Maah Burgers and Bears In Bern

Today with our new friend Jason, we headed out to explore Bern by walking throughout old town, across the bridge to their “Grand Casino”, and then finally back through old town to cross a different bridge to get to a bear pit called Bärengraben.

We started at an open air market called Bärenplatz so that we could grab something to eat while walking.   The market was pretty small, but there were 5 food stands to choose from and we went to the one with the busiest line, a burger and brats place.  We decided to try “Mäah Burgers,” which we’re assuming are made from sheep because of the way the shop owner said “Mäah” after we ordered, which made everyone in line laugh.  Paul asked for cheese on his burger and the owner made us laugh more by telling him to go to McDonald’s – he doesn’t put that kind of “garbage” in his food! The burgers tasted perfect exactly the way he made them, but I think Paul would have enjoyed his more if he had cheese

With our burgers, we roamed aimlessly until we got to the bridge by the hostel and decided to go across to check out the casino.  It was sort of a confusing building because it’s part casino, part hotel, and part office.  Since we were all dressed really casual and the place seemed kind of fancy, we decided against going into the casino.  We headed out what we thought was an exit and ended up in the middle of some kind of lunch party full of people dressed in business attire! They didn’t seem to notice or care that we were there so we walked through this patio area to find an exit and ended up in a stairwell that had a huge Toblerone display full of history, pictures, original packaging, and information written in German.  We didn’t know why there was this display throughout the staircase, but I’m guessing it’s because Bern is where the Toblerone bar was invented and they celebrated it’s 100th anniversary just last year.

After this, we went to Bärengraben, the highlight of my day.  This bear pit dates from 1857 and has historically been used to display bears, a symbol of Bern.  For 3 Francs you can buy a cone of bear food (cut up apple, pear, tomato, and grapes) and toss food down to Pedro, the last remaining bear at Bärengraben, who has mastered the skill of catching what’s thrown at him with his mouth.  Jason noted that he must be one overfed bear as we watched food continuously being tossed down, but Pedro ate everything he was given and it was oodles of fun for me to buy a cone and toss him food. (Sad note: As I’m finishing/posting these blogs late, by the time you’re reading this Bärengraben is empty because Pedro, at age 28, had to be put down due to an incurable form of arthritis.  They are completing a new 6000 sq mtr bear park at Bärengraben and two bears from the zoo will be moved here for it’s opening on Oct 25th).  

In the evening we decided to cook at the hostel since Jason had some pasta he needed to use up.  We tried to go to Migros, the biggest grocery chain in Switzerland, but it was already  closed at 7 p.m!  We tried the second biggest chain, Coop, nearby, but they were closed too so our only option was a Migros Take Away store at the train station that sells ready to eat food items (such as chicken, pork, salads, etc.)   We went with a roasted chicken and a loaf of bread, and, surprisingly enough, managed to put together a decent meal!  This whole experience made me realize I actually miss cooking (gasp!) and I kind of hope we’ll stay at more hostels so I can use a kitchen again!