Lockdown in Bergamo - a birthday to be remembered!

Well, today's my birthday and this is an unusual one, to say the least. Living in the heart of the red zone in Lombardy we definitely feel the strains of the lockdown. 



We are only allowed to go out for a very quick walk for essentials. Today, I deemed trying to buy vegetables along with liquor essential. I asked the fruit and vegetable guy for gin, but alas, none, so I bought a coffee liqueur to toast my birthday. Better than nothin'!

Cheers!!

When you go out now, you need to fill a form out that shows the date and where you are going. You carry this with you along with ID every time you go out. Failure to show it can result in a fine or worse...  




Honestly, I am scared to go out now. If I trip or fall or get badly injured, I am out of luck. I hope my family nor I need the hospital right now as you can forget it.

Can you imagine, 2020! and we have to carry a form to give a reason for being out on the streets! The form looks like this:

 

The form we need to fill out every time we go out of the house.

My small courtyard has become my exercise sanctuary. It really is this petite!! I know this is a small price to pay for keeping my distance. I really don't want to take any chances if I don't have too.

We try and limit our small shopping every other day. There is nothing to hoard here. The shops are full. We can get what we want. The upside of a small apt is there is not a lot of space to store things. Yes, I get a few things from Amazon as well to help round out the shopping and minimize the number of trips outside.  Businesses are shuttered. 

It looks like a ghost town here. In this image, people waiting in line at the bakery/grocery. Only 2 people allowed in at a time into the shops. 

Waiting in line to enter a small bakery/food shop - 2 people only at a time.

We have two pharmacies in Citta Alta. One allows 1 person at a time into the pharmacy.  The other one, she has a window where she is dispensing meds. She wants no one in her shop. I don't blame her. 

Window Dispensing Drugs

All over the town are signs like this - saying closed until further notice.

Now, most of the time, Citta Alta looks like this  - deserted. 



It is normally a tourist hub with wall to wall people. Come visit Citta Alta and Bergamo as soon as you can. 



It is a beautiful place to have a mini weekend.

 

The younger students are making these beautiful signs and hanging them in their windows and on all the storefronts. It says "Everything will be ok".

I know Italy will prevail and the rest of the world too. If we all do our part, we as an entire world will come back stronger than ever.