My last day in Swiss. I headed to Bern from Luzern as I would be passing the Swiss capital on the way back to Grenoble anyway. When I reached Bern train station, I was struck with a bad news that the SNCF was still on strike. I became panicky as I desperately needed to go back to submit an assignment the next day. I asked the Tourist Office for the nearest internet station so that I could check what alternatives I had to go back to Grenoble. But it was a Sunday and everything was closed!! Panic. Panic. So I called Sinhui to ask her to help me check out (merci beaucoup for helping me! sorry having to make you go to UPMF, Stendhal and laverie for internet access!!). I had to call her a couple of times till my phone credits went flat! In the end I found out from her that there would be a train that left Geneva for Chambery at 16h, but I had to sleep overnight at Chambery train station to catch a 6 am train to Grenoble. Since I seemed to have not much choice at that point, I quickly made a tour around Bern and made my way back to the train station.
Anyway, I think Bern was not as interesting as the previous towns I was in. I covered almost everything in 2 hours. Other than a few interesting fountains (there are tons in the city), a cathedral, a prison tower and a tower clock, the most intriguing attraction in Bern was probably the bear pits. The bears are symbols of Bern, but I thought it was a saddening sight to see 2 bears put into the pit to entertain visitors.
L-R: prison tower, clock tower, interesting fountain
L-R: the bear pit; one of the bears
L-R: more view of the bear (it looked so tame and cute)
I took a train to Geneva and quickly enquired for a possible train to Grenoble. It turned out that there was not even a train to Chambery. The lady at the counter recommended that I checked the availability of a bus at the bus station. So I did...and I WAS DAMN LUCKY! There was a bus leaving at 7 pm but it was bloody expensive. But I guess it's better than having to stay at train station (right, Eugene? =P). I had more than 3 hours to kill... I walked around but no shops were open.. so I just people watched at the train station before getting bored very soon..which led me back to the bus station to write my historic post last Sunday. =D
L-R: rotting in Geneva train station
L-R: rotting in Geneva gare routière; me inside the aerobus
All in all, I had completely enjoyed the short getaway to Swiss. And I am beginning to enjoy backpacking alone. Perhaps it was the opportunity to meet more people and to discover more things. This Swiss trip would last for a long long time in my memories - and fond ones, of course.
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