A Winter Tour of Switzerland, Take Five – A visit around Bern and a trip to Münsingen

Hello again!
Sorry, it's been a while. I was maxed out with work before taking myself off for a quick visit to Oban in Scotland (photos of that trip later). I went to see a friend before she takes herself off on a six-week voluntary stint at an orphanage in Malawi, Africa. How cool and committed is that?! Travel safely, M.C., and have a great time. I look forward to swapping notes once you're back.
But now, a look back at the first day of this year, which saw me and my English friend M.B. -- yes, I do have a lot of friends and family members who share the same initial M. for our first names -- taking a bus out to Zentrum Paul Klee.
We got off the bus one stop early, which is where the Alps and the three parabolas of ZPK can be seen to their best advantage. Here is M. taking a photo of the view. The weather was quite misty, pretty cold, too.
An old barn "decorated" with graffitti; the first "hill" of ZPK rises bottom right. In the background, left, the Bantiger with its communications tower.
A pretty dismal day, the Alps not very visible on the horizon, and the sun struggling to penetrate the cloud layer.
Later, M. and I took the train up the the Aare valley to Münsingen. That's where one of my brothers lives with his family. My lovely sister-in-law, M.A., is Colombian by birth, and she had some of her family visiting. Absolutely wonderful people, whom it was great to see after quite a long time.
Here are some photos of the sky at sunset on January 1st, 2008, above the floodplain between the railway line and the Aare river at Münsingen. Stunning, or what?
Impressions of an exquisite spread laid on for us. Fantastic finger food "a la Colombia-Suiza", presented by the hostess and her daughter, my lovely niece. My friend is speechless ... ;)

Dessert:

Switzerland: Bantiger, views from the communications tower

Hello again

As promised in my previous post, here are a few photos of the views from the Bantiger communications tower. The link concealed in this blog's title takes you to the official Swisscom info document on the tower (technical data, specifications, history). Below: view from half-way up the publicly accessible part of the tower, of the historic "signal" indicating an important geographical location.
It was a windy day and very changeable. On the way there, we had a bit of drizzle, then the sun came out and when we were back in the car, it began to rain. Half an hour later, Bern was lashed by a rainstorm with very high winds which lasted over an hour. Later that evening, I enjoyed a spectacular sunset from Zentrum Paul Klee -- sorry, no photos -- and after a fantastic piano recital there the stars were out.
View of Bern, with the Wohlensee reservoir (a sky blue patch right of a dark band of woodland just left of centre).
Above: view southward, with the snow-covered Alps partially concealed by the clouds.
Below: view northward, the blue band below the sky is the Jura mountain range. Far left, a glimpse of Lake Neuchâtel.
Mist rising from the woodlands below the Bantiger: view north-eastward, across the hills of the southern Oberaargau. Somewhere in there is the notorious Thorberg, a high-security prison.Another, sunnier look at the hilly countryside northwards.
The Niesen almost becomes visible in the photo above (upper right in lower quadrant).
The sun managed to peek through the cloud -- the sky is wide up there.
The Bernese Alps (Niesen etc.) just barely visible beneath the clouds; Belpberg and Belp lit up by the sun (extreme right in upper quadrant right).
View of Bern and Ittigen (?), with Lake Neuchâtel in the distance (upper left).
Faraday's cage at the foot of the tower, with public toilets and some office facilities (lower right).

A closer look at the structure -- my one previous visit to the tower was to the old version, where the steps wound up and the view was much less obstructed by fine wire grid. One needed a really good head for heights. This feels a lot sturdier and more solid.Looking back towards the tower from the woodland below.

The final photo was taken at the foot of the tower. The inscription reads:
"Invisible to the bare eye from this point, at an altitude of 186 m on top of the Bantiger communications tower, a 140 cm sewing needle made of stainless steel is as exposed to the raw forces of nature as were human beings at the time of its invention. When lightning threads its way through the needle's ear, it joins prehistory with the present.
The needle's inventor is drilling a hole into this tool, making communication technology a reality, a technology without which this tower would not exist.
Please consider this miracle of technology as a pedestal, such stands before you the MONUMENT TO THE SEWING NEEDLE – one of humanity's most important inventions."

Switzerland: Bantiger, Tree wrecks

Hello again

One of my recent Sunday excursions took me to a nearby hilltop called Bantiger. As in many other woodlands in Switzerland, the wood at the foot of the "peak" is dotted with trees bearing the scars of hurricane Lothar of December 27, 1999. Here are just a few striking examples:
Next post: a few photos showing the dramatic view to be enjoyed from the top of the communications tower on Bantiger.