Lisa and I went on a USO trip to Bern, Switzerland. Bern is the capital of Switzerland and a major shopping/banking center.

This is Bern a week or so after we left. Major flooding.

Me being attacked by a two-dimensional bear.

Lisa and some flowers. She knew the name of the flowers and was apparently impressed by their size. She wanted to take a picture with them. Feel free to be impressed if you know what kind of flowers these are.

Bern was named after the Bear. These bears are brown bears which are slightly smaller than a Grizzly. Also, the Brown Bear doesn'nt have its own basket ball team as the Grizzlies do. Legend (a legend is an old rumor) has it that the guy who founded Bern didn't know what to name it and decided to name it after the first animal he killed, which happend to be a bear. A lesser known nearby town is named squirrel.

This guy is either shoveling or spearing an armadillo.

Lisa pointing to a building that has paintings on the front. In olden days, they used to paint what the business did on the front of the building with pictures. Glad we didn't visit the Red Light District.

Yummy! Restaurant Rat Celler!

The woman in the pink jacket farthest away is Lisa. The woman in the pink jacket nearest to us is Belle. We met her at IKEA in passing one Saturday and Lisa sees her everywhere now.

A good shot of the clock tower at the end of the main street. There is "A LOT" of construction going on here.

Lisa and "The Fountain"

The church pews could be flipped either way so that you could catch all the action. If you can see the two slots on the end of the pew. The could also be stopped halfway so you can lean on them and appear to be standing.

The sculpture that was over the door of the Bern Cathedral. It is a woman cutting the head off of a snake.

What I dubbed "The Plunger Game", We never figured out how it worked, but it looked complicated.

Lisa and I overlooking the city.

Famous clock tower in Bern. Official Swiss time is kept here. Where Bern was established was originally covered by an Oak forrest. They cut it all down and built this clock among other things.

Lisa about to sneeze. We were trying to decide where to eat. We ended up eating Fondue which I found out is just melted cheese. I am not too "fondue" of it. I ate a "Farmers Platter" which contained no actual farmer, just a sausage and hash browns.

EEK Bank, or where you would bank if you were a mouse. Lisa came up with that one, honest.

Lisa in the middle of the road/traintracks. This isn't as dangerous as it sounds.

Me enjoying a refreshing glass of Rivella. I know it sounds like an intestinal disorder. As in, "I went to Bern and caught Rivella." But it is a refreshing soda drink derived from milk. Who would have thought cows had it in 'em.

Lisa with Einstein's Ghost behind her. "Stay away from my China Cabinet" he said.

Me with the Ghost of Einstein behind me.

Me with Einstein's clothes (on the manequin).

Lisa with Einstein's china cabinet. Leave it to Lisa to check this kind of thing out.

Me in Einstein's dining room. This is where he ate his soup.

Cheese. I've squeezed it, cut it, and now I've seen it made.

Lisa hanging out with a couple of cows. "Just standing around, chewing the cud" they said.

My picture with a back drop from sears. On our way to this place, we saw a guy, completely nude (except for shoes). No pictures on this blog of that to protect the little ones. There was much speculation on why he was nude, but that he had his shoes on implies intent to be nude outside.

Guess who took this picture? Me! My arms have gotten longer.

"I'm as strong as a mule but my ears are too short."

"I laugh at your puny farm machinery!"

Lisa and I in front of the Cheese Factory. I guess they don't manufacture cheese, they just coax it out of milk.

I didn't know electricity was so mean.

Bobcat cage at the zoo.

Don't feed the animals.

Seaport Village. This was a pretty cool place about 5 min walk from our hotel. The weather was beautiful there.

The sand dollar to sand euro conversion rate ain't what it used to be.

A rock going "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!"

Jane Goodall was the keynote speaker at the conference I attended. As soon as everyone found out she didn't bring a real monkey, they were disappointed (or at least I was).

Lisa and I at La Jolla (it is pronounced Hoya I found out).

Lisa and I watching a star crash into the ocean.

Beach Bunnies.

Chariots of Fire

Me, Kevin, and Fardosht pose "by a palm tree in the sand". Although there is no palm tree.

The view from Tammy's room in San Diego. When we arrived after almost 24 hours of traveling, the hotel didn't have rooms for Mark and Tammy. This was Tammy's reward the next day. 19th floor corner room.

The Odom boys with Granny Odom. I look much thinner.

Lisa with baby Hensley version 1 and version 2.

"I love a bear in uniform!"

Michael in front of the Louvre. I remember my first time here. You get 5 years worth of art in 2 hours.

Lisa and Michael in Rome. Michael went on a trip with Lisa and her school kids for 10 days in Europe.