Cyclist Paul's Travels: Bern, Switzerland (Part 2) Child Eater

After cycling around the suburbs I'm back in Bern. That's Bern Minster, the tallest cathedral in Switzerland. To the right you see a copper/greenish dome--that's Switzerland's parliament building. From the cathedral back to me snapping this picture is Bern's old town, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

As mentioned earlier, Bern is the mother lode for water fountains. These fountains (16 in all) were built as a public water supply in the early 1500's. Later as Bern grew and became an important city these Renaissance fountains were fancied up (1535-1546). This one, know as Child Eater, depicts an ogre devouring a child. See next photo for closer look.

The ogre holds a sack of children waiting to be devoured. Parents would bring their kids to see him and say if they misbehave the ogre will come and eat them. I wonder if parents still bring their kids here to instill that sense of fear?

Zytglogge, the medieval clock, dates back to 1218. Why do you see no stores on either sides? There're but they're tucked behind covered arcades.

There're almost four miles of covered arcades, one of the longest shopping promenades in Europe.

The Zahringerbrunnen dates back to 1535 and depicts a bear in full body armor. See next photo.

Note the bear at the feet of the masked bear in armour. In the USA we have states. In Switzerland they have cantons (27 of them). The black bear is the symbol of Canton Bern.

Here's a view of the backside of the Federal Palace (Parliament building). That's the Aare river flowing past. In the summer the river is awash with people inner tubing the slow moving river.

Closer view of Federal Palace (Parliament building)

This is Samson killing a lion. See next photo for closer view.

Samson is one tough dude as he rips open the lion's mouth with his bare hands..

That's Bern's cathedral, the tallest in Switzerland. However, I live in Lausanne and Lausanne Cathedral is the biggest Gothic structure in Switzerland (just saying).