The city of Bern, Switzerland is absolutely infatuated with bears. I picked up this wooden carving there in January 1999.
According to legend, Bern was founded in 1191, by Duke Zahringen. He was quite the hunter, and decided to name the city after the first animal he killed. He killed a bear. Bears have been the mascot of the city ever since, and have been kept in bear pits for the past 500 or so years. The city flag of Bern has a bear on it, as well.
