Bears and Einstein in Bern

Another interesting fact about the Germans and Swiss is that they usually only leave school at 20 and their tertiary education at 28.

We took a very expensive bus to the camp ground and set up between two caravans to protect us from the elements and then we froze to sleep. This time however we bagged ourselves i.e. we lined the grass with newspaper under the tent, but our towels over our sleeping bags and our bags in large dustbin liners. It was a little warmer!

We broke the routing the next morning by having a shower then saddled up and returned to the center of Bern. It is called Bern after a king who named the city after his first catch during a hunt. At one end of the city there is a river and across the river are bear pits. The pits are made of cement and are about 500 years old. The bears are kept in the pits.

We had lunch (more cheese and bread) on a bench by the bears. I have little affinity for domestic animals but a lot more for wild animals.




We then went to Einstein's house. Albert was born in Ulm a city we've been through in Bavarian Germany, but he spent several productive years in Bern before moving to Princeton in the USA. He was Jewish by birth but an agnostic by choice. He married two times once to a Yugoslavian mathematician. His main contribution to the world was E=MC2. Energy+MassXSpeed squared, which is only a theory as it simply states that if you know the speed and you know either the weight or something or it's energy output you can work out the missing part of the equation. So they can calculate the weight of stars. Also it has something to do with time travel, if we can duplicate the speed of light. This other finding the Quantum theory is much more practical. It states that energy is in units and the units are called Joules.The house of Einstein was run by a very entertaining gentleman - very witty. "You can leave your packs by my desk but don't forget to take them, I have 26 already!" "I'll tell you about Einstein's sons but the daughter she doesn't concern us, we're not interested in her." "I lived in Malaysia a while, I wish the blacks would all just consume themselves."

I think the most interesting thing about Einstein is his look as an old man. I think there must have been someone in the distant past with a similar mock up whom everyone loved. It's the grandfatherly, professor look like wisdom.