After a few hours in Biel, we decided to pay a quick trip to Bern on our return to Saas Grund. Bern is the nation's capital and we expected to see some grand buildings and streetscapes like those shown below, but not some of the antics also reported here. To start with the latter, we arrived to discover that Bern was host to the Swiss Cup Final (soccer) between Basle and Lucerne and that supporters of the two teams were arriving in droves to be met by an army of police deputed to keep the warring parties separate. Indeed, on the arrival at the station to return to Saas Grund we discovered that we were locked out of the station while the trains carrying the Basle supporters arrived. We had already seen hoards of Lucerne supporters passing down the street to the stadium letting off blue flares - the team colours - as shown here.
I was asked to photograph the supporters head on by the police, but felt able to do so after they gone past!
That besides, the rest of my photos show elegant city-scapes suitable for a national capital, some grand public buildings and remnants of an older era of city-building down on the banks of the river Aare - a tributary of the Rhine. The centre is full of statuary, ornate clock towers, flags waving in the breeze, and earnest shoppers.
Here, for example, we have the Swiss national bank and the national parliament (with its name in Latin)
And, on the banks of the Aare, is the older settlement of Bern:
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