The first thing you notice about Bern is that everyone’s in a great big rush. This strikes me as odd because Bern has the reputation of being slow. Maybe they’re all late?
One of the exits from the train station is on the corner where Loeb (a department store) has its main entrance. This corner, logically enough, is called “Loeb Egge” (egge means corner). This is the de-facto meeting place. So much so, that in pre-mobile phone times, Loeb installed a phone outside (incoming calls only), so people waiting could be contacted. Leob Egge is a great idea; the only problem is that, being so public, everyone knows when you’ve been stood up.
While flashing back on my times on the Loeb Egge, a Punk skateboarded by (is that allowed?). His face so pierced it looked like a charm bracelet. A mother running to catch a tram distracted me from this. She was oblivious to her toddler, whose hands were gripping the side of the stroller and his head was vigorously snapping around at the end of his neck, as she dashed over the cobblestones. Could this explain why people in Bern are slow?
Bern always seemed to have an unusually high quota of odd people. When I worked here 20 years ago, there was a woman running around in nothing but pantyhose - in the winter - and no one batted an eye. Today I saw a guy playing a guitar with three strings. Still, he's better off than the guy in front of the train station playing air guitar all day.
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