Bern

Be forewarned, I'm a little off my rocker tonight.

We caught an early train to Bern that put us there in the early afternoon. Hostels were a little more expensive in Bern than in Milan, so we hoped to see as much as we could in a day and catch an evening train to Milan. So we cruised around the city of the bear as fast as we could. We got a map from the info desk at the train station that planned out a little walking tour with some things to see. We rented a locker where we threw our bags and took off. I really wanted to see the Einstein museum (world's first) so we headed down through town to check it out. After the museum it was pouring rain outside. Hmmm. Undeterred we continued to tour Bern in the pouring rain for the next couple of hours. We saw a bear, Einstein's home, the rose garden that overlooks the city, the clock tower, and a couple of other churches and such. There are large number of fountains in the city of Bern, along with statues that commemorate different rulers, saints, etc. Since the 16th century the city has had a bear pit. So we went and saw the bear at the bear holding. I bought a green mango powerade to get me ready for the rest of the hike. Liquid gold my friends.

On the way to the Einstein museum there was a little old lady walking across the Kirchenfeldbrücke bridge and she stops us and says pointing to where we'd come from, "Blah blah blah blah Bundesgasse, blah blah blah blah. Das ist richtig?" Without missing a beat I say "Bundesgasse?" Then I pull out my map and point to Bundesgasse and then point her to where she needs to go. She thanks me and then walks away. My buddy looks at me like, 'ummm, what just happened and since when did you know German?' Then I made up some crap about understanding her because it wasn't Swiss German (which actually is way weird btw). I probably totally sent her in the wrong direction. Haha, poor lady. I thought it was a good language moment though. Later I learned that where she stopped us was the bridge that Einstein walked on everyday to get to the patent office. That's just how Einstein and I are similar- we get stuff. Let me give you some more similarities, here we go:

Striking similarities between me and Einstein

• Einstein renounced his German citizenship. I am not a German citizen either.
• Einstein was exempted from military service because of varicose veins, flat feet, and foot perspiration. My feet perspire too.
• Einstein still couldn't speak much at age 3. At age 3 I couldn't speak Swabian German either.
• Einstein lived in Munich where his father's business 'Einstein and Co.' did the lighting for Oktoberfest in 1885. I visited Munich in 2010, not quite exactly 125 years later.
• Einstein's family moved to Italy after living in Munich, then he lived in Bern. I moved by train from Munich to Bern to Italy.
• Einstein had an illegitimate child that he never met. I have never met any of the children I don't have.
• Einstein was failed admission to the university of his choice because of a lack of language proficiency. I only applied to two schools for undergrad, so I was denied to a whole bunch of schools I didn't apply to.
• Einstein wrote a letter to the president warning him of the danger of a potential nuclear weapon, and it wasn't taken very seriously. I wrote to Orrin Hatch in 6th grade for Boy Scouts, advising him to vote for the 'Brady Bill.' Sen. Hatch did not take me seriously either, and voted against it.
• Einstein's fourth major hypothesis of gravitational waves, still hasn't been proved. None of my theories has ever been proved.
• Einstein declined after being offered the presidency of Israel. I took my name out of the running for Senior class president when I found out my friend Cody was running, and I became the secretary instead.

I'm on the path.