Bern...the Swiss Capitol and our first adventure!!

As you may know, the plan for Emme and I for these three months has been to participate in as much school-related activities during the week as possible.  On weekends, we have the option of further participation in school activities OR Emme and I have some flexibility in planning our own trips.  Well...we did it....we bit the bullet...took a leap of faith, stared the monster down, faced our fears, pissed into the wind.  Well...that last one is questionable.  But we did get out of town!  Just the two of us....with our shared piece of carry-on luggage, a bus pass and 50 Swiss Francs between us....ready to see what the great state...er....country of Switzerland had to offer.  Steppenwolf blaring loudly on our Ipods!  We set out to see what makes this country great!  From the windows of a training speeding at 50 mph we saw....

Emme...reading from her Kindle.  Seriously...who gave her this gift?  The kid won't talk to me!

What Emme lacked in observation I would surely make up for it in my keen awareness of nature, of science, of stuff.  Even at 50 mph, I had the attention span and focus of a night hawk.  I would see everything...right up to the...Tunnel!!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lötschberg_Base_Tunnel

Great.  We are stuck in a tunnel that goes for god knows how long...and Emme has a light on her Kindle.  Great.  Suddenly, I become aware that I am turning into my son.  A slight, continuous movement...rhythmic almost, warm, comfortable...has someone sucked out my brains out of my head.  I am losing it....I can no longr covrse....drul covrs my chn.  I am asleep!

And woken again...when Emme shakes my knee and says "we are here".  I've just been roused from a coma.  I had some checking to do before we could move....passports- check, money/wallet-check, bags- check, hotel reservation and location- check, didn't wet myself on the train ride- check.  

Dude could jam...seriously!

Our officially city greeter could flat out play some tunes...a heavy scottish sound.  Very cool.  He played right in front of one of the large cathedrals in Bern...which happened to be right next to the bus station.  He had a lot of traffic.  Hopefully he made some money.  Let me me introduce you to some of the other folks who greeted us during our two day stint in lovely Bern....

Weird Uncle Sal...all the nieces and nephews hated him...could never keep his fly closed.

You all know this guy...sometimes referred to as JC

This guy hangs out at the bridge in Bern...creepy looking.  Obviously he is a 'hugger'.  Better to not make eye contact with him!

Put your hands together for E-M and the Greek Sunshine Band

This is Darius...I told him to get some clothes on and I might...consider letting him play in the band!

A beautiful setting, a beautiful girl and....holy crap, Emme, its our 3/9 bus!!

Can someone please tell me what this game is and how to play it?  These two city greeters had NO time for us on this day.  

Your two tour guides...

I promise you some serious writing will come of this trip.  Not serious that is the opposite of laughter and comedy...but rather serious from the standpoint of producing a writing sample that may or may not be thought-provoking or may share a little bit about me or what's going through my shaved head.  Speaking of shaved heads...guess how many men in Bern have my hair style.  If you guessed 0 or 1 you were correct.  I was it.  But some serious writing will come from this tomorrow after I have had a good night sleep.  Hope everyone is well.  Please send this blog out to your friends...I would love to see comments and see my "how many people visited this space" numbers go WAY up!!