A place called home

As I hope that some of you may one day come to visit Switzerland or even me, this is the time to advertise the most beautiful city in my country – Bern, which is where I live.



In little more than three weeks time, this will be my view when walking from my home to the city centre. The bridge across the river that runs through the city and encloses the Old Town is one of the best point of views and it thrills me every year when everything is green, even the crystal clear water of the river. In summer, Bern is not really a city, but a big forest with some houses in it. There are trees and parks everywhere – it's almost like being in nature.



Of course it's a bit different in the city centre. Still, I love the main shopping street that goes down all the way through the Old Town and is characterised by a lot of outside bars and restaurants, markets, playgrounds and benches. There are no cars allowed in this street, only busses and streetcars.




This is my favourite park very near my flat. Its called 'rose garden', but apart from roses there are innumerable flowers everywhere, big lawns where you can picnic, play ballgames or relax and a wonderful view over the whole city.



There is a small restaurant where you can have lunch or dinner, or just some ice cream. One of the best places for all the year, even in winter you can go for a walk there and enjoy the view.



This is my university, about 10 minutes (by bike) away from my home. It is slightly higher than the city centre and from the big lawn in front of it you can see a very nice panorama with the city and the mountains in the background (on clear days).



This panorama you get when you are standing on the 'Gurten', a big hill in the south of the city where you can go for walks and where there is a huge music festival every summer. On one side there's Bern, on the other the countryside that melts into the Alps.



This is the nicest park next to the river, where people go in summer to have barbecues and parties all night long. In warm summer nights you can see a lot of fires in the park of people staying overnight. During the day you can swim down the river into the city, which takes about ten minutes. The river is quite fast, but not dangerous and very clean. It's the best thing about summer, and what I miss most at the moment!



Last but not least there's the bears that are living in the middle of the city. They are living in a ditch, about five metres below the square at the end of the Old Town. It was a bit cruel until now, as they had not so much space (although still more than in most zoos), but at the moment a big parks is being built for them where they can roam about and even take a bath in the river.