Lions and tigers and Bern, oh my!

Well, technically, lions and bears. No tigers this weekend.
Swiss Mister here, reporting from the front lines of Swiss cities, bringing you, faithful reader, an in-depth and in-person account of the bears of Bern, the lion of Luzern, and nowhere in-between! This weekend was a staycation for Swiss Miss and I, with a day trip to Bern on Saturday with our friends Sarah and Tomek, and then an afternoon in Luzern with Bryan and Katie.

First up: Bern

The capital city of Switzerland, Bern, was founded in 1191 and named after a recently killed bear, according to Wikipedia. Things have not changed much in the last 800-odd years: the Bernese are now talking about killing two more bears from which the city derives much fame. The bears used to be kept in a pit on the edge of town (I'm not kidding -- link here) but are now penned up in this crazy hillside enclosure with few trees but lots of gawking people. The bears do their part to keep the people interested and the trees down, as you can probably see. The bears are also part of a family that is now larger than the Swiss average of 3.48 people, because they have 2 super cute cubs! All fine and dandy except there is no more room in this bear-inn apparently. The Bernese have notified the world that unless a saviour is found they will have to euthanize the baby bears when they turn 1.5... methinks this is some high quality Swiss posturing, especially judging from the recent flood of offers for help. If Roman Polanski can go free, surely two cuddly little bear cubs will escape Swiss justice too.

Beyond the bears, we also got a tour of the Swiss parliament building, the old town, the inside of the Swiss version of the Done Right Inn, and lots of other fun stuff which escapes me now. Suffice it to say, we got Berned.
Next stop: Luzern

Today, Luzern, for a late lunch and a little stroll. My friend Bryan was in town with his girlfriend Katie, and we hadn't seen them in far too long. We hung out with them and the enormously large Bernese Mountain dog they were taking care of, and they took us to see the Lion of Luzern. The lion apparently commemorates when several hundred Swiss mercenaries went to fight and die in the French Revolution... protecting the French King. Good to know that even then, the Swiss were on the side of law and order.
As you can see, the lion is quite something. Also according to Wikipedia, Mark Twain referred to the lion as the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world. (editor's note: this is before so many pet rocks were abandoned.)

Who knew that all the old Swiss cities were famous for their animalia??? What is Zurich famous for? Stay tuned, readership!