Bits and bobs

No I haven't fallen off the edge of the world. I just haven't had much to say; we didn't quite make it to Geneva last weekend. However, we did visit our first Swiss curry house and we visited the capital, Bern last weekend, so it's time to bring you up to date.

Swiss Curry!

There's an Indian restaurant quite close to where we live and the last couple of times we'd walked past it, the smell was heavenly. So we decided to pay them a visit on a cold Friday night. Foolishly, we both ordered a large Feldschlossen as soon as we sat down, before they could tell us that they had both Kingfisher and Cobra. Doh'l! Never mind. Now, the way they do things in Switzerland when it comes to currying is a little bit different. The menu has a bunch of sauces on it but rather than picking one to go with your taste in heat, whatever you order, they ask you how hot you want it. They have "levels" - one, two or three (three being "how an Indian has it"). Now we didn't quite understand this bit at the time (I'm thinking what if you ordered a level three fahl, you see) but basically, you could have a butter chicken at level three or a madras at level one. Weird! We both went with lamb, really can't remember what the sauce was but it was very tasty. I went with a level two, Claire with a one and I found it thoroughly tasty, but I might go for a three next time. All very good. And now we know how it all works, next time'll be even better!

Ski Gear

You might remember me saying that we were planning on going to Geneva. It was such a crummy day that we really didn't feel like a long drive, but we jumped in the car anyway as Claire needed to hire her skis and boots for the season. That's how it's done out here. You rent stuff for a season, bring it back in May. Or keep it and rent it for another season. It's great for the kids, obviously, because it's utterly pointless spending a fortune on gear that's only going to last them one season. Great for Claire, too, because neither of us is certain how well our knees are going to hold up...

The idea was, go get the ski gear sorted and then head to Geneva if we felt like it. Bad plan! Going on a saturday was a nightmare. The world and their dog were all there getting their kids sorted with skis, boots, skates, all the winter stuff and the queues were massive! Thank goodness we didn't leave it until November, when it allegedly gets really busy. I think we were there for about three hours and I just wanted to go home afterwards. Claire has a lovely pair of lilac Volkis, since you asked, and a brand new pair of boots, which she can then buy if her knees hold out. It's a pretty good system and works out quite cheap. It's been a while since I hired gear when skiing, but I seem to remember it being about sixty quid a week or so? We've paid about three times that for six months. Someone is making a lot of money out of ski hire.

Bern - the Nation's Capital

On Saturday, we drove down to Bern to have a mooch around. There's nice big Park and Ride just off the motorway, with plenty of spaces so that's what we did. And I'm glad. Traffic was very ... interesting in Bern. The old town is very narrow and cobbled. It's actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site don't you know. It's weird, because it's all narrow streets it seems really small but it's amazingly busy. It feels like a capital city, you know?

A guess because space is at such a premium, lots of the shops' cellars have also been converted into shops, so you can delve down into all kinds of establishments. It's really a very interesting place. We had a bite to eat at the Cafe Des Pyrenees (they don't seem to have a website) on Kornhausplatz and I thought it was wonderful in there.

We headed on down the Nydegggasse towards the bear pits, which I really wanted to see. Bern is named for a bear, you see, and for many years they kept bears in pits at various locations around the city. The last place was just over the Nydeggbrucke at, funnily enough, the Barengraben. Now of course they don't keep them in the pits anymore. Not since 2009. Now they're roaming "free" on the bank of the Aare, in a little bit of open ground. They can still get at the old pits if they want to, apparently. Papa bear (Finn) is seperated from Mama bear (Bjork) and the two baby bears (Urs and Berna) by a great big metal fence. He hasn't been respecting her need for peace recently. Sounds like most blokes to me! It doesn't look to me like they have that much room there but I know nothing about animals so I'll give these guys the benefit of the doubt. Here's a picture of Finn.

And here's a picture of the old pits. Can you see the rings attached to the walls? Can you guess what they're for?

We headed back up towards the bahnhof, stopping to take a look at the rathaus and a lovely church, then stopping for a coffee at Starbucks. Much as I hate loath and detest Starbucks, they do have nice coffee, and their cinnamon roll things are amazing! Final stop before getting a bus back to the car park was for bread and fondue mix. Yes folks, we have a fondue set! Niceness!

We are almost certainly going to Lausanne or maybe Geneva this weekend. Somewhere where they speak French, anyway. The weather forecast is promising, so we'll see what's what. Oh and tonight we're going to the Herbstmesse, Autumn Fayre or something. Apparently it's an annual gastro-fest. Three hours of wine tasting coming up!