Bern and Geneva

After a week of working on robot logistics and preparing for the robot show (on June 8th -- stay tuned!), this weekend brought adventure and a much-needed change of pace.

After a week of working on robot logistics and preparing for the robot show (on June 8th -- stay tuned!), this weekend brought adventure and a much-needed change of pace. Along with Professor Susan Mantell from UMN and Prof. Michael Wuthrich from ZHAW, we woke up early and hopped a coach bus to the historic and BEAUTIFUL old town district of Bern (a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site!!). We were greeted by Michael’s father Fritz, and the two Wüthrich men subsequently gave us spectacular walking tours of this beautiful medieval city.

 If that sightseeing wasn’t fantastic enough, we were lucky enough to experience a special tour of the one of Bern’s most famous sights -- the Zytglogge (Bernese German for "Time Bell"), an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving statues.

 In addition, Michael was able to get his half of the group up into the top tower of the Bern Minster - a Swiss cathedral built in the Gothic style in 1421. Its tower, with a height of 100.6 m (330 ft), was only completed in 1893, but this addition established it as the tallest cathedral in Switzerland.

 After a fantastic picnic lunch overlooking the Old City, we took some pictures (as seen below) and headed on to Geneva for the evening.

 Like all cities in Switzerland that we have encountered thus far, Geneva was beautiful.

 We spent the evening exploring this bustling French-speaking city -- some of us tried delicious local fare while others ate scrumptious Italian food. To cool off from the warm summer temperatures, we stood under the Jet d'Eau (French for water-jet), a 140 meter high fountain in Geneva, and one of the city's most famous landmarks. This weekend was off to a great start.