Bern

An hour or so by train and we were whisked away to the Swiss capital: Bern.

Don't get me wrong. Where we live is ok. But oh my... I was hit by a severe case of Canton Envy when I saw Bern.

We've been pretty isolated where we live (for various of reasons) for a long time so now that we finally have an opportunity to discover Switzerland, the contrast is hitting home. Big time.

I had totally forgotten how nice it feels to understand and to be understood. I studied German in the past but thought it was long lost in the labyrinth of my limited linguistic brain as I never had to use it. Wrong! I do understand it, written especially. Swiss German sounds a little odd to my ear (even though one of my oldest and dearest friend is Swiss and speaks Swiss German so I've been exposed before) but I do get an odd word here or there every now and then. That's about 900% more than my understanding of French. And being isolated in a French speaking city with a very French attitude, being exposed to German made me feel like home. How odd!
....Or maybe it was all the Marimekko and Iittala I saw....?

I fell in love with Bern then second I stepped out the train station. So much so we made not one but two day trips there. First time (Saturday) was a very general one and then a more detailed tour on Monday. And both my husband and I were just sighing away as we fell more and more in love with the place the more we saw it. This was the kind of Switzerland I had in mind (and I was more familiar with) before we moved.

People were less pushy and grumpy, we got really good service everywhere we went, I wasn't the tallest/blondest woman around and I felt like I pretty much fitted in. :) The city was bigger but not too big, it was clean without feeling sterile.... Simply wonderful. I'm not surprised most Nordics end up in the German speaking part and love living in CH (which I never did, before this anyways) as it feels much more like home (only on steroids) than where we are living at the moment.

"Oh what the hell... Close enough, I say!"

Right there and then my husband swore that we'd only "suffer" (we're not suffering, really) in our surroundings for a year/two years more and then we try to settle in the German speaking part or go back to the Nordics as we feel more comfortable there. I guess my smile was so wide he had to say it. ;)

....Or maybe it was these random little guys that stole his heart:

When we get a few more days off again, we continue discovering this beautiful little country. Stay tuned!