Not the most conventional Bern views -- the new Bundeshaus cupola, etc.

Hello again

Feeling a bit blah after a pretty fantastic weekend. It's a very grey, pretty chilly day out there. So I thought I'd remind myself of the fabulous weather we had last week. I remember moaning about it...
A not very conventional view of the new cupola atop the Federal Government building (above), photo taken from the "Grosse Schanze", what used to be a military fortification but is now the lawn-covered forecourt of the main building of Bern University. The next photo was taken from more or less the same point. Bern is under construction, and it shows:The above is a view of the city's theatre and concert hall, the "Stadttheater", with the same cranes as in the previous photo framing the cupola of the "Bundeshaus". Photo taken on "Kornhausbrücke", one of the two beautiful arched steel bridges crossing the river Aare.
The next two photos show a view one can enjoy only if one climbs to the top of the building in which I have my office.
Bern's great railway viaduct, a concrete and steel structure built in the 1930s, I believe. The white building centre right is the School of professional and industrial crafts (Gewerblich-industrielle Berufsschule Bern -- GIBB). I understand it was built by an architect inspired by Le Corbusier. The hill background left is the "Bantiger", with the tall needle atop a huge transmission tower for TV, radio, telephones just visible in the blue sky.A train just pulling into Bern station, hidden and tucked into the hill below Grosse Schanze (right centre). The neo-Gothic spire of the Münster, left centre. The white chain of the Alps on the horizon, the dark triangle of Eiger is quite clearly visible just right of the Münster. Two cranes frame the Bundeshaus cupola in front of the Niesen.


Last Saturday, I was MC at a friend's 80th birthday (see next post). And yesterday I worked on Saturday's photos for an album for my friend, and had a couple of friends round for drinks and dinner and a good chat. Slightly hung over today ... but it was well worth it. :)

Finally, here's my very first video showing the fabulous water fountains on Bundesplatz of Bern (took this in April, shortly after the jets were turned on again for the summer season). On a hot day in summer, kids (and adults) love to play about. Enjoy!

Here's hoping that nobody gets flooded out of their homes today.

A day in Spiez, Bernese Oberland/Lake Thun

Hello again!
Before the memory fades completely, a look back at last Saturday, June 30, which was a perfectly beautiful day. I had an interpreting gig for a Swiss-Guatemalan human rights NGO -- always highly satisfying events (I don't want to call them jobs because they're so much more)! More on that event on my Spanish-language blog at http://aventurask[dot]blogspot[dot]com...
The above shows the mountain of mountains, a perfect triangle almost from anywhere you look at it. The famous Niesen has been painted and photographed more times than probably the mountain itself cares to acknowledge -- one of the most famous and most impressive renditions must be Paul Klee's Ad Parnassum, currently on show at Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne -- details at http://www.zentrumpaulklee.ch/ww/en/pub/web_root/pro/wechselausstellungen/vorschau.cfm
Here are some impressions from Spiez, a lovely, privileged little town on the western shore of Lake Thun. The climate there allows for white wine production, not very large quantities, admittedly, and there are jokes that call Spiez wine really sour, but I think that's the voice of envy talking. :)
The church has some quirky architectural features, probably from the early 20th century, but I was deep in conversation when I came up close so don't have a better picture. And I'm sure the origins of this church, as of many others along this shore of Lake Thun, go back a long, long way.
Typical Bernese Oberland/Lakeland view on a not very good day. Switzerland is one of the most densely built-up countries in the world and it shows.
We had a fairly long run of chilly, damp weather. Nevertheless, these roses seem to be thriving:
Here's a detail from the more sophisticated rose bush -- pity this can't convey the sweet fragrance of that bloom:
... a lovely clump of little roses down by the harbour ...
... and some exotic plants, also down by the harbour, which is one of the lovelier things about Spiez. I took the next picture when it was already rather too dark. But perhaps one of you out there can enhance this photo. It does capture the almost magical atmosphere of the place.
[I am adding this bit a day later, having received someone's comment re brightening things up a bit using my trusted, crusty Mac's iPhoto tools:
... a wee bit better, perhaps -- one does live in hope.]
It was a pretty good day for a leisurely sail, as this view demonstrates -- eat your heart out, D.E., ;) ...
... but most people on this Saturday evening had already packed up and gone home to their barbecues, or not yet arrived for the weekend:
Seeing these lovelies really makes me want to do something about my decade-long yen for sailing. Pity the Aare river here isn't sailable! The lakes are all at least a half-hour train ride away...
The public pleasure boats of Lake Thun stop here for passengers. One of them is the "Bubenberg", a motor boat, on her way to Thun. She's quite elegant, but not a patch on everyone's darling, on which more after this... Everybody's darling is the "Blüemlisalp", avenerable, beautifully restored paddle steamer. She was saved from the scrapyard by a public fundraiser and hundreds of hours of voluntary restoration work. I remember her from my childhood days, when she was limping rather than chugging along before taken out of commission and all but rotting away in obscurity. Back in her former glory, here she comes floating into the harbour (I took this photo unable to see the actual frame, so it looks like she's chugging uphill; interesting concept...), with one of the numerous Niederhorns on the horizon, the slopey peak on the right.
Fantastic! ... and there she goes again:
About ten minutes later, she was crossing over to Beatenbuch, or perhaps Merligen:
Spiez harbour has other lovely spots:
Above, a better picture of the Niederhorn as seen from a quiet spot near the embarkation point. Below, some exotic-looking flowers in a parterre by the main road. No idea what these are called.