Bern to Climb

Hello,

I am contacting you directly with an update about yesterday, Sunday August 6th. Currently, the climbing World Championships are taking place in Bern with the wonderful slogan #BERNTOCLIMB. Honestly, it took me a little while to get the reference to Born to Climb.

Yesterday, the Lead Semi Finals and Finals for both women and men took place, and I have to say, this sport is simply amazing. What the athletes offered yesterday was spectacular and really exciting.

We started the day at 7 am with breakfast and a ride on public transportation to the venue. In Switzerland, you can travel to and from the venue for free using all public transportation! (I'm a fan!)

At the venue, I met up with some old friends from the Blocwald (aka the Best Indoor Community) and I was really excited to see these crazy people again. I really miss a place where you can always go to do sports and have a chat at the same time. Traveling is really nice and exciting, but it also helps you recognize what makes you happy.

Back to Bern: When we arrived at the venue, we first watched the Semi-Finals.

After it was determined which athletes would proceed to the Finals, hunger led us to the city center. Here, in rather mediocre weather conditions, we enjoyed a fusion cuisine pizza. Afterwards, Sara and I wandered through the city center, alternating between rain/wind and sunshine, to explore the old town of Bern.

The origins of Bern's name are unmistakable in this city. Everywhere and in all forms, you can discover bears here.

The old town is really beautiful, and on a weekday, you can browse through the shops (if you can afford it).

Exhibit A - QUACK. Case closed. I think I'm starting to carve.

In addition to the numerous small shops, there are also some green spots in the city center. For example, the small Schanze:

Here stands the World Post Monument, on which the 5 continents are depicted in the form of people (around the globe). Bern was the first city with a real post office.

In addition to all sorts of bears, there are also other animals to be found. In this picture, you can see the quite rare Swiss multicolored giraffe. This species is often hunted by wild safari photographers because of its appearance. Fortunately, it cannot move too fast due to its size. ;)

After a coffee and an ice cream, we returned to the Finals and they were so exciting!

But in this competition, the Japanese athlete Ai Mori was even stronger. Unfortunately, due to too much shouting and clapping, I didn't take a single picture of her run. But I was fully engaged!

Exactly as the route description said: Hips don't lie!

What a great day with wonderful people! My voice is a bit hoarse today, but every shout was worth it. Bern, it was an inner bear experience!

Tomorrow, if the weather permits, we will go hiking in Gruyère and continue towards Grenoble.

I'll keep you posted,

Yours, Britta