Bern

Today we went to Bern, I love that city, it is so alive it's just amazing. What is interesting is that the city has changed a lot over the years, but has not changed at all. How can I explain that. All the buildings are made out of sandstone, and they are old. the city was founded in 1191, so we are looking at a city that is now over 800 years old. The shell of the houses, are unchanged and have been the same for hundreds of years, but the inside of the houses and businesses have changed. They are up to date with the latest technology, just like any modern city. The same with the streets and the public transportation. The streets are made of cobblestone, and look agent, but the trolly's that use to be pulled by horses are now up to date with the most modern and luxurious transportation you can imagine. There are electronic signs on each bus or trolley stop that tell you exactly when the next bus will arrive. Traffic in the downtown area is severely regulated. Most of it is a access by foot traffic only, and it is busy. I forgot how busy that city is, see for yourself:

Access to the downtown area is best by public transport. In the outskirt of the city are park houses with efficient and very modern articulated buses to transport the public into the city. In addition to the buses, people use the bike. Every where you go there is a place to park a bike.

This is Bern, the main street of the City. There are fountains every few hundred feet, in the old days, that's where the water for every day use came from

And this is what makes Bern so different about any other city anywhere. The sidewalk are built in a way that they are part of the houses and are covered. The "Berner" calls them "Laube", it's very unique, and as far as I know there is no other city that has a similar architecture.

And it's busy... The city was completely filled with people, and this was just an ordinary weekday. This is the "Chafic Turm", or the prison tower. This area of the city we refer to as "D' Front". It's an area with outdoor cafes in the summer, temporary shops and fairs. In the old days, the farmers use to come here and sell their produce.

Another look at the main street of the city. You can see the arches that lead to the sidewalk or "D'Loube".

The facade of the houses are covered with ornaments, sandstone carvings. In the entire city of Bern there is not one house that does not have something unique, something special. Here is such an example:

This is a strange fountain... "Dr Chindli Frasser Brunne", the children eating fountain. There is a story with that fountain, but I forgot what it is.

I went to school in the third building down the street. It was a drafting class.

This is "Zytglogge", I am not sure how to translate this, a tower with the time on it or something like this.

On top of the tower is a mechanical man that swings a hammer against a bell on the hour.

This is the other side of the tower. The clock work in the tower is huge, when I was a kid my father took me inside the tower. I remember being in there, but just in bits and peaces.
This is the other side of the tower.

There is an interesting story about this tower and Albert Einstein, but this story is not part of this blog. If you are interested you will have to go to my Sky blog.
It is not easy to see, but in that channel flows the old brook that flowed from the top of the city down the center of the main street all the way down before emptying in to the River Aare that forms a loop in which the city of Bern was built.

There are a ton of those fountains, in all of Bern most likely several dozens, but each fountain has a special meaning, there is always a carving or a statute or something associated with each fountain.

I have no idea what this figure is all about...

This is another look how the city's sidewalks are built under the houses.

Mom and Dad talking to a watchmaker:

This is the City Council:

As you can see, the sides street are a bit quieter, not as much foot traffic as along the main street with all the shops.

This is the famous "Baren Graben", or less flattering, the bear pit. The story goes that in 1100 something some thing a noble man, I believe Von Zaringen, hunted in this area, and shot a bear, and he decided to built a town in this river loop and decided to call the city Bern in reference to the killed Bear. At lowest part of the city, the apex of the river loop is where the city always kept live bears.
This is the old Bear pit, which is an improvement over what it use to be

Fortunately, the city decided to upgrade the bear pit and built a better environment for them. I am not a supporter of keeping life bears locked up in a pit, but this at least is a bit of an improvement over the old pit.

This is the apex of the river Aare loop, looking up the way we just walked down. The tower in the distance is the main church in Bern, "Ts Munster".

This is the place my mother use to work, it use to be the income tax office.

This is a side street we are walking on, heading back up towards "Ts Munster".

An her is this famous Church. I remember coming here and looking at the main portal. Above the portal is a carving representing the final judgment day. On the left is heaven, and on the right is hell.

A close up of hell shows some disturbing representations, to me it looks like some of the torture technique that was used in those days. For a closer look and a history about this amazing church check out Wiki.

And here of course is heaven...

Bern is a very interesting City, because the city was built in the loop of the river Aare, the old city was separated from the growth of the rest of the city. In many ways, the old city Bern was able to maintain a charm that is very unique. This last picture gives a better impression of what the overall look of  the city is like.
By the way, the building on the right is the federal government building. When we got there it was too dark to take any pictures.