Silver Map: Places, People, Impressions

There are some cities that make you feel at home right from the moment from your arrival. Bern was certainly one of them

As in any hometown, one has to get his favourite place.

Bear park, or Bärenraben, as it is called in Switzerland, is a fantastic spot. This place has to offer a lot more than just looking at lazy bears who barely have a wish to move from one side of the enclosure to another.

There are different breeds of bears there and some particular animals are claimed to be saved from almost fatal wounds and put in this place.

Since the park is on the top level that gradually goes down to the river, it displays a hilarious view upon the river itself.

One of the best feelings is to sit near it and  put the legs in water. In summer it is a pleasant way to chill yourself. People can spend hours in that place, listening to music,other people, having a meal, reading a book or doing whatever they want.

Bern is not an ordinary capital that is usually assosiated with crowds of people, quick pace of life and bursting life all day and all night. When I just arrived, I was told that everything closes at 7-8pm and nothing is open on Sundays. You can hardly meet many people on the streets ,which are just a few minutes of walk from the old town.

The central street is rather long and more or less crowdy with tourists. Once you walk there, you can spend hours contemplating each single building. That's also one of the entertainnment areas, since the street is full of different brend shops, cafes and restaurants, tourist stalls, street musicians and pantomimists.

What I like the most about the cities in Austria, Germany and Switzerland is certainly their architecture. I always have a feeling that I happened to get into a fairytale, especially when I see these gorgeous statues and my favourite cute Fachwerkhäuser.

Also, the first thing I've noticed in Bern is that the Swiss German is veeeery different from the one we usually study. I mean, you study German, then you come to Switzerland and you understand one word out of every 50 :) And then you start thinking about where you went wrong in your studying.... Anyway, hopefully, one year would be enough to make a progress and brush up on this language as well. 

The main street is full of details. Every shop is adorned in such a way as to attract people to come in. There are very few buses and trams coming back and forth and all this people-transport intermixed traffic is in complete harmony.

After enjoying the little walk and saying to myself "This is just too good to be true" I completed my amazing time with hugging two girls with the table "free hugs" and I must say that those hugs really have phantastic effect of raising your spirits!

In the central park there was a photo exhibition dedicated exlusively to Israel

The international festival of folk dance...

Jacab's Palace is phantastic at any time of the year

Looking at this wedding dress, Kosice brides seem to be quite tough.