Guten Tag!
Previously, on Days of Nicoles Life, in an episode called "Mabel Lost Her Purse," Nicole lost her coat on the train with all her money and her precious finger gloves. Well, the next day I went to the lost and found after they had contacted me and I not only got my coat back, I got everything that was in my coat as well. My faith has been restored, I love Switzerland. When I received the email that they had my coat, I jumped up and down. We then went to the market and took a tram up Gurten Mountain. We read in the sunshine and had a picnic overlooking the whole of Bern and beyond. We walked around the mountain top and played with a gear/ball game for kids. We slowly made our way back down on foot and ate dinner at home. We had a great conversation with our host Alessandro about religion. The next day we walked all over town, by the clock towers and Einsteins house. Then we walked by the river and through TierPark. It is a park/forest/zoo thing. Part of the zoo you pay for and the other part is free and is located along the river. We went to my tree and we read where I read so many books three years ago, the exact spot, the tree and I are good friends. Then we came home and ate and went to bed. Saturday we did absolutely nothing. I know I come accross on my blog as if we are always resting and relaxing and we do a lot of that, but there is a lot of stressful personal stuff that I never mention here. All of the hefty discusisons, draining arguments and just plain cranky days. So, we layed around reading, eating and being lazy. Sunday we went down to the hostel and exchanged books. I finished The Great Gatsby and K-Pax and started reading The Kiss. All the shops are closed on Sunday and everyone was out at the park walking and playing. The biggest thing on my mind right now is a family of my own, I will leave it at that. We walked for four hours, pretty much straight, by the river, through the forest, through a neighborhood, back down through the forest and by the river, where it started to rain, and then back home. On Monday we got some groceries and walked to a different park. We tried to find a place to eat and once we set up our picnic, the dark clouds rolled in and it started to snow. By the time we got home, the snow was falling fierce and wild and my legs were numb. I am so happy to have my coat and gloves!!! When Brian and I got back we ate and rested and had another big conversation. On Tuesday we went to the Natural History museum. I had been there before, but they changed a lot of things and we really enjoyed it. We had a good conversation about school and education with Alessandro and his roommate Roland. We got some more groceries, took a nap and packed. We didnt have far to walk to get to our next host, Ursula, or Ursi. She made us a fantastic dinner of polenta with three sides: apples and pears cooked with a little water, shredded beets, and mushrooms, onions and parsley with a cream and white wine sauce. The next day I woke up to Brian singing Happy Birthday. We had breakfast of bread with butter and honey and tea. Brian made me a word search and I had to find what my birthday gift was...roller skates. I have wanted roller skates forever!! Then we went on a search for a candy shop which we finally found underground. They have stores here in cellars under other big shops. It had a slide into the entrance. I picked a couple pieces of everything I didnt know. Then we went to the Kunst Art museum. It was really nice and I found that I liked works by Klee. Then we walked through the falling snow to Tibbits, a vegetarian buffet restaurant. It was incredible, absolutely amazing food! We went home and watched Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. Then Thursdaw was another day of nothingness, Brians back and knee were not happy so we took a day off of walking. We read and watched Donnie Darko and went to the store for food. Then Ursi took us out to a bar that used to be a gymnasium and we had a nice evening out. We saw this really neat tram that was also a restaurant...a moving restaurant that went around town! Today we got up and went to the post office, the train station for tickets to Paris tomorrow, and to the hostel for more book exchange. I finished Lady Oracle and am now reading The Orchard On Fire. We walked through the snow flakes, they have not really accumulated, but it snows and snows, along the river. We went to my tree and I said goodbye and we walked home on our last leg. When we got home, we warmed up and had lunch. We went to the market to get chocolate and warm bread. Oh, I must tell about the pretzels here. Brezels are soooo good, warm and sometimes they are shaped like bread loaves and sometimes like a loaf with big doughy bubbles. Then we came home and Ursi had a friend over and she made another wonderful dinner. Now we read and ready for the journey tomorrow. TO PARIS!!
Aurevoir et A Demain!