A chilled sunset

20 minutes ago...
Always a great way to end the afternoon!

Hanging out in the lift shaft

For anyone following this blog closely (...!), this is the lift shaft connecting the station (here and here) to the heights of the Grosse Schanze.

Market day in Bern

It's cold, it's sunny, and it's market day on Bern's main square!

Unitobler Hof

One of my favourite places in Bern, the Unitobler Hof is a little square hidden away from the main streets, featuring a smooth paved area with stone tables, cool sculptures and on the side, a small enclosed gravel park where old guys play boules in the summer.

Unitobler is the yellow brick building in the photos above, and is so-called because the University of Bern converted the former Toblerone factory building into its Arts & Social Sciences library. There's still a cool Toblerone exhibition in the basement of the library.

For another perspective, the uni has a rooftop webcam with views over the Hof.

Daybreak in Bern

Early this morning in Bern, the first golden rays of winter sun light up the dark and quiet streets.

The best beer in Bern

So after so many serious posts to this blog, it's definitely time to sit down and sup a pint. I can only recommend this place to any visitors to Bern - just out of the old town, over the bridge at the tip of the Aare peninsula. As the name suggests was formerly the town tram depot, and now has a great little microbrewery (find out about the beers on the website). The food is hearty Swiss kitchen, really matching a few good beers on the terrace overlooking the river Aare and the Münster at sunset... ;-) Make mine a Märzen!

Swiss bank accounts

It might sound like a cliché but banks are omnipresent here. One side of Parliament Square is lined by the parliament. Half a side is open space. The remaining two and a half sides are taken up by various heavyweight Swiss banks. Could we say that the ratio of 1:2.5 is the Swiss estimation of the value of politics against money?

Russian photoblog?

Hi to the photoblogging community! It's great to see that we're all linking up around the world. I would be interested to know if anyone knows of a Moscow, St Petersburg or other Russian city photoblog? Grateful for some pointers...

Between two main streets

Bärenplatz in the fog, 5:30pm

Theaterplatz / Zytglogge intersection

On my lunch break - from the left, the Kornhaus, the Stadttheater, and in the fog, the Kursaal Casino. The yellow and red flags are the Bernese banner.

Labor conquers all things

This is also on the state seal of Oaklahoma.

Background of labor omnia vincit

Link to a very short Swiss productivity bar chart

Food for thought

The fog thickens

it's like a pea soup oot there!

here i'm on the münsterplatform