Bern: Day 1 … Old City Stroll

Late start to our sightseeing today … driven partly by our restaurant reservation and partly by the clothes dryer taking its own sweet time doing its job! Regardless, we were on the move shortly before noon.

A one-stop train ride from the Bern Wankdorf Station to the Bern Bahnhof Station brought us the Old City … a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Founded in 1191, the city sits on the bend of the Aare River … a fast flowing body of water that is a popular place to cool down … saw a number of people just floating down on the currents or surfing upriver against the currents.

The original city fell victim to a fire in 1405 that burned down 650 wooden houses and killed more than 100 people. In the aftermath, new safety rules required that houses be constructed of stone … resulting in today’s mixed sandstone and wood ‘look’ of the city.

We’d been told that a couple of hours would be sufficient to see what the Old City has to offer. We took six hours … and ran out of ‘foot-power’ before we could visit any of the museums. Starting off at Spitalgasse, we followed (with occasional detours into side streets) the handy walking tour map that took us to landmarks … the post-fire stone arcades constructed for the craftsmen and handymen rebuilding the houses … now filled with shops and restaurants; the quaint and beautiful fountains; the clock towers; the Parliament … from near and far; the Rathaus (town hall); Münsterplatz … dominated by Berner Münster (cathedral) and the panorama terrace beyond; and more.

One of our detours took us by the Casino and across Kirchenfeldbrücke, which spans the Aare. At Helvetiaplatz, we stopped to rest in the park surrounding the turreted building in which the Bern History and Einstein Museums are housed. Comfy lawn chairs provided us with an opportunity to rest for a bit before a quick visit with Herr Einstein himself 😊

Retracing our steps across the bridge, we stopped frequently to enjoy the views. Then onto the cathedral … which I will share in a separate footprint.

Another crossing of the Aare — via Nydeggbrücke this time — rewarded us with panoramic views of the city … beautiful despite the light coming from the wrong direction in places. This bridge crossing also gave us a chance to see the river surfers. We debated extending our stroll to the Rose Garden. Even walked uphill partway, but then we realized that time was growing short … we had a dinner reservation to keep. So, we trekked back to the Old City.

It is said that the first animal to be hunted here by Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen, the founder of the city, was a bear. Legend has it that the name of the city refers back to that bear. (Recent research would indicate otherwise, however, and places the origin of the city’s name as “Berna” … a Celtic word that means ravine.)

The bonus for cutting out the rose garden? We had a few minutes to check out the bears at the Bern Animal Park before resuming our walk to the restaurant. I’ll share our dinner experience in another footprint.Read more