March 22, 2021 • 23 mins
Get ready for a fun trip to Bern and discover why this should be on your list of destinations when you travel. View the Bern Virtual Vacation with Guidester while you listen or check it out later and don't watch it while you are driving! :) Click on the word TRANSCRIPT to get a transcript of this podcast with audio player at the bottom.
[00:46] Let's Get Started
[02:44] City Center
[04:36] Museums-one of the greatest and smartest
[07:09] Climate Expectations-Best Two Months to Go
[08:44] Famous People
[09:38] Take a Virtual Vacation
[10:00] Walkability
[11:55] Thinking of Switzerland I think of . . .
[13:43] Language Issues?
[17:40] Government in Switzerland
Dream. Learn. Plan. Prepare. Go to Guidester/Virtual-Vacation
Season 1: Episode 2
#Travel #Einstein #Chocolate #Museums #PaulKlee #fondue #raclette #bearpark #Zurich #Geneva #Alps #Europe #vacation #traveleurope #travel #europe #vacation #traveleurope #travelguide #tourguide
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jack (00:00):
Switzerland and the Swiss really live by the concept of quality of life.
The thing that moves and epitomizeslife in Switzerland is quality of life.
So everything from the transportationto the cleanliness to accessibility,
they're very conscientious of thisand Bern does a fantastic job.
Arnold (00:20):
Travel to Europe is off limits for the time being, but we can still
keep the flame of wanderlust alivethrough the virtual vacation with
Guidester the weekly podcast, where hostJackBaumann, founder of Guidester and
travel enthusiast Arnold Stricker, diveinto new destinations, exploring their
unique history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insidertips about these destinations.
You won't get from other sources.
(00:43):
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, JackBaumann.
E=MC2.
We've all heard of that.
It's a Einstein's theory of relativity,but where did he discover that?
Where did he develop E=MC2?
Jack, can you tell us?
Jack (01:01):
I'd be happy to, he developed that theory while he was living in
the city of Bern in Switzerland,which is the capital of Switzerland.
It's not Geneva, it's not Zurichand Lucerne; no, it's Bern.
A lot of people don't know that.
And I would actually say in my opinion,that Bern is the most underrated
Capitol city in all of Europe.
Arnold (01:22):
Obviously most people would think it would be some of those
other cities that you mentioned.
So why is it the mostunderrated capital in Europe?
Jack (01:29):
One of the reasons it's the most underrated is because it's underrated
and that's a catch 22 with that.
What I mean by that is there'sjust not a lot of tourists, not a
lot of Americans make it to Bern.
And because of that, you don't have thecommercialization that's been built up
and in London, Rome, Paris, the big three.
And in other major cities too,Barcelona is a beautiful city, but
(01:49):
it's very commercialized in some areas.
So it's the nature of the cityitself; the fact that it's not a major
tourist destination for Americans yet.
Also, the city itself is gorgeous.
It's set in a beautiful, naturalsetting, surrounded by, the mountains
on the river Aare, it is well-runclean, full of history, completely
(02:12):
undamaged from World War II.
It has direct connection to Einstein sothe historical significance is immense.
It has an incredible foodscene, restaurants there
that would blow your mind.
The river runs through it that you canactually swim in during the summer months.
You can go to one part of the cityor kind of down the river a little
bit or up the river and float.
(02:33):
And people do this all the time.
Kids, adults.
They get a little floated and you'rejust floating down this river with
the city on one side and, naturalsetting hillsides and mountains off
in the distance and the other side.
And then you get out in the middleof the city and they literally
have a purpose-built little kindof bank that you can disembark.
You can do this on a raft.
You can do it on a canoe,whatever it's very open.
(02:54):
Switzerland is very liberal in that way.
So it's beautiful.
The beautiful parks the Rosengarten,the Rosengarten for the audience,
Switzerland has four languages.
In Bern they speak German,which is actually Swiss German.
So it does have a flavor ofGerman to it, but it is a separate
language called Swiss German.
And so they have this Rosengarten, whichhas literally the biggest roses you'll
ever see in your life in a bear park.
(03:16):
A live bear park.
It's not a zoo.
There's no cages.
It's up on a Hill.
And I guess the barrier, the gap is wideenough that the bears can't clear it.
Arnold (03:25):
I was going to say, is there a fence or a moat or something or
? Jack: No it's just a, it's just an area on a hill and you almost feel like
you can get close to touch them, butthere's a number of bears up there right
in the city center and it's just, youjust say, Hey, let's go look at some
live bears roaming around this Hill.
Like Brown bears.
Black bears.
Jack (03:43):
Black bears.
Yes.
Yeah.
I believe they're black bears.
So they're sizable, but yeah, they'renot giant Brown grizzly bears.
No.
They're manageable.
You can, maybe a bigger guy couldtoss around with them for a bit,
but, and then, there's just tons tosee and do The city center of Bern
has the longest arcade, which isbasically just a covered walkway.
I think it's 2.2 miles of coveredwalkways all through the city center.
(04:04):
And in the covered walkways are shopsand restaurants and little bars.
Then going down, you've got these littlecellars, it looked like storm shelters,
you open up like it, it's going intothe ground and those little nooks and
crannies and bars and things going on.
There's just two miles of itgoing through the city center.
So to me it encompasses anything youcould ever want in a capital city.
Arnold (04:25):
So what is there to see in Bern?
I know you mentioned the coveredarcades and the bear park.
What else is there to see?
I imagine I can stand and look atthe Alps and canoe or glide down
the river, which sounds very cool.
Jack (04:36):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of museums.
One of the greatest museums isthe Einstein historical museum.
Arnold (04:42):
That's a smart thing.
Jack (04:43):
Right?
Doesn't that make sense?
He, came up with the theory ofrelativity there so I guess it was
appropriate to make a museum tohim, but it actually is fascinating.
It's about his life and his story.
It's interactive.
It's not just a very, cut and dry museum.
And it's combined with the historicalmuseum of Switzerland and a Bern.
So it's a, it's actually a three-partmuseum and it's in a giant.
old castle . So thebuilding is magnificent.
(05:06):
The Einstein museum is tremendous and thenthe historical museum of Bern is great.
So you've got this combination there.
You can get a combo ticketall in one, go see it.
The bear park the Rosengartenthere's an art museum.
There's a couple of art museumsthat are well worth seeing.
The city center itself is just acobblestone streets and old style
buildings and the covered arcade.
So walking the cityitself is an attraction.
(05:28):
A great cathedral.
You can climb the tower of the cathedraland get great views of the city.
And then there's what Icall the local mountain.
The local Bernese mountaincalled the Gurton.
You can literally get to the topof this Gurton in 45 minutes.
The city of Bern now has these e-bikes.
You can rent bikes and in alot of cities in Europe but
Switzerland, being advanced as itis, has these things called e-bikes,
(05:51):
which are pedal assist bikes.
So I'm climbing this mountainand I'm not a bike rider.
I love to bike, but I wouldn't do this.
Arnold (05:59):
You weren't in shape like the Tour de France.
Jack (06:02):
No I'd get a a mile now.
I may get a good 10 miles then, but no,I'm not standing up very little energy
and I'm just, just going up this mountainwith my buddy, my German buddy, who's
living in Switzerland in Bern and we'regoing up this mountain and at the top of
the Gurton is a beautiful view of the cityand you can see the Alps; the Bernese Alps
- the mountains off in the background.
(06:22):
There's actually like alittle resort up there.
There's a tower you can climb at thetop of the Gurton to get sweeping
360 degree views of the area.
It's just beautiful.
It, the entire substance of this,whether you're hiking, biking, outdoor
stuff, cultural stuff, food scenehistory scene, Bern has it at all.
Arnold (06:44):
I'm looking at a picture right now of the Bern Minster and it's the highest
church spire in all of Switzerland.
And I imagine the view mustbe spectacular from them.
Jack (06:54):
Yes.
It really is.
The view from the top of that cathedraltower is magnificent and the cathedral
is a block off the main street, themain sort of street going through
the cobblestone street with thecovered arcades we were discussing.
Just a block off that is the cathedral.
Arnold (07:09):
Now I imagine most people would want to go during the spring, late spring
or summertime, or maybe early fall, butis it okay to go during the winter time?
How do they handle snow ordo they get a lot of snow or?
Jack (07:20):
Switzerland is more diverse than you think.
So everybody thinks about Switzerland asbeing ski or Geneva in the United Nations
and all of that's true, but Switzerlandis actually a place of great diversity.
You do get lowlands and low-lying regionsthat, yeah, they're going to get snow, but
it's not covered in snow all year round.
So going to Bern , I think it's agreat destination all year round.
(07:41):
I've been there twice and I'vebeen there in the warmer months.
I wasn't there in December January,but I want to say it was November.
Maybe late October and it was cold andno it did not snow while I was there.
It's maintained very well.
So you're not going to be in,you're not going to need a snow
suit to go through the city of Bern.
Depending on what part ofSwitzerland, every place you
go to is very well maintained.
And I think one of theepitomes of that is Bern.
(08:02):
It's.
Very clean, very well maintained.
So they'll keep the snow clear, butthen again, so even in the warmer
months it's accessible to get to thehigher regions and see some of that.
So it just depends what you're going todo, but warmer months, I think the best
time, the best two months all around isprobably early June or mid September.
So call it June and September areprobably the two best months to go.
(08:27):
You can go in the summer.
It's going to be, maybe a littlewarmer in July, August, but June,
we'll still have some decent weather.
And the crowds that do come aregoing to come in the summer months.
So just generally speaking, June andSeptember, just fantastic months to go
and visit Bern and the surrounding region.
Arnold (08:44):
So we talked about Albert Einstein E=MC2 alias.
And there's also Paul Klee, who's anartist; he has a museum there where
many of his works are displayed, butyou had mentioned before the podcast
of some other, very famous person thatpeople may have a misconception about.
Jack (09:03):
Right Jean Jacques Rousseau the French philosopher is actually Swiss.
Arnold (09:07):
So he's really not the French philosopher.
He's the Swiss philosopher.
Jack (09:11):
There's a good story there.
He was born and raised in Switzerlandand for some reason was forced to leave.
There was something going on,politically, as there always is, and he
was able to obtain a French passport orcitizenry, rather a French residency.
And he moved to France and that'sreally where he started his
(09:31):
career that we all know him for.
But yeah, most people think and assumethat he's French through and through, but
no, he was actually born in Switzerland.
Arnold (09:38):
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(10:00):
My question deals with walkability.
Can I just go to one place in Bern, staythere and just walk and do all these
things that we've been talking about?
Jack (10:09):
Absolutely.
If you get a hotel or Airbnb or somethingin the city center, in the historic
center of Bern, you can walk anywhere.
And you're right; that is one ofmy favorite things about Europe
itself is you don't need a car.
In fact, some of these cities,you don't want a car because
they're pedestrian only.
That entire street that I was tellingyou about the arcades itself, obviously
(10:31):
you're too small for cars and thenyou've got public transportation.
So any of these outliers that you wantto get to, whether it's a museum here
or, getting up to the Gurton, which Ibelieve has a cable car going up to it;
there's always another way to get there.
And Switzerland takes us to theextreme, there're cable cars that
just run right on the street, rightthrough the middle of the town.
(10:52):
Hop on, hop off.
It's actually mostly an honor system.
You should buy a ticketor a day pass or whatever.
But a lot of times theydon't even check your tickets.
It's an honor system.
It's very efficientsometimes down to the second.
So yeah, absolutely.
And I've sent several clients there.
I've worked with a lot of clients thathave gone to Switzerland and I've picked
out their hotels four or five starhotels very reasonably priced; although
(11:14):
Switzerland comparatively is not thecheapest place, but the value is there.
And so I'll put them, within a 10or 15 minute walk of the historic
center of Bern, and from there,that's really everything you need.
Again, any of the outliers, youcan do several things, use public
transportation, or rent yourself alittle e-bike and bike around the city.
(11:35):
And people are very respectful;Switzerland and the Swiss really live
by the concept of quality of life.
This is the thing thatmoves and epitomizes life in
Switzerland is quality of life.
So everything from the transportationto the cleanliness to accessibility,
they're very conscientious of thisand Bern does a fantastic job.
Arnold (11:55):
Jack, when I think about Switzerland, I think about
several things, Swiss chalets.
Swiss chocolate and a Swiss army knife.
Jack (12:03):
And fondue
Arnold (12:04):
And fondue.
So does Bern have this huge chocolatefactory there, or do they really
like chocolate in their palette?
Did you see any chaletswhile you were there?
Jack (12:15):
I would say Bern being the capital, you're going to have a
melting pot of all that stuff, right?
Arnold (12:19):
No pun intended there.
Jack (12:21):
Exactly.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah, that was good.
I like that.
But no, really one thing that youdidn't mention that Switzerland
generally is known for them, butBern in particular is raclette.
Raclette is a cheese dish.
Arnold (12:32):
Oh yes.
Jack (12:33):
It's melted cheese and they just slice it off.
And I've got to say, it's probablyeven more common than fondue.
Everybody thinks of fonduewhich is grossly overpriced.
It's actually, you could spendhundreds of dollars for a pot
of fondue at a restaurant.
It's bizarre.
And that kind of shocked me.
Raclette is just like a dish, right?
(12:54):
So you can go into a nice littlerestaurant and get a raclette
dish and it's served with variousthings, potatoes, vegetables.
But oh man I'm salivating now causewhen I was there last time I went
to this local restaurant that mylocal friend showed me that he's
lived there for several years and hesaid, Jack, you gotta try this place.
And so I'm in this small little restaurantand there right in front of you, just this
big slab of melted cheese they are slicingoff to a plate and then roasted potatoes.
(13:20):
Oh, and then you add into thatsome wines and there are good wines
in Switzerland actually, but yes,chocolate, cheese, other foods.
Switzerland it borders, France andborders Italy, so they get influx of
French cuisine and Italian cuisine.
But for me, the thing that I'm salivatingnow, and when I go back, the first
(13:41):
thing I'll do is get some tasty.
raclette.
Arnold (13:43):
So if I'm going there, I don't know the language, but I'm going
to guess that they speak English?
Cause after all English seems to bethe international language, at least
we think so in the United States.
Would I be able to get by if Iknew German or would I be able
to get by if I knew French?
Is there German Swiss language?
Is it more like a dialectof the Germanic language?
Jack (14:05):
Oh, it's much more than a dialect.
Swiss German is its own language.
Now Swiss German canunderstand high German.
High German is the, let's say thetraditional language of Germany.
Basically every German is going toknow high German, but then Germans have
their own dialect and their own sortof colloquialisms and things like that.
But yes, Swiss German is its own thing.
(14:26):
Now, Swiss German can understandhigh German, but Germans can
not understand Swiss German.
It's very different, verydifficult to understand.
You talk to a German, they have ahard time understanding Swiss German.
There are similar words and bitteyou can maybe get through it.
But to your point, getting around as anEnglish speaker is exceptionally easy.
I speak no Swiss German, andI speak a couple of German
(14:46):
words, danke schon and bitte.
These are the basicsthat you need to know.
Other than a few basic German words,which, okay, so this is interesting to
back up a second here (14:55):
four languages.
This is important to understand.
Switzerland has four official languages.
German French, Italian and Romanshwhich Is one of the ancient languages.
It's a derivative of Latin; we thinkit's probably the closest thing to
what Latin would have sounded like.
Arnold (15:10):
Interesting.
Jack (15:11):
Yes.
Very interesting.
Very few people speakRomansh but it's spoken.
There are regions that still speak it.
So the Southern part ofSwitzerland is Italian speaking.
The Western part that bordersFrance is French speaking, and then
basically the rest is German speaking.
So there's more German speakers thanany other in Switzerland, but the
West part; Geneva and the canton ofGeneva, it's all French speaking.
(15:31):
English is widely spoken, if notuniversally spoken in Switzerland
especially the German speaking parts.
In fact, I often joke this appliesto German speaking parts of
Switzerland, as well as Austria,which is German speaking in Germany.
If you are anywhere in Europeand you're confronted with a
language barrier, find a German.
(15:53):
They will speak English.
They will speak some English.
Now, if they're 90, maybe not,but any person let's say under
50 is going to know English.
Now English is a derivative of German.
English came from German.
So maybe that's one of the reasons, butGermans are great at foreign languages.
They're really good at English.
Maybe because of the business inthe commercial kind of dealings, but
(16:15):
yet I didn't have a single problem.
In fact, I wasn't, I don't think Iwas even confronted with a single
person that did not speak English.
Arnold (16:23):
That's great.
Jack (16:24):
Yeah.
It helps.
So compare that to let's say Rome.
Rome, you can get around becauseit's touristy, but you leave the
touristy areas and you get toother parts of Italy, forget it.
For- get it.
In fact, one of my good friendsthat lives in Rome, how Italian is
that; he would be considered a greatEnglish speaker by Italian standards.
And he can be hard to understand.
(16:45):
So even the best of the bestspeakers, they have their accents
that they just never get rid of.
Part of that's the formation ofa language, that's why I love
hearing Italians, it's a sing songy.
And so every time he talks to me
,Jack what do you want to do-a tonight-a?
And I'm actually notexaggerating it in the slightest.
Do you want some piz-za or do youwant to go to the piaz-za and
(17:08):
we can have a little vino?
Or what would you like-a?
You a tell-a me ah?
And people think, Oh my gosh,he's being so stereotypical.
Maybe I'm exaggerating slightly,but I'm really not though.
It's the way they pronounce words.
So I is E, so River, you're going tocross the Reaver, and so no matter
when they speak English, unlessthey're a language teacher, they're
(17:29):
never going to lose that accent.
The German speaking peopledon't seem to have that problem.
So I think it's much easier to understandGerman speakers, like in Berns.
So yes, getting around as easy as can be.
Arnold (17:40):
Now in Bern because that's the capital of Switzerland.
What is the form ofgovernment of Switzerland?
Jack (17:45):
Yeah.
Good question.
Switzerland in general it's actuallyquite similar to the United States.
They're made up of cantons.
They're made up of 26 cantons.
I think it started, I want to saywith 13 cantons was the original
formation of Switzerland and itstarted to form in the 18 hundreds.
And it really was just a collectionof States that said, I don't like
the way Germany is doing things,I don't like the way France is
(18:06):
doing things and Italy is a mess.
So let's just form our own thing and itbuilt from there and they just started
adding cantons as they went through.
So they actually have a verydevolved central government.
One of the great ironies ofEurope, more often than not is
centralized forms of government.
Now they're democracies, butthey're centralized forms of
(18:27):
government with a very strongcentral government , like France.
France is probably the strongest.
Everything goes from Paris,everything flows through Paris,
but in Switzerland, it's the exactopposite Bern is the capital.
But the powers of the federalgovernment are very limited.
And so actually this is very interesting.
Each Canton is very autonomous,maybe even more so than our States.
(18:49):
Sometimes in some situations theyhave more power; pass their own taxes,
their own regulations, et cetera.
Now, when it comes to things that affectthe entire country whether it be defense,
spending or other things, ma- joritems are put to a vote of the people.
Every single one.
So they just voted recently, this was a huge deal.
There was a vote proposed by oneparty to end freedom of movement in
(19:12):
Switzerland, which is a big deal.
So Switzerland is not part of the EU,but they've made special dealings with
Brussels and the EU to allow freedomof movement in and out of Switzerland
because it benefits both parties.
But they're not part of the EU.
And so we actually didn't cover this too.
They're not on the Euro.
They're on the Swiss Franc.
Okay.
So they're not on the Euro.
They're not part of the EU, but they doallow freedom of movement; very important.
(19:34):
What that means is they were going tovote to abandon that freedom of movement.
Now that vote was not passed, but it'sinteresting because the Congress, like
we have here that in DC, this wasn'tvoted and passed by the Senate or the
house, and then signed by the president.
It was put to a voteof the people directly.
And so from smaller items to largeitems, the people ultimately are
(19:58):
the sayers of almost everything.
If it doesn't affect every Canton thenthat individual Canton has to say.
And so this is why youget a great diversity.
You go to the Canton of Geneva,granted it's French speaking, but
let's pretend it was German speaking.
The look, the layout, the feelof the city, everything is very
different than the Canton of Bern.
(20:19):
The cantons really do have theirown character and flavor because the
federal government is so devolved.
Now, here's one other thing I want to jumpin with and say, by law, every citizen
of Switzerland should have a firearm.
Arnold (20:31):
I was going to mention that because I was going to pose that
to you as is this true or a myth.
Jack (20:37):
True.
In reality, maybe 50% have a firearm.
There are very, definedregulations against that.
You have to shoot at a designated areas.
But yes, you're by law you're supposedto do a year or two years in the
military, and then you're supposedto own and maintain a firearm.
The government at some point can maybecheck in and make sure it's handled
(20:57):
correctly stored correctly, I'm notsure on the specifics on that; but
in practice now there's restrictions.
They're not going to give it to peoplethat have been dishonorably discharged.
They're not going to give it to peoplethat have any kind of criminal record.
So in practice, about halfof the country has a firearm.
But again for Switzerland or for Europe.
(21:18):
I think that would shock most people.
Europe is lumped into this thing.
It's Americans have the guns and Europeansdon't, no the Swiss really do take to
heart their right to have and bear arms.
Of any country in Europe, I wouldsay structurally speaking Switzerland
is closer to the United Statesthan any other country in Europe.
Arnold (21:36):
Interesting.
So for the most underrated capitalin Europe, it seems to be a
pretty good destination to go to.
Jack (21:43):
It really is it w whether you're into food, history, natural beauty,
historic sites, activities, hiking goingout and climbing mountains, or just living
the life if you will; Bern is a greatdestination and a great place to base
yourself to do side trips, to those otherdestinations that we're talking about.
Maybe it's Zurich, maybe it's Interlochento do skydiving and other places.
(22:07):
So it's a great place to base yourself andit's a great destination in and of itself.
Arnold (22:10):
It's a great destination to figure out what E=MC2 means,
the most famous equation.
Energy equals mass timesthe speed of light squared.
Jack (22:19):
Yes, absolutely.
Arnold.
I love that you put thatin at the end there.
I think that really ties it all togetherand, Einstein is a great person to admire
and his admiration of Bern, he loved Bern.
I feel the same way.
So in that way, we'reconnected to Einstein.
Arnold (22:33):
Thank you for listening to this episode of virtual
vacation with Guidester.
If you enjoy this episode,please check out our website,
guidester.com/virtual-vacation.
That's guidester.com/virtual-vacation.
Virtual Vacation with Guidesteris produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester, I'm Arnold Stricker.
Switzerland and the Swiss really live by the concept of quality of life.
The thing that moves and epitomizeslife in Switzerland is quality of life.
So everything from the transportationto the cleanliness to accessibility,
they're very conscientious of thisand Bern does a fantastic job.
Arnold (00:20):
Travel to Europe is off limits for the time being, but we can still
keep the flame of wanderlust alivethrough the virtual vacation with
Guidester the weekly podcast, where hostJackBaumann, founder of Guidester and
travel enthusiast Arnold Stricker, diveinto new destinations, exploring their
unique history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insidertips about these destinations.
You won't get from other sources.
(00:43):
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, JackBaumann.
E=MC2.
We've all heard of that.
It's a Einstein's theory of relativity,but where did he discover that?
Where did he develop E=MC2?
Jack, can you tell us?
Jack (01:01):
I'd be happy to, he developed that theory while he was living in
the city of Bern in Switzerland,which is the capital of Switzerland.
It's not Geneva, it's not Zurichand Lucerne; no, it's Bern.
A lot of people don't know that.
And I would actually say in my opinion,that Bern is the most underrated
Capitol city in all of Europe.
Arnold (01:22):
Obviously most people would think it would be some of those
other cities that you mentioned.
So why is it the mostunderrated capital in Europe?
Jack (01:29):
One of the reasons it's the most underrated is because it's underrated
and that's a catch 22 with that.
What I mean by that is there'sjust not a lot of tourists, not a
lot of Americans make it to Bern.
And because of that, you don't have thecommercialization that's been built up
and in London, Rome, Paris, the big three.
And in other major cities too,Barcelona is a beautiful city, but
(01:49):
it's very commercialized in some areas.
So it's the nature of the cityitself; the fact that it's not a major
tourist destination for Americans yet.
Also, the city itself is gorgeous.
It's set in a beautiful, naturalsetting, surrounded by, the mountains
on the river Aare, it is well-runclean, full of history, completely
(02:12):
undamaged from World War II.
It has direct connection to Einstein sothe historical significance is immense.
It has an incredible foodscene, restaurants there
that would blow your mind.
The river runs through it that you canactually swim in during the summer months.
You can go to one part of the cityor kind of down the river a little
bit or up the river and float.
(02:33):
And people do this all the time.
Kids, adults.
They get a little floated and you'rejust floating down this river with
the city on one side and, naturalsetting hillsides and mountains off
in the distance and the other side.
And then you get out in the middleof the city and they literally
have a purpose-built little kindof bank that you can disembark.
You can do this on a raft.
You can do it on a canoe,whatever it's very open.
(02:54):
Switzerland is very liberal in that way.
So it's beautiful.
The beautiful parks the Rosengarten,the Rosengarten for the audience,
Switzerland has four languages.
In Bern they speak German,which is actually Swiss German.
So it does have a flavor ofGerman to it, but it is a separate
language called Swiss German.
And so they have this Rosengarten, whichhas literally the biggest roses you'll
ever see in your life in a bear park.
(03:16):
A live bear park.
It's not a zoo.
There's no cages.
It's up on a Hill.
And I guess the barrier, the gap is wideenough that the bears can't clear it.
Arnold (03:25):
I was going to say, is there a fence or a moat or something or
? Jack: No it's just a, it's just an area on a hill and you almost feel like
you can get close to touch them, butthere's a number of bears up there right
in the city center and it's just, youjust say, Hey, let's go look at some
live bears roaming around this Hill.
Like Brown bears.
Black bears.
Jack (03:43):
Black bears.
Yes.
Yeah.
I believe they're black bears.
So they're sizable, but yeah, they'renot giant Brown grizzly bears.
No.
They're manageable.
You can, maybe a bigger guy couldtoss around with them for a bit,
but, and then, there's just tons tosee and do The city center of Bern
has the longest arcade, which isbasically just a covered walkway.
I think it's 2.2 miles of coveredwalkways all through the city center.
(04:04):
And in the covered walkways are shopsand restaurants and little bars.
Then going down, you've got these littlecellars, it looked like storm shelters,
you open up like it, it's going intothe ground and those little nooks and
crannies and bars and things going on.
There's just two miles of itgoing through the city center.
So to me it encompasses anything youcould ever want in a capital city.
Arnold (04:25):
So what is there to see in Bern?
I know you mentioned the coveredarcades and the bear park.
What else is there to see?
I imagine I can stand and look atthe Alps and canoe or glide down
the river, which sounds very cool.
Jack (04:36):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of museums.
One of the greatest museums isthe Einstein historical museum.
Arnold (04:42):
That's a smart thing.
Jack (04:43):
Right?
Doesn't that make sense?
He, came up with the theory ofrelativity there so I guess it was
appropriate to make a museum tohim, but it actually is fascinating.
It's about his life and his story.
It's interactive.
It's not just a very, cut and dry museum.
And it's combined with the historicalmuseum of Switzerland and a Bern.
So it's a, it's actually a three-partmuseum and it's in a giant.
old castle . So thebuilding is magnificent.
(05:06):
The Einstein museum is tremendous and thenthe historical museum of Bern is great.
So you've got this combination there.
You can get a combo ticketall in one, go see it.
The bear park the Rosengartenthere's an art museum.
There's a couple of art museumsthat are well worth seeing.
The city center itself is just acobblestone streets and old style
buildings and the covered arcade.
So walking the cityitself is an attraction.
(05:28):
A great cathedral.
You can climb the tower of the cathedraland get great views of the city.
And then there's what Icall the local mountain.
The local Bernese mountaincalled the Gurton.
You can literally get to the topof this Gurton in 45 minutes.
The city of Bern now has these e-bikes.
You can rent bikes and in alot of cities in Europe but
Switzerland, being advanced as itis, has these things called e-bikes,
(05:51):
which are pedal assist bikes.
So I'm climbing this mountainand I'm not a bike rider.
I love to bike, but I wouldn't do this.
Arnold (05:59):
You weren't in shape like the Tour de France.
Jack (06:02):
No I'd get a a mile now.
I may get a good 10 miles then, but no,I'm not standing up very little energy
and I'm just, just going up this mountainwith my buddy, my German buddy, who's
living in Switzerland in Bern and we'regoing up this mountain and at the top of
the Gurton is a beautiful view of the cityand you can see the Alps; the Bernese Alps
- the mountains off in the background.
(06:22):
There's actually like alittle resort up there.
There's a tower you can climb at thetop of the Gurton to get sweeping
360 degree views of the area.
It's just beautiful.
It, the entire substance of this,whether you're hiking, biking, outdoor
stuff, cultural stuff, food scenehistory scene, Bern has it at all.
Arnold (06:44):
I'm looking at a picture right now of the Bern Minster and it's the highest
church spire in all of Switzerland.
And I imagine the view mustbe spectacular from them.
Jack (06:54):
Yes.
It really is.
The view from the top of that cathedraltower is magnificent and the cathedral
is a block off the main street, themain sort of street going through
the cobblestone street with thecovered arcades we were discussing.
Just a block off that is the cathedral.
Arnold (07:09):
Now I imagine most people would want to go during the spring, late spring
or summertime, or maybe early fall, butis it okay to go during the winter time?
How do they handle snow ordo they get a lot of snow or?
Jack (07:20):
Switzerland is more diverse than you think.
So everybody thinks about Switzerland asbeing ski or Geneva in the United Nations
and all of that's true, but Switzerlandis actually a place of great diversity.
You do get lowlands and low-lying regionsthat, yeah, they're going to get snow, but
it's not covered in snow all year round.
So going to Bern , I think it's agreat destination all year round.
(07:41):
I've been there twice and I'vebeen there in the warmer months.
I wasn't there in December January,but I want to say it was November.
Maybe late October and it was cold andno it did not snow while I was there.
It's maintained very well.
So you're not going to be in,you're not going to need a snow
suit to go through the city of Bern.
Depending on what part ofSwitzerland, every place you
go to is very well maintained.
And I think one of theepitomes of that is Bern.
(08:02):
It's.
Very clean, very well maintained.
So they'll keep the snow clear, butthen again, so even in the warmer
months it's accessible to get to thehigher regions and see some of that.
So it just depends what you're going todo, but warmer months, I think the best
time, the best two months all around isprobably early June or mid September.
So call it June and September areprobably the two best months to go.
(08:27):
You can go in the summer.
It's going to be, maybe a littlewarmer in July, August, but June,
we'll still have some decent weather.
And the crowds that do come aregoing to come in the summer months.
So just generally speaking, June andSeptember, just fantastic months to go
and visit Bern and the surrounding region.
Arnold (08:44):
So we talked about Albert Einstein E=MC2 alias.
And there's also Paul Klee, who's anartist; he has a museum there where
many of his works are displayed, butyou had mentioned before the podcast
of some other, very famous person thatpeople may have a misconception about.
Jack (09:03):
Right Jean Jacques Rousseau the French philosopher is actually Swiss.
Arnold (09:07):
So he's really not the French philosopher.
He's the Swiss philosopher.
Jack (09:11):
There's a good story there.
He was born and raised in Switzerlandand for some reason was forced to leave.
There was something going on,politically, as there always is, and he
was able to obtain a French passport orcitizenry, rather a French residency.
And he moved to France and that'sreally where he started his
(09:31):
career that we all know him for.
But yeah, most people think and assumethat he's French through and through, but
no, he was actually born in Switzerland.
Arnold (09:38):
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(10:00):
My question deals with walkability.
Can I just go to one place in Bern, staythere and just walk and do all these
things that we've been talking about?
Jack (10:09):
Absolutely.
If you get a hotel or Airbnb or somethingin the city center, in the historic
center of Bern, you can walk anywhere.
And you're right; that is one ofmy favorite things about Europe
itself is you don't need a car.
In fact, some of these cities,you don't want a car because
they're pedestrian only.
That entire street that I was tellingyou about the arcades itself, obviously
(10:31):
you're too small for cars and thenyou've got public transportation.
So any of these outliers that you wantto get to, whether it's a museum here
or, getting up to the Gurton, which Ibelieve has a cable car going up to it;
there's always another way to get there.
And Switzerland takes us to theextreme, there're cable cars that
just run right on the street, rightthrough the middle of the town.
(10:52):
Hop on, hop off.
It's actually mostly an honor system.
You should buy a ticketor a day pass or whatever.
But a lot of times theydon't even check your tickets.
It's an honor system.
It's very efficientsometimes down to the second.
So yeah, absolutely.
And I've sent several clients there.
I've worked with a lot of clients thathave gone to Switzerland and I've picked
out their hotels four or five starhotels very reasonably priced; although
(11:14):
Switzerland comparatively is not thecheapest place, but the value is there.
And so I'll put them, within a 10or 15 minute walk of the historic
center of Bern, and from there,that's really everything you need.
Again, any of the outliers, youcan do several things, use public
transportation, or rent yourself alittle e-bike and bike around the city.
(11:35):
And people are very respectful;Switzerland and the Swiss really live
by the concept of quality of life.
This is the thing thatmoves and epitomizes life in
Switzerland is quality of life.
So everything from the transportationto the cleanliness to accessibility,
they're very conscientious of thisand Bern does a fantastic job.
Arnold (11:55):
Jack, when I think about Switzerland, I think about
several things, Swiss chalets.
Swiss chocolate and a Swiss army knife.
Jack (12:03):
And fondue
Arnold (12:04):
And fondue.
So does Bern have this huge chocolatefactory there, or do they really
like chocolate in their palette?
Did you see any chaletswhile you were there?
Jack (12:15):
I would say Bern being the capital, you're going to have a
melting pot of all that stuff, right?
Arnold (12:19):
No pun intended there.
Jack (12:21):
Exactly.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah, that was good.
I like that.
But no, really one thing that youdidn't mention that Switzerland
generally is known for them, butBern in particular is raclette.
Raclette is a cheese dish.
Arnold (12:32):
Oh yes.
Jack (12:33):
It's melted cheese and they just slice it off.
And I've got to say, it's probablyeven more common than fondue.
Everybody thinks of fonduewhich is grossly overpriced.
It's actually, you could spendhundreds of dollars for a pot
of fondue at a restaurant.
It's bizarre.
And that kind of shocked me.
Raclette is just like a dish, right?
(12:54):
So you can go into a nice littlerestaurant and get a raclette
dish and it's served with variousthings, potatoes, vegetables.
But oh man I'm salivating now causewhen I was there last time I went
to this local restaurant that mylocal friend showed me that he's
lived there for several years and hesaid, Jack, you gotta try this place.
And so I'm in this small little restaurantand there right in front of you, just this
big slab of melted cheese they are slicingoff to a plate and then roasted potatoes.
(13:20):
Oh, and then you add into thatsome wines and there are good wines
in Switzerland actually, but yes,chocolate, cheese, other foods.
Switzerland it borders, France andborders Italy, so they get influx of
French cuisine and Italian cuisine.
But for me, the thing that I'm salivatingnow, and when I go back, the first
(13:41):
thing I'll do is get some tasty.
raclette.
Arnold (13:43):
So if I'm going there, I don't know the language, but I'm going
to guess that they speak English?
Cause after all English seems to bethe international language, at least
we think so in the United States.
Would I be able to get by if Iknew German or would I be able
to get by if I knew French?
Is there German Swiss language?
Is it more like a dialectof the Germanic language?
Jack (14:05):
Oh, it's much more than a dialect.
Swiss German is its own language.
Now Swiss German canunderstand high German.
High German is the, let's say thetraditional language of Germany.
Basically every German is going toknow high German, but then Germans have
their own dialect and their own sortof colloquialisms and things like that.
But yes, Swiss German is its own thing.
(14:26):
Now, Swiss German can understandhigh German, but Germans can
not understand Swiss German.
It's very different, verydifficult to understand.
You talk to a German, they have ahard time understanding Swiss German.
There are similar words and bitteyou can maybe get through it.
But to your point, getting around as anEnglish speaker is exceptionally easy.
I speak no Swiss German, andI speak a couple of German
(14:46):
words, danke schon and bitte.
These are the basicsthat you need to know.
Other than a few basic German words,which, okay, so this is interesting to
back up a second here (14:55):
four languages.
This is important to understand.
Switzerland has four official languages.
German French, Italian and Romanshwhich Is one of the ancient languages.
It's a derivative of Latin; we thinkit's probably the closest thing to
what Latin would have sounded like.
Arnold (15:10):
Interesting.
Jack (15:11):
Yes.
Very interesting.
Very few people speakRomansh but it's spoken.
There are regions that still speak it.
So the Southern part ofSwitzerland is Italian speaking.
The Western part that bordersFrance is French speaking, and then
basically the rest is German speaking.
So there's more German speakers thanany other in Switzerland, but the
West part; Geneva and the canton ofGeneva, it's all French speaking.
(15:31):
English is widely spoken, if notuniversally spoken in Switzerland
especially the German speaking parts.
In fact, I often joke this appliesto German speaking parts of
Switzerland, as well as Austria,which is German speaking in Germany.
If you are anywhere in Europeand you're confronted with a
language barrier, find a German.
(15:53):
They will speak English.
They will speak some English.
Now, if they're 90, maybe not,but any person let's say under
50 is going to know English.
Now English is a derivative of German.
English came from German.
So maybe that's one of the reasons, butGermans are great at foreign languages.
They're really good at English.
Maybe because of the business inthe commercial kind of dealings, but
(16:15):
yet I didn't have a single problem.
In fact, I wasn't, I don't think Iwas even confronted with a single
person that did not speak English.
Arnold (16:23):
That's great.
Jack (16:24):
Yeah.
It helps.
So compare that to let's say Rome.
Rome, you can get around becauseit's touristy, but you leave the
touristy areas and you get toother parts of Italy, forget it.
For- get it.
In fact, one of my good friendsthat lives in Rome, how Italian is
that; he would be considered a greatEnglish speaker by Italian standards.
And he can be hard to understand.
(16:45):
So even the best of the bestspeakers, they have their accents
that they just never get rid of.
Part of that's the formation ofa language, that's why I love
hearing Italians, it's a sing songy.
And so every time he talks to me
,Jack what do you want to do-a tonight-a?
And I'm actually notexaggerating it in the slightest.
Do you want some piz-za or do youwant to go to the piaz-za and
(17:08):
we can have a little vino?
Or what would you like-a?
You a tell-a me ah?
And people think, Oh my gosh,he's being so stereotypical.
Maybe I'm exaggerating slightly,but I'm really not though.
It's the way they pronounce words.
So I is E, so River, you're going tocross the Reaver, and so no matter
when they speak English, unlessthey're a language teacher, they're
(17:29):
never going to lose that accent.
The German speaking peopledon't seem to have that problem.
So I think it's much easier to understandGerman speakers, like in Berns.
So yes, getting around as easy as can be.
Arnold (17:40):
Now in Bern because that's the capital of Switzerland.
What is the form ofgovernment of Switzerland?
Jack (17:45):
Yeah.
Good question.
Switzerland in general it's actuallyquite similar to the United States.
They're made up of cantons.
They're made up of 26 cantons.
I think it started, I want to saywith 13 cantons was the original
formation of Switzerland and itstarted to form in the 18 hundreds.
And it really was just a collectionof States that said, I don't like
the way Germany is doing things,I don't like the way France is
(18:06):
doing things and Italy is a mess.
So let's just form our own thing and itbuilt from there and they just started
adding cantons as they went through.
So they actually have a verydevolved central government.
One of the great ironies ofEurope, more often than not is
centralized forms of government.
Now they're democracies, butthey're centralized forms of
(18:27):
government with a very strongcentral government , like France.
France is probably the strongest.
Everything goes from Paris,everything flows through Paris,
but in Switzerland, it's the exactopposite Bern is the capital.
But the powers of the federalgovernment are very limited.
And so actually this is very interesting.
Each Canton is very autonomous,maybe even more so than our States.
(18:49):
Sometimes in some situations theyhave more power; pass their own taxes,
their own regulations, et cetera.
Now, when it comes to things that affectthe entire country whether it be defense,
spending or other things, ma- joritems are put to a vote of the people.
Every single one.
So they just voted recently, this was a huge deal.
There was a vote proposed by oneparty to end freedom of movement in
(19:12):
Switzerland, which is a big deal.
So Switzerland is not part of the EU,but they've made special dealings with
Brussels and the EU to allow freedomof movement in and out of Switzerland
because it benefits both parties.
But they're not part of the EU.
And so we actually didn't cover this too.
They're not on the Euro.
They're on the Swiss Franc.
Okay.
So they're not on the Euro.
They're not part of the EU, but they doallow freedom of movement; very important.
(19:34):
What that means is they were going tovote to abandon that freedom of movement.
Now that vote was not passed, but it'sinteresting because the Congress, like
we have here that in DC, this wasn'tvoted and passed by the Senate or the
house, and then signed by the president.
It was put to a voteof the people directly.
And so from smaller items to largeitems, the people ultimately are
(19:58):
the sayers of almost everything.
If it doesn't affect every Canton thenthat individual Canton has to say.
And so this is why youget a great diversity.
You go to the Canton of Geneva,granted it's French speaking, but
let's pretend it was German speaking.
The look, the layout, the feelof the city, everything is very
different than the Canton of Bern.
(20:19):
The cantons really do have theirown character and flavor because the
federal government is so devolved.
Now, here's one other thing I want to jumpin with and say, by law, every citizen
of Switzerland should have a firearm.
Arnold (20:31):
I was going to mention that because I was going to pose that
to you as is this true or a myth.
Jack (20:37):
True.
In reality, maybe 50% have a firearm.
There are very, definedregulations against that.
You have to shoot at a designated areas.
But yes, you're by law you're supposedto do a year or two years in the
military, and then you're supposedto own and maintain a firearm.
The government at some point can maybecheck in and make sure it's handled
(20:57):
correctly stored correctly, I'm notsure on the specifics on that; but
in practice now there's restrictions.
They're not going to give it to peoplethat have been dishonorably discharged.
They're not going to give it to peoplethat have any kind of criminal record.
So in practice, about halfof the country has a firearm.
But again for Switzerland or for Europe.
(21:18):
I think that would shock most people.
Europe is lumped into this thing.
It's Americans have the guns and Europeansdon't, no the Swiss really do take to
heart their right to have and bear arms.
Of any country in Europe, I wouldsay structurally speaking Switzerland
is closer to the United Statesthan any other country in Europe.
Arnold (21:36):
Interesting.
So for the most underrated capitalin Europe, it seems to be a
pretty good destination to go to.
Jack (21:43):
It really is it w whether you're into food, history, natural beauty,
historic sites, activities, hiking goingout and climbing mountains, or just living
the life if you will; Bern is a greatdestination and a great place to base
yourself to do side trips, to those otherdestinations that we're talking about.
Maybe it's Zurich, maybe it's Interlochento do skydiving and other places.
(22:07):
So it's a great place to base yourself andit's a great destination in and of itself.
Arnold (22:10):
It's a great destination to figure out what E=MC2 means,
the most famous equation.
Energy equals mass timesthe speed of light squared.
Jack (22:19):
Yes, absolutely.
Arnold.
I love that you put thatin at the end there.
I think that really ties it all togetherand, Einstein is a great person to admire
and his admiration of Bern, he loved Bern.
I feel the same way.
So in that way, we'reconnected to Einstein.
Arnold (22:33):
Thank you for listening to this episode of virtual
vacation with Guidester.
If you enjoy this episode,please check out our website,
guidester.com/virtual-vacation.
That's guidester.com/virtual-vacation.
Virtual Vacation with Guidesteris produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester, I'm Arnold Stricker.
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