did redeem himself quite well in the end. After all, what kind of girl can turn down Pemberly and a knight who rides in on his white horse to save the Bennet family from despair (although, if he spared Mother Bennet less the world would be a better place). Bad, bad Wickham. Now today I'm finding new vocabulary in my conversations using words like alliance, insufferable, splendid, "shall we", make haste! and bugger. Although I don't really think that Jane wrote the word bugger in her works but I like saying it anyway. Toodles!

Tomorrow we are on a quest to find the "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightley. We won't be able to understand it as poor Keira is the most frustrating actress in the world. She tops her dripping accent with a little mumbling to make it completely gibberish. No matter, we have been introduced thoroughly to the story line and I'm sure we will follow along just fine.

Maybe you are asking what sparked our Jane Austen interest? The book I read from cover to cover on the bus to Bern, "Austenland" by Shannon Hale. I really enjoyed this book, easy read (Bree finished the days after) and with a good bit of humor.