Day 17 - Geneva/Lausanne/Bern/Thun, Switzerland (2011)

Today, we bid farewell to our perky host at Le Ralais, and visit several Swiss cities.

our route for the day -
beginning with Geneva, then on to Lausanne, Bern, Thun, and finally,  to Interlaken (total of around 263 kms)

it was  a good day to travel. The skies were blue, which meant weather should be fine.
It was hard to say goodbye to this very serene atmosphere, but we were also looking forward to  more nature adventures in the next few cities.

the kids making use of the last few minutes at the playground

final look onto this very beautiful, serene surrounding

the better was slightly better. I can wear just a shirt!

a short stop at the gas station

Ira helping out dad to pump gas

crossing the border. There were actually no more border checks but they still had the buildings.

a glimpse of Jet D'Eau - we didn't stop to take a closer look though

the land of fine watches. We were able to ogle at some of them. Just ogle :)

We were in Geneva to pick up my sis-in-law who flew in from Brussels. We parted ways in Paris, and are now travelling together again. We didn't spend too much time in Geneva. Just driving through some of the main attractions like Jet d'eau was enough. We wanted to get to Interlaken early. We planned for a very early trip for the following day.

short stop to grab lunch. Then the kids played while the adults have adult talk.

After that, we were back to driving to Berne - the Bundesstadt (federal capital) of Switzerland. It's a medieval city founded in 1191 - quite a long history. Main agenda upon entering the city was to find a parking spot. There were a lot of underground parking spaces, but of course with a fee. Since we really couldn't drive oh so slowly to wait for the other car, we parked on the nearest parking area on the way, and waited for the walkie talkie to have a signal so we could inform the other car where we were. Having a walkie talkie can be quite handy.

Berne has sandstone buildings and historical towers. But what caught our attention were the many fountains that could be found all over the city.

here's one of them

walking along Kramgasse

Zytglogge tower in Bern
built in 1530. Has moving figures, too!

a landmark medieval tower in Bern which served as a guard tower, prison, clock tower, and also an astronomical clock

walking towards McDonalds :)

back view of the clock tower

Since we were too early to watch the....

we decided to walk around Kramgasse first to see other attractions.

fine craftsmanship by a watchmaker

one of the many fountains in this street



Einstein's house

another photo with the clock tower, after it rang and the figurines made a short performance

Then we headed to the area of the bear pits. Although we didn't really go to the bear pits, we found a statue of a bear along the road.

It was getting a little bit late and we still had one more place to visit before checking in at Interlaken. Along the way was Lake Thun, where we stopped by Oberhofen Castle. The grounds were already closed for tourists (too bad) but that didn't dampen our spirits. The view from outside the castle was enough.

Oberhofen Castle at Lake Thun

a castle on the lake, with colorful blooms and the alps as backdrop

the kids even had fun playing hopscotch at the carpark!

We were already in the final stretch of this Switzerland multi-city journey. Another 30 minutes more and we've reached our home for the next 2 days - Katy's B&B. It's time to sneak under the blankets, have a good night sleep, and prepare for an early start of the day the following day.

Day 1 - Gelnhausen, Germany
Day 2 - Legoland, Germany 
Day 3 - Heidelberg, Germany 
Day 4 - Cologne, Germany 
Day 5 - Frankfurt, Germany 
Day  6 - Luxembourg then Brussels, Belgium 
Day 7 - Day trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Day 8 - Brussels, Belgium 
Day 9 - Brugge, Belgium 
Day 10 - Paris, France 
Day 11 - Paris, France 
Day 12 - Paris, France 
Day 13 - Versailles, France 
Day 14 - Disneyland Paris, France 
Day 15 - La Vallee Village, France (outlet shops) then to hotel south of Lake Geneva 
Day 16 - Montreux, Switzerland 

Day 17 - Geneva / Lausanne / Bern / Thun, Switzerland
Day 18 - Interlaken, Switzerland (Jungfrau - top of Europe) 
Day 19 - Luzern / Zurich, Switzerland on the way to Sulz-Glatt, Germany 
Day 20 - Black Forest day trip