Bern, Switzerland

Bern is the de facto federal capital of Switzerland and home to roughly 134,000 residents, founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V of Zähringen on a U-shaped bend of the Aare River. Its UNESCO-listed Old Town contains 6 km of covered arcades, among the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe. The 1530 Zytglogge astronomical clock tower performs a 4-minute puppet show each hour, while the 1483 Münster stands as Switzerland's tallest cathedral with a 100 m tower finished in 1893. Albert Einstein worked at the 1903 patent office, where he wrote his 1905 special-relativity papers.