Bird's eye view of Bern, the capital of Switzerland, taken from the tower of the "Berner Münster" (Cathedral) - June, 2017

It really is true: You never go out of your way to appreciate the beautiful and/or impressive landmarks of your own city, or state, (or country in my case) until you're showing a tourist around. This became clear to me as I was showing my fiance Switzerland, or at least my favorite places, plus those my friends and family recommended (we are in a long distance relationship and about to get married and close the gap. She was visiting for a week in early June.)

Among them was Bern, our capital. I think it has a beautiful old town which I wanted to show her, but it never occurred to me before to climb the tower of the Berner Münster (a cathedral) and take in the view from above. Well, that day I finally did and we were glad for it, even though the dizzying climb up a narrow spiral stair left us a bit out of breath in this summer heat (No, Switzerland is not cold).

I will be sharing more of my favorite pictures resulting from that Tour de Suisse, but first, here's Bern from above, as promised:

View of the Aare river to the south

Swinging northwards to the old town

The western half of the old town of Bern. Somewhat centered, you can see the "Zytglogge" (The clocktower with the large golden dial), a landmark of Bern.

And the eastern half, behind the Cathedral.

Finally, I neglected to take a picture of the Berner Münster up close, but here's its Tower from the "Nydeggbrugg" (bridge that connects Bern to its "Bäregrabe" (a bear zoo and another landmark of Bern)):



I hope you enjoyed these pictures and that they made you want to some day visit Switzerland!

If you liked this post and want to see more, don't forget to upvote, resteem and follow :-)