Basel in the Rain

My last day in Basel, Switzerland, and my last day of sightseeing before returning to Frankfurt for my flight home, was the worst day, weatherwise.  It rained all day, and it was a pain to carry an umbrella while trying to take pictures with my camera or check Google Maps on my cellphone.

My sightseeing centered on the Old Town, and if it had been a sunny day, I am sure I would have found it a more enjoyable experience.

As in the other cities that I had visited, the Old Town is dominated by the cathedral or "Münster".  Well, it used to be a cathedral until the Reformation.  Now it is a Protestant church.

The "Münster" was begun in 1019.  The original Romanesque structure was destroyed in the 1356 Basel earthquake, the worst earthquake in central Europe in recorded history.  It was rebuilt in Gothic style and completed in 1500.

The plaza in front of the "Münster"

Street scenes in Basel's "Altstadt" or Old Town

A couple of the fountains in the Old Town

As mentioned before, you can drink the water from any of the fountains in Switzerland.

A view of the Rhine River from the Old Town

You can see the cable crossing the river where the ferry boat runs.  From the other side of the river there are nice views of the "Altstadt", however, the ferry did not seem to be in operation on this rainy day.

One of the Basel's medieval gates survives from the days when the it was a walled city.

 

Parts of Basel's city hall are over 500 years old.  However other parts, with colorful murals and decorations are of more recent addition.

That concludes my trip to Europe!

It was a very interesting and enjoyable journey, and I hope to return in the future to visit my cousins again and to see new places.

 

The Toy Museum

Basel is supposed to have a top-notch art museum, but since I had already been to four art museums on this trip I didn't feel like doing another one.  My cousin recommended the toy museum for a change of pace.  It turned out to be a delightful option.  It has four floors of teddy bears, dolls, doll houses and miniatures, and is the largest museum of its kind in Europe.

Many of the teddy bears were manufactured by Steiff, a German company that has been making plush animals since the late 1800s.  Their antique bears are collectors' items.

 

There is a large collection of dolls from all over the world.

The best part of the museum was the collection of doll houses and miniature scenes which were incredibly detailed.

There are miniature scenes of all kinds of shops and village scenes.

If you are tired of visiting art museums on a trip to Europe, the toy museum in Basel is a wonderful choice.

Last Minute Shopping

During my time in Germany and Switzerland, I had purchased most of the souvenirs that I wanted to take back to Mexico as gifts.  However, I waited until the end of my stay in Switzerland before buying Swiss chocolate.  I didn't have to go far for that.  I crossed the street from my hotel in Basel and went to the train station.

Located in the station there is a "Sprüngli" shop.  "Sprüngli" is a luxury brand of chocolate, and their products are very expensive.  

So, I passed by "Sprüngli" and went instead to the Migros Supermarket in the train station.  I figured that I could find a selection of good, moderately priced chocolates there.

 There was a selection indeed!  This photo shows less than half of the chocolate section.

It took me quite a while to look over everything and select what I was going to buy.  I bought a couple of chocolate bars by "LIndt" which is probably the best known brand of Swiss chocolates in the U.S.  "Lindt" was founded by the Sprüngli family, but has been an independent company since 1892.  I did a bit of research on the company and found out that they bought out the U.S. chocolatiers Ghiradelli and Russel Stover.  After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lindt permanently exited the Russian market.

I also bought a number of products by another Swiss chocolatier, "Frey".  I researchws "Frey" also and discovered that their headquarters are in Aargau, the canton from which my Swiss ancestors came and where many of my cousins still live.  Since 1950 "Frey" has been owned by the Migros supermarket company.

With these purchases, my gift shopping in Europe was complete. 

On to Basel

After spending three nights in Aarau with my cousin Walter and his wife Helen, I moved on to my last stop in Switzerland, the city of Basel.  Basel, the third largest city in Switzerland (after Zurich and Geneva) is located on the Rhine River where the borders of Switzerland, France and Germany meet.  I had never been to Basel before, and since it was on my way back to Frankfurt to take my plane home, I decided to spend a few nights there.

It was a short train ride from Aarau to Basel.  As in many European cities, the train station is a grand old building dating from the beginning of the 20th century.

The area in front of the station is a busy hub for streetcars.  Watch out when you cross the street!

As in Frankfurt, I had reserved a room at a hotel near the train station.  Unlike Frankfurt, however, the neighborhood around the train station was perfectly fine.  The hotel where I stayed is called Hotel Schweizerhof.  I am not sure if it is part of a chain, but there are hotels by the same name in other Swiss cities.  I had previously seen one right by the train station in Zurich.

My room was very clean and comfortable, although, as is usually the case in Europe, it was rather small.  I have noticed that hotels here seem to use a duvet, a down-filled comforter, with no top sheet.  When I would get under the duvet at night, I would usually get too hot and end up tossing the it aside.

The view from my window

After settling into my hotel room, I ventured out to find someplace to eat.

I ended up in the Old Town, and found this restaurant called "Zum Alten Stöchli" which had traditional food.

There were a lot of tables outside, but it was slightly chilly, so I went inside.  It was a tiny, cozy place with a bar and a few tables.  I ordered bratwurst with a mushroom gravy.  It was good, but as usual, they served French fries with it.  I wish the restaurants would do some other side... like German potato salad, which I never had on the entire trip.

Going Home

I still have plenty to write about for this trip to Europe, probably about ten more entries, but I will pause here to report that later today I am flying home to Mexico from Frankfurt.

Yesterday I was up early to finish packing, check out of my hotel in Basel, my last stop in Switzerland, and walk across the street to the train station.  (Just as in Frankfurt, I booked a hotel convenient for train travels.) The train would take me back to Frankfurt where I would spend the night at a hotel near the airport.  

Inside Basel's main train station

Ever the early bird, I was at the station at 7:30 A.M. even though my train was not leaving until 9:06.  I had plenty of time to grab something for breakfast.  The Swiss supermarket chain Migros has an enormous food court in the station with stands selling everything from Italian pasta to Thai food.  I had an avocado / egg sandwich, a scrumptious croissant filled with apricot (I could make a whole meal out of the wonderful baked goods) and a hot chocolate.  Why would anyone go to McDonalds with so much quality "fast food"?

When my train appeared on the big board, I made my way to the platform.  It was a high speed ICE (Intercity Express) operated by the Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway.  In spite of the German railway's growing reputation for delays, my train arrived on the dot at 9:06.

As you can see from the sign on the platform, Frankfurt was not the train's final destination.  It was continuing on to Berlin.

The ride from Basel to Frankfurt is a little over three hours.  We arrived at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) a couple minutes ahead of schedule.  I then needed to buy a ticket for the S Bahn (suburban train) to go to the airport.  I went to the travel center operated by Deutsche Bahn and bought my ticket from a machine with the kind assistance of an employee.  I went to the lower level of the station, waited about ten minutes, and the S Bahn arrived.  It's just a 15 minute ride to the airport.  My reservation was at the NH Frankfurt Airport Hotel.  (NH is a chain of European hotels.  They are in Mexico also, but I have never seen one in the U.S.)  I had earlier communicated with the hotel via email about where to catch their free shuttle service.  They answered immediately with the information.  The Frankfurt Airport is enormous, and it took me a while to find the hotel shuttle stop, but once I was there I did not have to wait long to be transported to my hotel.

My room was clean and modern... nothing spectacular... but fine for an overnight stay.

    

Today my flight will leave at 1:35 P.M. and I am supposed to be there three hours ahead of time.  The duration of the flight is around twelve hours... longer than the flight from Mexico City to Frankfurt because of headwinds.  Mexico City is 8 hours behind Germany, so I will arrive home at 5:30 P.M.

So, now it's time to take a shower, do the last bit of packing, have breakfast at the hotel, and take the shuttle to the airport.

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!