Today started off well, my earplugs had stayed in all night and so I got a nice long nights sleep and thought about catching up on my emails, checking that my friends in Brazil and Peru were still up for meeting me in less than a month and then taking a nice leisurely stroll around the town.
Although the sun was shining there was not that much heat, but clear blue skies are great for photo shoots and so I didn't feel that this was going to be any real pain. The first signs of today going a bit Pete Tong was when I sat outside a nice church at the end of the old town near midday.
At precisely midday the chimes started and at first it was nice to hear the bell ring out the time in hourly bongs, only they didn't stop at 12. They didn't stop at 20, I seriously started counting at about 6 or 7 but gave up after 50 and still they went on.
I went in short order from "mmm thats nice" to "hmmm, thats got to be more than 12, wasn't it", "ahhhh, are they going to go on all day" ,"ok you can stop now" , "no seriously stop" , "I said stop" , "enough already" , "oh for crying out loud, ENOUGH" , "ok, you asked for it, I'm gonna walk away and you can just bong yourself into oblivion without me".
It is a shame really, as it was a lovely clear blue sky, I had just found a bench in the sun that was out of the wind and I could happily have sat there all morning but not with that incessant monotone ringing loud and near going through my skull.
But it as still a nice day, I had a bit of dosh in my pocket and I was alone in a foreign city, which always makes me feel a bit more confident and happier than normal. Gently strolling along I thought that the centre of the old town was a bit pricey and empty of people but that was nothing compared with what it was like just five minutes walk westward. The cars became as infrequent as passing flies, the people thinned out and the shops all had fewer and fewer people in them.
Then all of a sudden it was like I was back in St Marys Island as it was a ghost town and everything was closed. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that I am was in a European countries capital city and it was a warm Autumn Saturday afternoon as shops after shop was closed and one of the main reasons was that there was just not any customers walking past to make it worth their while staying open.
In a ten minute walk I passed five hair salons, three of which were closed, one did not cut mens hair on a Saturday { except OAP's by the look of the other people in the shop } and the other was even more bizarre as it was being run by a lone Italian who was born and raised in Bolton { which explains his accent } but now living and working in Bern and although the place was empty except for him and his one customer he said that he was fully booked out all day, but that otherwise he would have loved to cut my hair for me!
The whole place seems to have many bear motif's all over the place, and after awhile I decided to find out and luckily I passed a postcard seller who had a card that explained its origins and background which was cool.
I did have ideas of doing a few other bits today, but once I saw how the whole place except the very centre, seems to be closed down over the weekend, I gave up and came back and rested up a bit in the hostel.
Although the sun was shining there was not that much heat, but clear blue skies are great for photo shoots and so I didn't feel that this was going to be any real pain. The first signs of today going a bit Pete Tong was when I sat outside a nice church at the end of the old town near midday.
At precisely midday the chimes started and at first it was nice to hear the bell ring out the time in hourly bongs, only they didn't stop at 12. They didn't stop at 20, I seriously started counting at about 6 or 7 but gave up after 50 and still they went on.
I went in short order from "mmm thats nice" to "hmmm, thats got to be more than 12, wasn't it", "ahhhh, are they going to go on all day" ,"ok you can stop now" , "no seriously stop" , "I said stop" , "enough already" , "oh for crying out loud, ENOUGH" , "ok, you asked for it, I'm gonna walk away and you can just bong yourself into oblivion without me".
It is a shame really, as it was a lovely clear blue sky, I had just found a bench in the sun that was out of the wind and I could happily have sat there all morning but not with that incessant monotone ringing loud and near going through my skull.
But it as still a nice day, I had a bit of dosh in my pocket and I was alone in a foreign city, which always makes me feel a bit more confident and happier than normal. Gently strolling along I thought that the centre of the old town was a bit pricey and empty of people but that was nothing compared with what it was like just five minutes walk westward. The cars became as infrequent as passing flies, the people thinned out and the shops all had fewer and fewer people in them.
Then all of a sudden it was like I was back in St Marys Island as it was a ghost town and everything was closed. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that I am was in a European countries capital city and it was a warm Autumn Saturday afternoon as shops after shop was closed and one of the main reasons was that there was just not any customers walking past to make it worth their while staying open.
In a ten minute walk I passed five hair salons, three of which were closed, one did not cut mens hair on a Saturday { except OAP's by the look of the other people in the shop } and the other was even more bizarre as it was being run by a lone Italian who was born and raised in Bolton { which explains his accent } but now living and working in Bern and although the place was empty except for him and his one customer he said that he was fully booked out all day, but that otherwise he would have loved to cut my hair for me!
The whole place seems to have many bear motif's all over the place, and after awhile I decided to find out and luckily I passed a postcard seller who had a card that explained its origins and background which was cool.
I did have ideas of doing a few other bits today, but once I saw how the whole place except the very centre, seems to be closed down over the weekend, I gave up and came back and rested up a bit in the hostel.
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