Pupletts in Sweden: Germany Trip (10-23 Jul) - Day 10

Today we got up early and left Zurich to head down towards Bern. Some of my family was initially from Bern Canton in Switzerland and we were interested in seeing the area. My third great-grandmother on my father's side was originally from Gondiswil, before she travelled to the USA in 1868. Her parents and grandparents lived and died in Gondiswil. A few other distant family members were also from areas of the Bern Canton, such as Oberbipp, Kirchdorf and Madiswil.

We decided to start the day by heading out to each of those towns to see what the area was like and to see if we could find any family graves. The family we were looking for was from the 1700s so it seemed unlikely we would find anything.

Each of the villages was still a rural farming area - small towns, mostly producing wheat and corn. All had an old church from the 1700s and so we checked there for graves. Unfortunately none of the graves were from after around 1850, but we did find some family names, that showed that those families were still in the area.

First was Oberbipp. The population in 2021 was 1795 and in the year 1757 (when my ancestor was living there) was measured to be 414. The bailiff lived in Bipp Castle above the village until the French invaded in 1798, when the villagers then plundered and burnt the castle. Many of the original 1700s buildings still exist and have been maintained. The church is currently the site of an archeological dig - a dolmen (single chambered megalithic tomb) was located in 2011. Roman Villas from 2nd Century AD have also been uncovered around the church.

Bipp Castle above the village

Oberbipp

Oberbipp Church

After Oberbipp, we headed to Gondiswil. In 2010 the population was 713, in 1764 the population was 694. There was a large amount of migration due to crisis in the agricultural sector. In 2010, 66% of the businesses in Gondiswil were farms.

Next stop was Madiswil. The population was 3279 in 2021.

Our final small town was Kirchdorf, population 1827 as of 2021 and 679 in 1850. Until the late 1900s, Kirchdorf was an agricultural village - vegetable growing and dairy farming.

Kirchdorf Church

Sunflower farm

While we didn't find any of the graves we'd hoped to find, it was great to see a different part of Switzerland and to think about how the towns would have been back in the 1700s when my ancestors lived in the area. A large number of the town buildings still remained from the 1700s, so there was a chance that these were ones that they had interacted with.

After viewing the villages, we headed to Bern, the de-facto capital of Switzerland. We had added Bern as a bit of a last minute addition to the trip but, wow, was it worth it! The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the town is surrounded by the fast flowing Aere River.

In the 16th century, the city built a bear pit "Bärengraben" to house several bears, which are the heraldic animals of Bern. There are currently four bears held in the Bear Park.

We started with a a bit of a struggle to park, but eventually found a place on top of the hill above old town. The view of old town on the way down was amazing:

Our first stop was the Bear Pit, but we weren't able to see any of the bears - I'm guessing they were hiding from the heat. The pit consisted of a single central pit, a second one with a play area and bear statues and a park that ran alongside the Aere. While we didn't see the bears, we did take a break by the River.

Bear park alongside the Aere

River Aere

Bear Park and Aere

The only bear we saw

The bear pit

The River Aere is a tributary of the River Rhine and the longest river that is entirely within Switzerland (295km long) from the Bernese Alps the joins the Rhine just after Limmat.

It is quite popular to use the river to float through Bern, or to hire a boat to float past the town. The water can be chilly, but was 17 degrees C when we were there. The flow rate can vary, but the flow was quite strong today. We took a rest by the river and put our feet in the water - even there we could feel the current pulling at our legs:

PSA - The duck did make it safely to the other side of the river.

We then headed up into town and walked through the old town:

Switzerland was full of fountains and in almost all cases they were safe to drink from (unless they had a non-potable warning, such as "Kein Trinkwasser").

Bern's skyline is dominated by Berner Münster (Bern Minister, or Bern Cathedral), which started construction in 1421 and completed in 1893 (that's a long build process!) The tower is 100.6m tall, and 84.2m long by 33.68m wide. Most of the building is constructed from sandstone. Aside from the massive tower, the other stand-out feature of the church cathedral is "The Last Judgement" a late gothic sculpture above the main door, which shows hell on the right and heaven on the left with Archangel Michael in the centre with his sword and scales. In the scale is a soul being judged. Around the outside are thirteen figures, those on the left being the five Foolish Virgins and on the right being the Wise Virgins.

The main street of Bern's old town was lined with flags - the bear is the Bern flag, the white cross the with red and black wavy lines is the old War Flag and the others are guild flags:

Jester and Goldfinch, Flag of the Gesellschaft zum Distelzwang, one of Bern's Thirteen Guilds

Guild of Bakers (Gesellschaft zu Pfistern)

Our next stop was Zytglogge (Time Bell), consisting of medieval tower and 15rth century astronomical clock. The tower was built in 1220 to form the gate tower for the city walls. When the walls were expanded, the tower became a prison for women who had sexual relationships with clerics.

Our final stop was the Kindlifresserbrunner (Child-Eater Fountain). One of Bern's oldest fountains, it was constructed in 1546 and depicts an ogre eating a child and holding a bag with more children in it. There are several theories about the fountain - that it is racist depiction of Jewish Blood Libel, that it represents Krampus, that is depicts Chronus eating his children or Saturn eating months or that it could simply be a character to frighten misbehaving children.

On our way out we stopped at a few other fountains:

We stayed at the A1 Grahauz hotel, which was on the side of the highway, but comfortable and we were able to do our washing. For dinner we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. The meal total came to about 100 CHF (about $170), which was pretty normal for Switzerland - but then the lady taking orders asked if we were statying at the hotel. When we said we were, she told us the food was included and we only paid for drinks (11 CHF). Unfortunately this was too good to be true and it turns out some other guests had a meal token from the hotel and they'd confused it for us. So, while we did have to pay, they gave us a 25% discount which was nice.

The next day was an early start as we started the return trip home.

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Guilds of Bern (Work in progress)

One of the things I found really interesting in Bern was the guild flags. There are thirteen guilds listed in Bern, as follows:

1) Gesellschaft zu Ober-Gerwern: Guild of Upper Tanners
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