The day that Bern stood still

March 22, 2020, 3 Comments

The buildings look the same but the city certainly doesn’t. Bern is empty. It’s as if its heart and soul have been boxed up and put in storage. All that’s left is a cityscape with almost no people, no shops and no life. For now, at least.

I had to go to the doctor to pick up a prescription. We are allowed outside but advised not to use public transport, so I walked across town and back again. It was a perfect spring day, the kind of day that fills you with hope and fills the streets with people. But not that day.

The trams were still running, rumbling past with almost no passengers. The shops were shut, apart from the supermarkets and pharmacies, all of which were limiting entry. The streets were empty except for the occasional cyclist or fellow solo walker.

I don’t think I’ll ever see Bern like this again. And I definitely don’t want to. But for the moment it’s a necessity, and one that will (hopefully) not last too long. After that, we can have our beautiful city back again so that it is no longer an empty stage.

The silver lining was that without the noise from traffic and commerce, you could hear the birds sing and the city stream gurgle its way down to the river. A peaceful moment in a world, and a city, turned upside down.