Boonie!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

After a morning in Lucerne, we visited Boonie in Bern. So fabulous to see her again! She took us to see Kathrin's family, gave us a walking tour of Bern, and then took us to her mom's condo for this Häcki Family dinner along with Susanne and her boyfriend Florian (who took the photo).

The day began with us going back into Lucerne so that we could see the famous Lion Monument. We had a bit of trouble finding it, but we did, and it was indeed moving.

We were lucky to be here early before any crowds while it was quiet, because it was somber once we learned the story behind this monument. It was carved directly out of the rock, and the lion is resting his paw on a shield with tears streaming down his cheeks. In his side is a broken-off end of a spear which is killing him. The monument honors Swiss mercenaries killed during the French Revolution. The Latin inscription above says, "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss."

We dropped in to a cafe in the Löwenplatz to eat some breakfast - coffee, Gruyere cheese, and a croissant ($15...yes, Switzerland is expensive!). We then departed Lucerne to visit the Fortress Fürigen Museum.

We drove about 10 miles south of Lucerne, right on the lake, to a small village. We parked and walked a few hundred meters to this "hidden" opening in the rock wall. This is one of about 15,000 Swiss fortresses throughout the country meant to protect the country from invasions during WWII and the Cold War. Guns hidden in the wall could fire six miles to protect road and rail lines between Lucerne and Zürich. (Of course, they were never needed.) Janet and I, using audio guides, walked through the extensive tunnels to see how 100 soldiers at a time lived and worked, and would be protected in case of a nuclear attack.

This photo shows how narrow the road is along Lake Lucerne to reach the fortress. Those Swiss can make roads where no one else would dare; they have the most-expensive-per-mile road system in the world. 

The autobahn continued southwest toward Interlaken, but then became a smaller road as we went over Brünigs Pass.

We stopped near the summit for this scenic view of Lungerer See, and continued on twisty turns until we got back down to the autobahn toward Interlaken and Bern.

My directions got us to Boonie's street in Bern, but we kept missing sharp left turns to keep us on her street. That is, no signs said to turn to retain Stauffacherstrasse, so we kept having to make u-turns and search for street signs. We finally found her apartment and walked up the 5 flights of stairs (80 steps) to a smiling Boonie! She cried as we shared a long hug. So great to see her again - not since my 2004 broken hip visit. She has become a successful advertising exec ala Mad Men, i.e., on the creative team. She commutes by train to Zürich, and is now with her third firm. She said it's common to move to a new firm about every two years to maintain your creative edge.

This picture was taken at Kathrin's. We took the street car and a bus through the downtown to visit Kathrin and Mathias and their little Elise. We visited in their back yard.

 Kathrin is walking Elise down to the yard. Mom (who is a lawyer) is going to have another baby!

We ate some sweets, enjoyed another "kaiserwetter" day, and had a wonderful visit.

Look who is hiding behind the stroller. She was such a good-natured little girl, and explored all over the yard.

Boonie then took us on a walking tour of old town Bern. I have copied this photo from the Internet to provide an overall view of Bern, with the Aare River.

Coming from Boonie's apartment, we entered across the bridge at the back right. We then took a bus across the bridge on the back left to go to Kathrin's, and later walked back across it. The tall Münster is near that left bridge. The clock tower is between the two back bridges. The wide main avenue, Kramgasse, comes right down the middle and across the tall bridge at the bottom left (Nydegg Bridge). Bear Park is at the bottom left where the bridge reaches shore. Boonie's mom, Silvia, lives on top of the ridge just below where this photo is taken.

This is the famous Child-Eater fountain, with a close-up of the ogre. It was supposed to scare children off the former city walls. We walked across the Aare River with its beautiful views:

The tall steeple with scaffolding is the Münster, Bern's 15th-century Protestant cathedral. Boonie said they're frequently working on the 330-foot steeple, the tallest in Switzerland. That was our next visit.

The big square in front of the Münster, and while here we got to hear Suzanne toll 5 pm. Suzanne is the name not only of Boonie's younger sister, but also of the 10.5-ton church bell (cast in 1611). It reportedly took eight men to swing her; it is no longer swung by hand after a drunken bellringer was killed by the clapper.

This portico over the entry was a highlight, titled the Last Judgment. On the left are the saved figures going to heaven, while those on the right are going to hell. But what's important is that some priests are among those going to hell, showing that anyone, no matter your rank, can be condemned for evil deeds. We then went inside, but only briefly, because there was a function going on. The cathedral changed from Catholic to Protestant in 1528 after the plague devastated the town and the people favored the Reformation.

Boonie then walked us over to this parliament building, as Bern is the Swiss capital. Where we are standing was a big parking lot until 2004, when they turned it into this large granite plaza. The country got its independence in 1291.

Our next touristy thing was to watch the famous clock tower (Zytglogge Turn), there in the background, strike 6 pm. The tower, from 1250, was part of the original city wall guarding the entrance gate to the city. Boonie explained in advance the whole show (just as all the tourists were gathering).

It starts four minutes before the hour, when the rooster (on the left) crows. Then, a variety of things move around -- a parade of bears, a knight, a piper, a lion, a dancing jester, and Father Time (Chronos) turns his hourglass. Finally, at the tower top (above this photo), the golden man hammers the hour on the bell. This little show has been going on since 1530. It was fun.

Behind the clock tower is the wide avenue, Kramgasse, with all its shops, fountains, restaurants, and decorations (see the statues in front of some of the buildings?).

Here is one example of the statues adorning the building fronts.

Boonie pointed out Albert Einstein's house, where he lived from 1901 to 1909. Here, in 1905, he wrote his five famous papers that "changed the world", including his theory on relativity. A little farther along, Boonie got a shop keeper to reopen his wine store just so I could buy a bottle to take to the dinner that night at her mom's.

Just off the Kramgasse was the Rathaus, with the St. Peter and Paul Church behind. The knight on the fountain is holding the Bern Canton flag.

Here we are on the Nydegg Bridge with the Bear Park in the background. Boonie explained how this fancy new hillside park opened in 2009 after much advocacy from the Bear Liberation Movement to replace the old round concrete pits, dating from 1857, where Rich Hess and I saw the bears in 1971. Boonie said the dad and mom bears live there with one of the daughter bears. The other daughter bear had to be shipped away after the two daughters strangely collaborated to try to drown their mom in the fishing channel at the bottom of the hillside. The dad bear finally rescued his mate from near-death.

I don't know which of the three this one is - dad, mom, or daughter. They were walking around quite a bit while we visited on the bridge.

We proceeded up the hill past the Rose Garden and its views back to the old town. From there it was not too much farther to Silvia's condo. Janet's ankles were hurting pretty badly by then, so we were glad to arrive and sit down. It was wonderful to see Silvia again. Her boyfriend, Peter, could not be there because he was out of town, nor could we visit with Boonie's dad, Stephan, since he was visiting his girlfriend in Paris. But we were fortunate to have dinner with Susanne and her boyfriend Florian. Sorry girls, I have no photos of Florian!

We enjoyed an evening of great food, wine, and friends. Susanne is an events coordinator, whose biggest event each year is the Paleo Music Festival in Nyon. After dinner, Boonie drove us back to her apartment, set us up for the night, and then returned to her mom's. It was so generous of her to let us have her entire apartment. We did a load of clothes in her washer, but couldn't read the dials in German. It went on and on forever, and we realized the next day when Boonie returned, that we had pushed a button for "extra long".