After our big day in the Alps yesterday, today was scheduled to be a quiet day in Bern - this was reinforced by Rita still having a bit of a headache from the altitude sickness, and Lynne still not being fully recovered from her upset stomach. Since the Sims had also arrived late after their airport/hirecar problems, they were also opting for a sleep-in and quiet day wandering around town.

So we arranged to all meet on the sidecourt near the Munster for a couple of late-morning drinks and lunch. All bar Lynne and Rita arrived and regaled each other with stories of what they had been doing since they last saw each other (all of a week ago). We had a couple of drinks and then the Sims boys decided they would like a Swiss Hot-Dog from the vendor in the sidecourt. Which was fine, except that he had run out of bread rolls after a busy morning. So while waiting for the rolls to arrive, Asher made friends with a couple of locals girls who were playing soccer and decided to show them how Australians play the game. In early afternoon, Rita joined us and we decided to cross the river to go look at the bear park. Along the way we got some good views of the houses under the high bridge.

BärenPark used to be in a concrete pit near the end of the high bridge, but several years ago the city decided to build a slightly more natural park along the edge of the Aare River, where the bears could go for a walk or a swim (in a parallel pool, not in the river!). Today we could just see one of the parents and one of the (big) babies. I’m not quite sure who was watching who. Were we watching the bears, or was mamma/pappa bear watching us? Eventually, however, the bear got tired of watching us, and just wanted to sleep, so we moved on down the river.

As we walked along the river bank, we got a good view of the Munster Cathedral and Kuno’s houses (the two with the higher roofs just above the left of the gravel shoal in the river).

As we headed further up-river, the four Sims boys, and Rita, found a calmer spot in the river that was good for skipping stones.

After our walk, we adjourned to Kuno’s, where Doug and Lynne discovered the joys of sitting in Kuno’s window.

We then called Sharen and Terry who came over to Kuno’s to join us for a enjoyable and laughter-filled dinner.