6 July ’05, Wednesday. Medieval Town of Murten
After an impromptu soccer game with Drew last night, I awoke this morning a little stiff. I guess I’m not quite in the same physical shape I thought I might be in… I’ve found that I am the first to and out of the showers in the morning…I guess it must be they are waiting in bed for my coffee to be served. Ha, Ha, they will have a long wait…
As Mikleane mentioned yesterday, we had a good and busy day in Bern yesterday. Bern is a very pretty city that is just about fully surrounded by water. Bern is the Swiss capital, and the city does have the “classy” feeling about it. I was disappointed in the “bear pit” that they displayed “their emblems” in…it really felt like it was nothing more than a temporary hole that was dug in the ground, with a few old dead trees put in, and then completely lined with cement. This is “The Capital”, and they are “The Emblem” of the capital…give them something that represents the status they deserve !!! OK, I’m off my soap-box… Today’s drive was rather short…I think we were on the road for 35 to 45 minutes, and we were off the road looking for the turn off to the campground. We are camped on the shores of the Lake Murten, along with at least 60 permanent caravan/mobile homes. We are among 6 tops, that are temporary. There is a path from the campground, along the shoreline, that goes directly into Murten. We hadn’t hardly set-up before we were on our way into town. On entering through the gates, we were met with a very picturesque town that is surrounded with a medieval wall on 3 sides, and the lake on the other. After a walk through the main street, and looking for a place to eat, we settled for a neat little restaurant with a alphorn and castle style chandelier, called Freiburger Falle. In Switzerland, for some reason, they have quite a few businesses that have “storm door” entrances directly off of the street. The 2 old wood “Storm Doors” swing out of the way, and you go down the steep stairs, into the business. In this case, it was a restaurant with a ton of atmosphere. Our goal was to have a cheese fondue, as the weather was cool and wet, and that sounded like it was just what we needed…it was fantastic (although, like everything else in Switzerland, it was EXPENSIVE…). We were also introduced to a local wine, that was really good. Fact is, it is one that Rick Steves recommends…now, we can recommend it too…Vully Nant…a locally grown brewed, crisp, and VERY tasty white wine. After lunch, we headed for the town walls. The walls are covered with a peaked roof, and it was really needed today as it rained off and on throughout the day. From the top of the walls, you can see over the whole town and all the hills that surround the lake. Murten is just a few miles from France, so there are quite a few locals that speak French as their first language. The Murten castle, has been converted into “City Hall”. From the front, it looks very much like it did many, many years ago, but the interior has been changed to fit their needs. This medieval town does deserve the press it gets, it is a treat seeing and tasting it…Tomorrow…Avenches and then onto Lausanne
After an impromptu soccer game with Drew last night, I awoke this morning a little stiff. I guess I’m not quite in the same physical shape I thought I might be in… I’ve found that I am the first to and out of the showers in the morning…I guess it must be they are waiting in bed for my coffee to be served. Ha, Ha, they will have a long wait…
As Mikleane mentioned yesterday, we had a good and busy day in Bern yesterday. Bern is a very pretty city that is just about fully surrounded by water. Bern is the Swiss capital, and the city does have the “classy” feeling about it. I was disappointed in the “bear pit” that they displayed “their emblems” in…it really felt like it was nothing more than a temporary hole that was dug in the ground, with a few old dead trees put in, and then completely lined with cement. This is “The Capital”, and they are “The Emblem” of the capital…give them something that represents the status they deserve !!! OK, I’m off my soap-box… Today’s drive was rather short…I think we were on the road for 35 to 45 minutes, and we were off the road looking for the turn off to the campground. We are camped on the shores of the Lake Murten, along with at least 60 permanent caravan/mobile homes. We are among 6 tops, that are temporary. There is a path from the campground, along the shoreline, that goes directly into Murten. We hadn’t hardly set-up before we were on our way into town. On entering through the gates, we were met with a very picturesque town that is surrounded with a medieval wall on 3 sides, and the lake on the other. After a walk through the main street, and looking for a place to eat, we settled for a neat little restaurant with a alphorn and castle style chandelier, called Freiburger Falle. In Switzerland, for some reason, they have quite a few businesses that have “storm door” entrances directly off of the street. The 2 old wood “Storm Doors” swing out of the way, and you go down the steep stairs, into the business. In this case, it was a restaurant with a ton of atmosphere. Our goal was to have a cheese fondue, as the weather was cool and wet, and that sounded like it was just what we needed…it was fantastic (although, like everything else in Switzerland, it was EXPENSIVE…). We were also introduced to a local wine, that was really good. Fact is, it is one that Rick Steves recommends…now, we can recommend it too…Vully Nant…a locally grown brewed, crisp, and VERY tasty white wine. After lunch, we headed for the town walls. The walls are covered with a peaked roof, and it was really needed today as it rained off and on throughout the day. From the top of the walls, you can see over the whole town and all the hills that surround the lake. Murten is just a few miles from France, so there are quite a few locals that speak French as their first language. The Murten castle, has been converted into “City Hall”. From the front, it looks very much like it did many, many years ago, but the interior has been changed to fit their needs. This medieval town does deserve the press it gets, it is a treat seeing and tasting it…Tomorrow…Avenches and then onto Lausanne
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