In June 2017, Ian gave a talk at the EPFL Summer Research Institute. Kat joined for the trip, and we extended it to a week in Switzerland.

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Bern's famous clock tower, the Zytglogg. We timed our trip so that we would be there for noon.

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The clock has a secondary astronomical clock dial.

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The characters move just before the clock strikes noon.

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The bell ringer figure strikes the bell to chime the hour.

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Bern is also famous for its fountains around the old town (which dates to the 12th century, and is where we spent our afternoon). This one in particular is of an ogre eating from a bag of small children.

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Another fountain, of a bear in armour. The bear is the symbol of the city of Bern.

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Einstein lived in this apartment when he did a lot of his now-famous physics work. His day job was as a patent clerk here in Bern.

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City hall

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Our favourite part of Bern was the bear park! They have three bears living there, though we only saw two.

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There were people playing live music all over town. It turned out we were there on "Music in the City Day".

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The Aare river snakes around the old town.

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Some gardens in the old town.

This page last updated: 25 Jun, 2017