There was an option for either a guided tour or exploring for yourself. We chose the latter. I expected a small set of caves, but the caves seemed to go on forever. There were even a few small waterfalls along the way.
We had bought lunch at Wengen's coop, so we ate at a table in the monastery, and then walked down the path to the street. Here we waited for a bus that took twenty five minutes to bring us to Oberhofen. Just a few steps from the bus stop and we were at the Oberhofen Castle. Our entry was included with our Swiss Travel Pass. The rooftops had an interesting green color and one of the turrets jutted out into the lake. The inside was nothing special, outside of a mouse that we found. Around the back of the castle was a beautiful little garden with a goat with a strange expression on its face.
Just a few minutes after we were done, the ferry arrived and three short stops later brought us to Thun. Thun is a smallish city with a castle and a Ferris wheel. It also had a covered bridge that allowed nearby surfers to test out the rushing water by holding onto long ropes that were set up. They'd pull themselves in, get themselves steady, and then try to surf on their own before being overtaken by the water.
We zig zagged through the small city, til we arrived at the castle. This castle was also included with our travel pass. The rooms were big, but not filled with many terribly interesting things. When we walked up one narrow spiral staircase, we heard a lot of noise, but didn't know what it was. We continued on upwards until we reached the roof, which let you see up through the wooden beams to the very top. Here, we could climb into two turrets to look out over the city.
On the way back down, I read one of the signs. One brother had killed another brother on the steps here, in order to claim the castle for himself. Upon walking down, we heard the noise again and noticed a projected blood spatter on the staircase, referencing this killing.
As we walked back through town we noticed many people swimming in the river, some of which were happy to just be pulled by the current. We caught some teens jumping off the bridges and doing flips into the water. Back at the train station, we stopped for more coop food and then took a 19 minute train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We came here to see three things. A clock tower, a bear park, and a rose garden. The streets had old architecture and were filled with constantly coming and going buses that were wired into the electrical grid above them. Both sides of the street had a covered walkway lined with shops. None of it particularly interested me.
We walked past the clock tower and I took a quick picture with my cell phone. Eventually we arrived at the bear park, which was an upsettingly small area near where the city used to have a bear pit. Tons of flags flew around town, of the bear, seemingly their symbol. You would think that if they were so fond of their bears that they wouldn't give them a tiny area to roam, in the middle of a city, where you heard constant noise from vehicles and kids screaming. I took no pictures.
A short walk uphill and we were at the rose garden, which got fabulous reviews on google. In reality, it was a tiny subsection of a regular old park. Nothing noteworthy in the slightest. The park did, however, provide fantastic views of the city.
We took a bus to the train station, and then a series of trains back home. It took about an hour and forty five minutes to make the entire journey home.
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