Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is only an hour away from Lucerne by train. So we went there for a day trip.

1. Plaza in front of Bern's train station.

2. Across the street from the plaza is the Chapel Bridge.

3. Bern.

4. Bern's 15th-century astronomical clock.

5. Bern.

6. Bern is surrounded by the river Aare which is fast-flowing and lots of people float down the water with no flotation device except a waterproof bag that holds their clothes. It looks really fun.

7. One of several bears we saw at Bern's Bear Park (Bear is the symbol of Bern).

The sign says this bear likes to bathe. As soon as it heard the signal that opened the gate in this picture, the bear ran through the gate to the other side of the Bear Park that has a bathing pool and jump in :)

8. Bern from Rose Garden up on a hill.

9. Bern.

10. Bern.

11. University of Bern where Albert Einstein taught theoretical physics in 1908.

We took the 4 pm train to go back to Lucerne. Since our Swiss Travel Pass covers traveling on boats within Lake Lucerne, as soon as we arrived at Lucerne, we went straight to the pier and boarded the 5:12 pm boat to Vitznau, about an hour away. It was a beautiful ride even though it was a bit of hazy.

12. Boat ride on Lake Lucerne.

13. Vitznau.

14. Hotel Vitznauerhof.

15. Boat ride on Lake Lucerne.

16. Boat ride on Lake Lucerne.

P.S. When we were in Bern, they were doing an art exhibition called BernARTiner which features more than 100 artworks by different artists recognizing Saint Bernard, Switzerland's top dog. Here are some of the pictures we took :)

(To be continued)