Bern,

Short walk to find AM’s place and through a very peaceful park with several foraging blackbirds and others tweeting and the sounds of the city a bit distant. Great children’s play area including an area where it looked like water could run down through pipes to a mud area
Areas of grass left to go to seed but also some manicured areas.
Piles of pizza boxes stacked for recycling, not just in the bin.
Back to hotel for breakfast - usual continental options. Shared a table with a man who I realised later must have been a politician but I didn’t ask who he was!
Then took myself off for another walk down through some side streets of the old town down to Nydegge (old church) which was built in about 1191 but is closed for renovations
Across the road and up the hill for some lovely views across the city skyline and to a lovely garden and uncut meadows. Back down the hill to the bear park - thank goodness this is better than it was! They have room to move and even a swimming pool. I saw 2. The old concrete enclosure remains, presumably as an historical reference.
Back to the hotel via a little cafe and had a coffee and croissant. AM and T don’t seem to have lunch so I also picked up a sandwich at a place next door which I gobbled most of at the last minute. Met them at their apartment, had a chat and then we headed off in the car, up into the mountains.
Mountain roads - T enjoys driving them and there was a real racing car coming towards us at one point. T pulled over and it sped past very quickly with the driver and passenger waving their thanks through the sunroof. Possibly a Lotus. Certainly very low to the ground.
Ended up at a disused restaurant which now has just a food truck outside and we got a coffee (water for me) and a piece of cake and sat on some chairs in the terrace and admired the view of the mountains across the valley - and the darkening sky. Man approached and chatted - he paraglides or hang glides but weather no good for that today.
We continued driving - lovely countryside with the green meadows, still some snow in patches and the cows with their bells - and just as it started to rain, we arrived at what seemed to me a very out of the way restaurant whose sign said they were open until 10pm! The hostess was very chatty and apparently originally from the Czech Republic and Anne Marie commented that she used the familiar form of ‘you’ immediately, rather than the more formal
one. I couldn’t understand any of the chat - and had to rely on subsequent interpretations. Schweizer Deutsche is quite different from the usual ‘high’ German; AM isn’t a fan but it is what the locals use so she has to participate! We had some cake and I had a cider. One other guest there and then a group of 4 arrived - it looked like they would be there for dinner.
We then drove in to Guggisberg - a small village with a very nice restaurant called Sternen. Appetiser of a beetroot jelly with wasabi mayo and a couple of wasabi peas. I had a green mixed salad for entree - far too large but very mixed - and some lamb backstraps with both green and white asparagus (and potatoes gratin). No room for dessert. T and I shared some wine.
Back home again about 10pm.Read more