Traveling to Badami

As a young girl I always dreamt of being an archaeologist some day; travel to the distant land of Machu Picchu on Llamas and find the hidden treasure or solve the mystery behind the death of Tutankhamun – the most famous Egyptian pharaoh. When these childhood ambitions surface from time to time, I keep myself content by visiting ancient monuments or places of historic importance. This year (2005) our expedition took us to the ancient villages of Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami –‘workshop’ of ‘experimental’ temple forms.

Though I am not an ardent believer in religion, I enjoy visiting places of worship.
Not for the fear of the almighty, but for the simple reason that these places reflect the architectural abilities of a culture. The richness of a dynasty is also measured by their contribution to art and architecture besides the wealth in the royal treasury. The wealthier the dynasty; the larger was their contribution to art and architecture. Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami are the architectural contributions of the Chalukyan rulers. The Mughal era saw the birth of Indo Saracenic form of art and the Chalukyan era resulted in Chalukyan style of architecture.

The expedition group consisted of not –so-like-minded people. We began our journey from Bangalore on the 29th of December in the fairly comfortable KSTDC coach to Badami at 20:30Hrs. I was the only other person belonging to the fairer sex besides Revathy. The “gang” as some team members would like to be called; assembled by about 20:00 Hrs at the Majestic Bus station. No sooner was the bus parked; people began crowding into it to occupy any available seat. We had our tickets confirmed and so boarded the bus leisurely. The conductor advised us to settle in our seats. He spoke the native dialect of the northern region of Karnataka. After a last minute cancellation of two tickets the “gang” settled comfortably in their respective seats; or so I thought. A few or probably most of us called our family and friends on our mobiles before the bus could leave the limits of the Bangalore city for fear of not being able to access the network later. I had “Wuthering Heights” to keep me company and Pavan had “Sherlock Holmes”. Once settled, we began enjoying our books only to be distracted by the talks of the other people in the group indulged in pulling Niranjan’s (fondly known as “Hunter”) legs. I tried to ignore them but the discussion seemed to be getting interesting. So I decided to put my book down, close my eyes and listen to their conversation. The loud talks were definitely irritating our co-passengers and a couple of them even expressed their frustration by complaining to the persons sitting besides them. But it failed to dampen our enthusiasm and ignoring their complaints we continued talking and joking. When the bus was nearing the outskirts of the city, we all posed for a picture for our “memory album”.



Our first halt was at … oops! I have forgotten the name of this village where we had tea / coffee. The hotel at this bus station isn’t very big but it does sell good coffee and tea. Few of us ordered coffee but were served tea instead. As long as I could wet my palate with something hot, I was content. I was too happy to even complain. The cramped muscles in my legs relaxed as we walked around and I also took this opportunity to get acquainted with Revathy. We had a pleasant introduction and I took an instant liking towards this girl. I was now sure that we would make good roommates for the next couple of days.

We boarded the bus again and proceeded towards Badami. Ideally the journey takes about 12 hours. But on that particular night, there was a heavy inflow of traffic on the highway towards Bangalore and added to this, the roads were being dug to broaden them. Our bus inched forward for almost an hour and then the flow of traffic was smooth again. O Well… that means… we shall reach our destination late by an hour! Looking at the brighter side… we would get another hour of extra sleep on the bus. I turned towards Shrikanth who had occupied the seat besides mine and noticed that he was comfortably dozing off… so I thought I would look out of the window until I could sleep. The vehicles passing by were the only source of light and I could see pieces of uncultivated land or dusty roads when other passing vehicles lit the way. Nothing seemed to interest me. So I hugged my pillow and dozed off … only to be woken up when the early morning sunlight kissed my forehead. Hmmm… after a good night’s sleep I was all set to enjoy the new day! Shrikanth was still sleeping and so I turned around to check if the others had woken up. Not a single soul on the bus stirred. I could hear someone snoring and the two men seated in front of us breathing heavily. The heavy breathing and the snoring was almost rhythmic  … It was now time to enjoy my book… I continued to read for a while and then decided to watch outside the window instead.

North Karnataka besides “Jolad Rotti” and “badnikai palya” is also famous for pigs. Some of the small villages might have more pigs than people living in them . I saw a large number of pigs roaming aimlessly on the streets; some of them even ignoring the honking vehicles. The plain lands gave way to cultivated patches of land and I noticed that Sunflowers are one of the major cash crops that are cultivated here. By now some of the guys were hungry and the hunger woke them . Someone noticed that I had bought plum cakes with me and asked Shrikanth if they could eat it. He very generously handed it to the others… without even bothering to offer me a piece. When everybody had almost finished eating he asked me if I wanted to eat the few crumbs there were left over. I said I couldn’t eat without brushing my teeth and he was glad that I refused and ate the few remaining crumbs. We finally reached Badami at 9:30 Hrs the next day.

Manunath, my friend’s brother, had managed to get us the accommodation in a cheap hotel besides the main bus station in Badami. The hotel didn’t look good from the outside and I was now praying that at least the rooms should be clean. There are very few good hotels in Badami and it is always advisable to book a room well in advance. I walked over to the reception counter introduced myself and asked the man behind the counter if Mr. Krishnamurthy had booked rooms for fifteen people in their hotel. I was glad when he confirmed that he had the rooms reserved in my name. My joy knew no bounds  when he said that hot water would be available for us to take bath. He asked if we two girls would want a separate room rather than share it with the other guys. So we girls shared one room and the guys had three rooms between them. The receptionist who I later learned was also the manager of the hotel personally walked us to our rooms on the first floor. The room was definitely dirty and there were cigarette stubs lying on the floor. The beds weren’t made and the bedspreads certainly needed a wash. The porter who had accompanied us to the rooms warned us in broken English “keep door close… big monkeys coming”. when I replied to him in Kannada he was very happy and repeated the same in Kannada. Revathy by then had walked into the bathroom to check if it was clean and by the looks on her face  I could guess it wasn’t. Then I had to tell her my experience in Italy where the bathroom was stinking and they did not even provide hot water to take bath. Finally after much apprehension she agreed to take bath in the bathroom.

No sooner had the boys checked in, they rested comfortably on the beds, whilst we girls were getting ready to take bath. The porter then got some not-so-warm water to take bath and I was glad that I could take bath with atleast the tepid water.


We were quiet hungry by then. I was impatient waiting for the boyz to get ready. I reminded Shrikanth to let us girls know when they would have their breakfast so that we could join them. I started reading “Wuthering Heights” again and after a while I heard a knock on our door and saw Shrikanth waiting outside to let us know they were ready to have their breakfast. When we were just about to lock our door Mukunda asked us for the key so that the guys could have their bath in our bathroom. We handed the key to him and walked across to the hotel on the other side of the road.

It looked quite good from the outside. The building was not older than one year. There were posters stuck on the walls advertising about the “New Year’s party” in the hotel. We sat waiting for a while inside the hotel and realized the service was bad. There were just two men taking the orders and they seemed confused about the orders we placed. With most of us hailing from the southern part of the state, idly and vada seemed to be the favorite dish and we all placed the order for Idly and vada. The man returned after checking with the cook to inform us that we would have to wait for a while before we could be served vada, as the cook was yet to prepare them! Having planned to visit Aihole, Pattadakal and Banashankari on that same day, we realized we couldn’t wait around for the breakfast and so ordered for what ever was available. We were served dosa, set dosa, Masala dosa, Uppittu, Khara bhath and God knows how many more dishes! I stopped counting after a while. We had our stomach’s fill and ordered for coffee.


Coffee is a favorite beverage in the southern part of the state and not realizing that people in North Karnataka prepared BAD coffee most of us ordered for coffee. I had lived for six and a half years of my life in the Northern part of the state and I forgot about it?! Chandan sipped coffee from his cup and remarked that he had been served tea instead. He then sipped again and exclaimed “It tastes like coffee now. I am sure they have mixed coffee and tea and served it to us!” I sipped a little coffee from my cup and my face looked like I had sipped castor oil! Shrikanth then shared his cup of tea and reminded me to order tea the next time I wanted to drink some hot beverage while we were in North Karnataka. While we sipped our tea / coffee Shrikanth had arranged for the cruiser to take us to the places we intended to visit.

Bike Trip to Lepakshi -- The travelogue

After our initial plan to visit Mysore and Srirangapattana last weekend was foiled due to insistent rain in Mysore, we decided on an alternative -- Lepakshi. It is a small village in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh at a distance of 120Kms from Hebbal fly-over -- Bengalooru. Lepakshi is of immense archeological and historical importance. It houses some of India’s best temple murals.

Our group comprised of four people on two bikes (an Apache and a Victor). I was to ride pilion with Vinay on Apache and Sunand was to ride with Bhushan. We agreed to meet on NH7 near the Hebbal lake where the fly-over descends to meet Bellary main road. We were to leave Bengalooru at 6:30 AM. I reached there with Vinay at 6:35 AM to find Bhushan already waiting for us. As usual Sunand hadn't arrived. While we were waiting for Sunand to join us, two guys on a bike approached us and enquired if we were with Suhas's (I don't seem to recall the name now and it isn't important either ;) ) group. We assured them :) we weren't from his group and they continued to wait there on the bike. After about ten minutes I called up Sunand to learn that he was still waiting near R.T.Nagar for an auto. Meanwhile few more bikers joined the two guys (probably from Suhas's group) and they rode away while we continued to wait for Sunand. Our man finally arrived at 7 AM in an auto, holding a water bottle in one hand and a raincoat in the other. He had worn a cap to shield his head from the rain and sun (sun??? Wish there was sunshine for atleast a few hours on that day). There was nothing unusual about Sunand arriving late or forgetting his helmet. I would probably be shocked if he had either arrived on time or he hadn't forgotten his helmet ;) or if he had brought his backpack along to hold his raincoat and waterbottle.

The previous day was pleasantly warm and also we had generous sunshine until 4 in the evening. But today the sky was rather too overcast and it started drizzling. But our determination was not to be dettered :). Hoping that it wouldn't start pouring, we sped towards Yelahanka. I had surfed on the net the previous evening for the route to Lepakshi. One article about Lepakshi suggested that the best way to reach Lepakshi was to take NH7 and drive past Yelahanka, Devanahalli, Chikkaballapura, Bagepalli, AP border and then take the deviation towards Lepakshi.

The road was unusually empty. We sped past Devanahalli and reached the outskirts of Chikkaballapur stopping briefly to don our raincoats. We had our breakfast in a roadside vegetarian restaurant and gulped down warm tea and coffee. The food wasn't very palatable but we had no other option.

Bhushan and Sunand rode off on their bike when I noticed this beautiful hillock that was engulfed in a sea of clouds. It reminded me of Glencoe mountains and Vinay of "Kalvaralli betta". We decided to return to that hillock someday, though we were tempted to ride there right away.


Chikkaballapur marked the midway between Bengalooru and Lepakshi. We were quite keen on reaching the village quickly as there was no telling when it would start pouring. We passed few trucks and buses, occasionally giving way to impatient cars. We had traveled a few kilometers when it stopped drizzling and we experienced the warm sun for a few minutes.

We sped past Bagepally and reached the Andhra border. There was no checkpost to collect the toll. We parked our bike by the road side waiting for Bhushan and Sunand to catch up with us. We rested for a few minutes after they joined us and then proceeded towards Lepakshi.

We reached a tiny village where I enquired for the route to Lepakshi and a villager directed us to take the left turn at the junction. Though this road was narrow, it was in good condition with no sign of pot-holes. There aren't too many vehicles in this sleepy little village that could wear the tar away.

There were fields and little hamlets besides the road accompanying us all the way to Lepakshi. The journey so far had been quite pleasant and refreshing.

Train to Jungfraujoch - Switzerland

Needless to say, our delayed start from Interlaken further delayed our trip to Jungfraujoch. Trains leave from the Grindelwald station to the "top of Europe" at regular intervals and the intervals are sufficiently large :(. We arrived at Grindelwald a little later than we had planned and we missed the connecting train to Jungfrau. We spent a few minutes more than an hour at the station waiting for the next train to the mountain.

M was a little unhappy with the high ticket price to the top of Europe. But as the train started the ascent, he thanked me a few times :) for convincing him to ride the train. The view was breath-taking. Wish my parents, sis and grandmom were with me :(. Climbing the highest mountain in Europe seated in a comfortable train was something that I had never imagined. Wish Indian Government too makes similar arrangements that would enable us to attract more tourists to our beautiful country. This is a dream, which I am sure will never be fulfilled :(.




The author of Muirhead's Switzerland published this description in 1923:

The Jungfrau Railway, the highest railway in Europe and one of the most interesting of all mountain lines, was constructed in 1896-1912 from the designs of Adolph Guyer-Zeller of Zürich. It attains a height of over 11,000 ft., thus bringing the most unathletic into the upper regions of the expert climber. Most of the line is on the rack system (Strub's patent), with overhead trolleys (steepest gradient 1:4), but there is also a short section beyond Eismeer on the ordinary or 'adhesive' system (gradient 1:14). The power is generated in works near Lauterbrunnen and Burglauenen, whence it is transmitted by high-tension lines. The gauge is 3 ft. 4 in. The first section of the line is in the open air, but beyond Eigergletscher it runs through a great tunnel (4-3/4 m. long, 10 ft. high, and 10 ft. wide), piercing the limestone and gneiss rock of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. From the Jungfraujoch the intention was to carry up the line for 2000 ft. more, leaving the summit to be attained by an elevator 242 ft. high, but there does not seem any immediate prospect of completion of this scheme. Telescopes are provided at the stations for the use of visitors.

The trip can hardly be recommended except when the weather is such as to make a clear view from the top practically certain. The transit of the long tunnel (fully 1/2 hr.) is rather wearisome.

Like a friend once rightly said "a picture speaks volumes. A single picture can express more than 1000 words do". So I shall let the pictures speak for themselves of the most beautiful mountains I've ever been to...

Morning Walk in Interlaken - Switzerland

790Kms away from office and not having to wake up early to cook and pack lunch to office? That sounds like heaven :). Sure! I did wake up early, but only to enjoy my morning walk in the pristine town. We (me and M) met in the hostel lobby to go on our morning walk. The hostel was serving free breakfast and since it was quite early in the day, there weren't many people in the dining hall. It seemed to be a good idea to eat our breakfast and then go on our walk. Mr and Mrs MK joined us at the breakfast table a little later.

We had cereal with strawberries (the cereal tasted delicious with strawberries and now, I always add strawberries to my breakfast cereal), 2 slices of bread with butter and jam, a cup of yoghurt and also coffee. We couldn't believe that we had eaten all that.








We waited for the couple (MK and his wife) in the reception who seemed to be taking unusually long time to finish their breakfast. I was impatient and told M I would go over to the guest room to pick up the tourist brochures. M informed the couple that he would be in the guest room too and joined me there. The telephone in the hostel guest room looked like an instrument from Einstein's era.

We picked up the brochures and took a tour of the hostel.The wooden chalet (hostel) is over 150 years old and was first a hotel called Meadow Lodge and later Hotel Quisisana. From 1932 - 1997 it was used as a old peole's home and was called "Alters- und Erholungsheim Sonnenhof". In the beginnig of the year 1998 it was renovated and opened up as Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof. It is a nice little warm hostel and the people at the reception were really very kind and friendly.

Finally the couple finished their breakfast and joined us in the guest room. They wanted to go back to their room and change into warm clothes before we left to Grindelwald. We (me and M) set out on our morning walk. The roads were deserted at 7:30 AM and made me wonder if the sand in the hourglass has stopped flowing.


"Landing place -- 0.2 Km" -- a sign outside the hostel!
Paragliding is a favourite "adventure sports" in Interlaken. This activity goes all year round depending on the weather conditions. The outdoor sports organisations offer different location choices from altitudes of 500 - 1400 mts. If you find the activity expensive, you could try trekking or mountain biking. We stuck to the most economic way of exploring the town -- walking ;)

The little town is at the foot of the imposing mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. In a few hours, we would be atop Jungfrau. That was an exciting thought! If that didn't pump up the adrenaline in my blood, I don't know what else would ;)! We returned to the hostel to check on the couple and see if they were all "dressed up" to go to Jungfrau. Luckily, they "announced" they were and I was sure glad they were. Every minute that I spent in this town was a minute away from the snow that I had been waiting to play with. The very thought was frustrating.

"As in a dream!" Lord Byron apparently exclaimed on seeing the views of Interlaken and area. Felix Mendelssohn wrote to his mother:"Anyone who has not seen Interlaken's vistas does not know Switzerland.". This beautiful little town is nestled between the lakes of Thun ("toon" as in "cartoon") and Brienz and has managed to maintain the traditional charm of a Swiss village.

We walked to the Interlaken OST station that is just about 0.7 Km from the hostel, to take the train to "Grindelwald".

Nightlife in Interlaken - Switzerland

Romans took over Interlaken from the Celts in 58BC. They gave it the Latin name "Interlacus" meaning "between the lakes". The Germans took over Switzerland and the Alemanni tribe moved into the valley in 260AD. The name was mutated to "Inderlappen". The Franks ruled the country during the 6th C, but they had little effect on the German language and culture in the valley.

In 1133, Augustinian monks founded the "Interlacus" monastery. The monks gained power by buying up all the surrounding lands, during the next few centuries eventually becoming the biggest landowners in all of Bernese Oberland.

Around 1280, Count Berchtold of Eschenbach built a town on the land rented from the monastery and named it "Unterseen" -- "between the lakes"








"Kursaal" (spa) was opened in 1859. By the mid 1800s, the town was already a popular spa. One source also speaks of "goat milk cure" but it does not specify whether people drank the milk or wallowed in it :).





In 1860, a group of 37 hotel owners bought the huge central park known as the Höhematte (high field). They wanted to keep the area open, so that tourists could always have a view of the snow capped Jungfrau.






You can spend a few minutes outside the Interlaken OST train station enjoying the snow capped mountains. A walk from the station to the town center is sure to remind you of at least one of the numerous Bollywood movies shot in Interlaken.


In almost the three hours that we spent walking in the town we saw just two cars. The cool breeze, the unpolluted air and the snow mountains sure make you wish you lived in this beautiful town!









Prior to 20th C, Italy, Germany, France, Englad and the Netherlands were the pioneers in clock and watch development. Clocks in these countries were in demand either as luxury items for wealthy monarchs and aristocrats or as precision instruments for scientific purposes, first and foremost for determining longitude at sea. The Swiss had neither aristocracy nor ships for exploring seas. By the beginning of 17th C, Jean Calvin banned ostentatious shows of wealth, forcing jewellers to turn their skills to watchmaking.

The Swiss were good at commerce and were backed by their good banking systems. They were innovative and their productions were export oriented. Initially the watchmakers pirated French and English designs and produce them cheaply by their efficient production methods. As the industry flourished, they created their own designs.


On February 19th, 2001, Longines celebrated the 30 Millionth Longines Watch with a commemorative collection of 990 pieces featuring an L.990 caliber mouvement. The company was started in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz who moved to the tiny Swiss town of Saint-Imier and found work at the Comptoir horloger Raiguel Jeune, a watch parts trader.

Based in the small Swiss Jura town of Le Locle for over 150 years, the Tissot company has never ceased to create innovative timepieces.

The first Ebel watch was launched in 1912.

Louis Brandt 13''', 1892 -- 1st minute-repeater wristwatch in the world was launched by Omega. GURZELEN PATENT 19''' 1885 -- Lépine calibre, digital display of hour/minute, analogue display of seconds (small or large hand). Time-setting button.



We sure had walked a lot! We were now starting to feel hungry. We had chapatis and chutney powder and we only needed curd to have our dinner. Interlaken is a sleepy town. Not many shops are open during the weekend. We walked into the only shop that was open on the main street. There was yogurt that came in all flavors, but there was no plain yogurt :(. After much discussion we bought the Aloe Vera flavored yogurt. Oh Sweet Lord! I used Aloe Vera as a face moisturiser and now I had to eat it? YUCK! But did I have a choice?!
























A trip to Switzerland is incomplete if you don't buy the Swiss bells and Swiss knife. Buying a Swiss Knife was out of question as I would have to check in my baggage to board the flight. I didn't have a cabin baggage that I could safely lock and checkin. The backpack that I had wasn't locked and I didn't have a spare lock with me :(. So checking in the baggage wasn't a good idea. The only other option that I had was to buy only the cow bells and forget about the knife :(. I bought one bell for my sis and another one for the volunteer back in India who had been helpful in suggesting a visit to Jungfraujuch. Wish I had bought a cow bell for myself :(. But I had only 200CHF with me and I needed it to buy watche for my dad. Never mind! I shall tell Darshan to buy one for me when he goes there sometime next year :). I also bought three key chains -- one for myself, another for my sister and the third one for my fellow volunteer who had specifically requested for it.




We returned to the hostel to dine and retire for the night. We were to go to Jungfraugh the next morning. Needless to add, I dreamt of snow the whole night :)

Traveling to Interlaken - Switzerland

We took the train from Bern to Interlaken. Since we took the Standard train, we missed out on the souvenir keychains that are given on the tourist trains. Never mind... we traveled for a much lesser price.

The train made its way through the beautiful little towns Brienz, Thun, Spiez, Lauterbrunnen to reach Interlaken OST. We rode in the standard car as the panoramic cars are quite expensive. The standard cars have regular windows with smaller field of vision, in comparison to the panoramic cars. They have windows that genearally can be opened for unobstructed view. Unfortunately we weren't aware of this and so most of the pictures that we took have come with a glare :(.







With the total population of the country being only about 75,23,934 (July 2006) it is not too surprising to see very small villages. In some places the village had only about 10 houses. We couldn't see human habitation for miles at times. We would point out to each other when we saw anybody in a village :).






The tourists can hop off at any station, explore the village and then take the next train to their destination. No booking in advance is required and so you can explore the village at your own pace. M and me wanted to stop over at Spiez and try wind surfing. But we decided against it as we wouldn't have sufficient time in Interlaken. Also MK and his wife would probably not be able to go surfing with us :(. It was getting dark and we had to reach Interlaken before it became totally dark. So we decided to hire a bicycle and ride back to Spiez the next day if we had sufficient time.

We reached Interlaken OST station by 6 in the evening....

View from Interlaken hostel


More to follow...

Bern - A day in the Swiss capital

We took the train from Geneva airport to Bern -- the capital of Switzerland. We rented a locker in the railway station for 8CHF and stored our baggage. We took the tourist map and set out on foot towards the center of the city.

I was excited! I was finally in the country that I always aspired to visit. Switzerland to me was always synonymous with snow capped mountains and chill wind. But there was neither snow in the city nor was it cold. We were in the country during summer and it was quite hot.

Just when we were about to turn round the corner near the railway station, M returned to the locker room to get his cigarette lighter. After he collected the lighter he realised that he had to insert 8CHF to shut the locker :) again. I smirked at him :) and said
"Serves you right. You don't listen to me when I try to stop you from smoking and now you have to pay 8CHF to smoke one cigarette. Don't you think that is one overpriced cigarette?"
ah-ha! Finally the scores were even! He had called me a bad cook and now I had the opportunity to taunt him and how could I let it go :)?! Needless to say, M was offended and he probably might have even sworn at me silently :).

The help desk assistant at the tourist information center had marked a few monuments and other places popular with the tourists, on the city map. We followed the road that led to the Swiss Parliament house pausing briefly to verify the map and ensure that were on the right road. We had already ridden on the excellent inter city train. The local trams also looked quite good. I'm sure it would be great to ride on one of those trams.









We visited the Swiss parliament. There are guided tours at particular hours of the day,but we didn't go inside. It didn't look as beautiful as I had imagined it to be. Maybe the interior is more elegant than it looks from the outside?

We ticked off one monument the travel assistant had marked on the map. Quite close to the Swiss Parliament is the Swiss National bank. I must confess that the building didn't match up to my expectations :). I had imagined a more grandiose building.

We went around the Swiss Parliament that is situated beside the river Aar. This old part of the town has tile houses that are built alike; they are simple, but solid structures of sandstone blocks, mostly three stories high and sheltered by projecting high-gabled roofs.






Next on the list were the clock tower and the münster. M didn't like the clock tower but I was mesmerized. Wish I had binoculars with me to see the clock. The clock reminded us it was almost time for lunch. There was a McDonald outlet situated very close to the clock tower. We were slightly more than surprised to see the price list. Surprised wasn't probably the word... we were probably SHOCKED. Food is very expensive in Switzerland. I had read that information on the net, but hadn't expected that a vegetable burger and a soft drink would cost me 10.55 CHF. M ordered a chicken burger and a coke. We were also served French fries with the food we ordered. We went upstairs and occupied the few empty chairs in the room.

Until then I hadn't realised how hungry I was. But once the food was served on the table, I started feeling hungry. We were all so famished that we started gobbling the food as soon as it was served. M toppled his glass containing the coke. I offered him Mirinda but he didn't drink it. Well... if that is what he wanted... I wouldn't compel him to drink Mirinda!

Next we went to the münster. We sat outside the church for a while and listened to the local band.



Bern Münster

We checked the map and decided to walk beside the river to the bear pit and then to the rose garden. We sat in the little garden beside the river for a while looking at the serene water. The landscape around Berne was formed by glaciers in the last ice age. The city was originally built on a peninsula engulfed by the river Aar but outgrew the natural boundaries of the river in the 19th century.



We stopped at the bear pit and watched the two bears. Bears have been maintained in the pit for over 400 years. The animals didn't look happy (obviously!) and they were resting in the little shadow that was cast by the wall of the pit. We couldn't watch the sad animals and M didn't want to even take their picture. We started our ascent to the rose garden.

MK decided to rest in the cool shade of the trees with his son and the three of us (me, M and MK's wife) started walking up the little hill. I was tired after climbing half way up the hill and MK's wife was literally gasping for breath. A couple of elderly women passed by and one of them smiled at us and said "you are young girls. You should be running up the hill and not stopping to rest". Having said this, they continued climbing the hill.

I must confess I was slightly embarassed at what the women said and so got on to my feet immediately and started climbing the hill again. MK's wife was making a Herculean effort to climb :). We finally succeeded in climbing the hill but were disappointed by what we saw. There were a few rose plants that had almost wilted away because of the summer heat and the roses weren't worth mentioning either. My mom grows better roses in our garden at home :(.

We knew that the garden up the hill was disappointing, but MK didn't. When we returned, we decided to make him jealous :) by saying that he had really missed something. He looked terribly disappointed. He was still repenting for having opted to stay back, when M spoiled the fun by blurting out that the rose garden wasn't really worth the climb up the hill. Aargh! What a spoil sport!

On the way back we stopped at a flea market. The vendors advertised that the few unusual assortment of things that they were selling in their shops were from the world wars' era. I was tempted to buy a few porcelain dolls. But the price was ridiculously high! How disappointing! One shop had a few torches and kerosene lamps that wouldn't light now :)...

We returned to the train station and collected our baggage from the storage room. We walked towards the platform to take the next train to Interlaken...