A Swiss Story - Exploring Bern

Bern is a glimpse into Switzerland's peaceful past

The city of Bern is located in central Switzerland. The capital of the Swiss Confederation, this city has seen Switzerland grow through the years. As a result, it is both historic and modern. Here, the offices of the Swiss Confederation stand before the world and so do all of the diplomatic missions from countries all around the globe. Being the capital, Bern is also a major railway station, which sees traffic from arriving and departing trains all day. Most of these are operated by the SBB CFF FFS or Swiss Federal Railway, but some come in from international destinations such as Paris and Frankfurt, connecting Swiss towns to other cities in Europe.

An Inter - Regio train brought us to Bern from Interlaken. The sky was overcast, grey and dull, and everything around looked dreamy with the raindrops on the large glass panels over the beautiful spring grass and pretty towns of the country. Swiss trains are extremely fast, punctual and efficient. The network of Switzerland's railway can be accessed completely by a Swiss pass, as we did, that allows even further access to trams, buses, trains, ferries, etc. I can only thank my luck to have decided to get us a pass each to travel within Switzerland.

It is a short journey between the little picturesque town of Interlaken and the capital city. Most people stay in Interlaken for tours to the Jungfrau and nearby peaks around it, an experience I have already written about on another post, accessible here.

As the train pulls into Bern, one can see the tracks diverging to run into several platforms of Bern's large railway junction. Upon arrival, the familiar cold hit us right on the face. We walked through the underground campus, across large shops and lots of people. Here, one could literally compare the surrounding to a decent mall, clean and spotless and too many options to choose from. Walking away from the platform entry, we finally reached the gate, beyond which the ancient capital stood among the rain and chill. The breeze cut through us like a knife as we left the station

The view as one leaves the station

 compound, clinging onto the sticks of our umbrellas with frozen hands. The view was spectacular. The buildings were all brown and Gothic, cars plied on the city's streets, a bearded man sat on a corner playing a sweet tune on a trumpet, and another younger looking assistant played a small drum suspended from his neck, matching the tunes of the trumpet. We walked along the broad sidewalk, eventually arriving at the tram station outside the railway terminus - Bern Bahnhof. In German, the word 'bahn' means railway and therefore 'bahnhof' would mean railway station. Similarly, the word 'gleis' means track/platform - Swiss stations don't use English too often on their signboards - but we didn't have trouble figuring it out. 

Bern's streets are as historic as ever

Tram Number 8, arrived exactly six minutes later, taking us to the city centre nearby, stopping at the Barenplatz, the nearest spot to the sites. Here, we walked off and ambled into the city square, where dancing fountains stood in front of the Bundesplatz, the Government Square of the Swiss Confederation. A little walk through led us through the building to the banks of the Aare River, where the Nydeggkirche Protestant Church stood. Walking back, we found ourselves back in the Old City, with the nearby Zytglogge or Clock Tower in view. Bern's streets are filled with beautiful tramlines, a romantic beauty unparalleled in any other city in the world. 

The Federal Palace of the Swiss Confederation

Then, we finally viewed the Curia Confoederationis Helveticae, or the Federal Palace of Switzerland. This is the Swiss government, the wonderful women and men who have taken the right decisions to run this beautiful nation have all placed their opinions within the perimeter of this ancient campus. Standing there and looking up at its majesty, we realised we had come up to the most important building in all of Switzerland.

Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the Bear Park, which is one of the main attractions in the Canton of Bern, as its flag symbolizes the animal. There was a chilly drizzle in the afternoon and we had to cut our visit short to the place. Instead, we settled down in Way to India, a restaurant serving Indian food and treated ourselves to a hot snack and chai, a wonderful departure from the gloomy weather. Before we departed however, we did visit the Rose Garden in Bern, and it was by far one of the most beautiful parks I have seen in a while.

Those travelling to Bern may opt to visit other parts of the city, such as the Kleemuseum, the Naturhistoriches Museum Bern, the Museum für Kommunikation, Alpines Museum der Schweiz, or pay a visit to the headquarters of the Swiss National Bank, located near the square as we did.

Bern looks mythical in the mist and rain

Behind the station, one may find the University of Bern, and located near Barenplatz is Kafigturm, Weisenhausplatz, Kornhaus and Heiliggeistkirche. Barengraben (Bear Park) is just across the river. Having toured all of these, one could go to Tierpark Bern or travel to Gurten Kulm, where the peak Gurten is located. However, this is not possible in a day and would take more than a few hours to complete.

We returned to Bern Bahnhof, and in a few moments, a Eurocity Express train bound for Frankfurt HBF pulled into Track 5. This would be my first experience in a Eurocity Express, but we were not travelling to Germany. Our stop was the border city of Basel. On the train, we met a Swiss couple who soon grew friendly and told us about possible excursions in Basel, that were really helpful. Over the next six days of our journey, we came across Bern many times, but for the lack of time, couldn't travel back to the beautiful city, nestled comfortably between its historical past and marvellous present.