Ador Hotel Bern

... is a mountain that rises 9,748' above sea level. At it's peak sits a restaurant called "Piz Gloria"'. Now a restaurant at the top of this dramatic overlook, which gives you a view to the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau peaks (all in excess of 13,000' and snow-covered, would be spectacular enough. However evidently the Swiss wanted more drama, so they also made it revolve. For those of you who are 007 fans, the restaurant was "blown up ...

... met two guys about our age from Bern, and these guys met up with us again so they could show us the Bern night life. These guys were very nice, and took about ten of us to a little free dance club. We were the only Americans there, so it was great to be in a hang out that was truly for real Swiss kids. Dance clubs aren't really my scene, but I am glad I went out and experienced it.<br>On Friday morning, my friend Annie was continuing to feel ill after a few ...

... is being renovated so the bears weren't there. Instead, you can walk into the pit and see what he bears get to live in. Bears, yes, Bern means bear, so it's only fitting that they house live mascots of their town in a pit. As I was walking over the bridge I saw people floating (sans life jacket) downb the river. They were floating, just floating without anything to keep ...

Back to the Mountains via the capital of Switzerland, the small city of Bern. It has the oldest Parliament in the world and is the seat of the longest continuous democracy in the world: Switzerland. It is under United Nations Protection as the best-preserved city from the Middle Ages left in the World. It has one of the oldest and ...

... ham in a tomato and cream sauce. It was so good I even wrote down the recipe! Cant wait to get home and try and recreate it. When we were ready we all rugged up and headed into town to watch a sound and light display being projected onto one of the cliff-faces of the city. We didnt know what to expect as this was a one off event, and there were thousands of people vying for a position down the bottom of the cliffs. It was brutally cold and the show turned out to be a bunch of ...

... I have a ridiculous fear of knives so I passed up on that one while all the other Contiki interns snapped them up (you can only purchase the white Swiss army knife in Switzerland---you can't get that color elsewhere). Dinner was at a traditional Swiss restaurant called the Stadkeller. We started off with cheese fondue and then a veal entree. There was live entertainment (yoodling!) and after a few round of drinks, many of us started dancing around the place ...

... at...for his bachelor's party), a ton of really fun hats, a circus tent (no, we didn't go inside), a plastic fork/spoon that came with our pasta salad (but not a spork) that can fold in half and is really durable therefore I kept it so if i'm ever out and about I will have both a fork AND a spoon, Dr. PEPPER (they don't have it in France and I miss it), and of course the mountains and Lake!! From ...

... Next morning we're off to St Goar (Germany). Only three nights to go! Nikki gives us a little Swiss info. on the way. All men have to do military service, which decreases as they get older. If you leave the country and still want to be a Swiss citizen you have to pay the government a percentage of your earnings. Swiss men are required to own guns in the best interests of the country. The country can be shutoff within minutes with strategically placed explosives ...

... Rebecca and Susanna and they came to our weekly meetings for about a month. One week I mentioned that someday I'd like to see Geneva. They mentioned I could stay with them -- So I took them up on their offer. I will be here for three day and have found myself in a brand new challenge... FRENCH. Switzerland is a country of French speakers, and this family is no exception. The mom speaks some Spanish and less English, but told me tonight that she hasn't understood much of ...