july 1, 2010. bern.

One vivid memory of Switzerland I have is a random excursion we made into town to find what I later realized was a Chinese restaurant. Perhaps Iwan and Nüssbu forgot to tell me where we were going, assuming that I had understood or that one of them had translated what the plans were to me in English. Regardless, I went with it and the evening turned out to be epic.

Although it had been a very warm day, the evening brought about a breeze that made it exceptionally nice and pleasant. I rode Nüssbu's bike and Nüssbu and Iwan skated the entire way. We had to first ride up a street where a lot of prostitutes hang out, which actually was not as weird as I had anticipated to be. From there we rode to the main square between the Bundeshaus and the federal banks, took some pictures, watched kids play, and then were off to look for the Chinese restaurant the two of them found randomly while training for a marathon. It was located in a small alleyway of a street that many do not seem to travel through. All the tables were taken and thus we improvised and sat on skateboards and used chairs as our tables. I reveled in it.

After dinner, we went to see the Bern bears, which by the time I had left Switzerland, were on death-row because neither the city or zoos wanted to keep them. Sad. Just above the area the bears lived, there was a brewery with a delightful view of the Aare river. We had a few beers and of course I felt a bit inebriated. I also think Iwan was frightened not knowing how I would act or what I would say. Or maybe it was all in my mind. Nonetheless, Nüssbu kept requesting funny jokes and the three of us had a jolly time laughing.

Afterwards, we rode through town again, dodging pedestrians, buses, and trams to meet Flo and her friends at a restaurant they were at. When we arrived, I regurgitated some Swiss phrases that Nüssbu told me to say to them. "I ha dr Wolf um sock" or something like that. Everyone laughed. I had no idea what I had said until Flo told me. We then went for more drinks at an outdoor bar of some sort. Again, Iwan and Nüssbu told me we were going to the gym at first and even now I am still confused about it. They never told me whether it was a joke or if we actually went to a gym that happened to be a bar at night.