Barry the heroic St Bernard dog - special exhibition in Bern Natural History Museum

 I visited the Natural History Museum in Bern, at the end of a rather stressful  trip to Switzerland's capital city - unfamiliar roads, heavy traffic and trams seemingly coming from all directions. I'd arranged to meet up there with my daughters, but they'd   mistakenly gone to the History of Bern Museum instead, so I had a pleasant hour  on my own! The highlight of the visit was the exhibition  about Barry, the legendary  St Bernard dog.  I was alerted to this when I heard a Japanese tourist  asking where he could find the "famous dog".

There is a whole area devoted to the story of Barry's life as a working St Bernard who saved the lives of more than 40 people lost in snow  in the mountains of Switzerland.  I'm a little surprised that he doesn't appear on any Swiss stamps, but found two others featuring this breed of dog, with a miniature barrel of brandy attached to its collar - although I read in the story that this is a  myth and the barrels don't contain any brandy after all!   To read more about Barry and the Natural History Museum of Bern, visit their website www.nmbe.ch.