Everything you could want to know about Bern (not a misplaced GDP post, really!)

[DFW]

It's all right here: http://www.bern.ch/en/

[pinboy3niner]

1. Lovely city

I visited there on a tour of Europe decades ago. When they learned we were on our honeymoon, the hotel gave us a suite on the top floor, with a balcony overlooking the lake. I felt the Bern!

[DFW]

2. I used to go there a lot way back when

This was before we set up an office in Geneva, which is so close to Bern, my presence was no longer required.

I used to stay at a fancy hotel before the Franc-Dollar rate made it prohibitive. One time, I was there with my wife and (then-) two small (26 months and 4) daughters. We had just come down from hiking in Interlaken, and were dressed accordingly. The people at the reception knew me and took no notice of our attire. Outside, there was a big anti-atomic-power demonstration going on, so we couldn't go outside any more (water cannon, tear gas, getting ugly). So we went to the hotel's patio-café and ordered ice cream for the girls and coffee for us. But the order never came. The head waitress, who did not know me, thought we were demonstrators, and ordered her staff not to serve us. My wife went ballistic and ran yelling at the hotel's reception, something they were definitely NOT used to. Bern is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, so they understood every word. They said surely there was some misunderstanding and my wife told them in no uncertain terms there was none. The head waitress judged us by our attire, never even asked if we were hotel guests. She was later forced to serve us our every whim personally in our room free of charge, and the hotel had incorporated the incident into the training of all future employees.