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Basel Bound

Swiss Treat

By Carl Fisher

August 19^th, 2016

Vitra

I had only been in Basel for a day when I decided to take a trip to Germany. I felt it was time to put all those years of learning German to good use. If only that were true. Fortunately, I managed with English just fine. It was a little strange that the local transit bus did not enough have to slow down as it passed through the border check point. In only a few minutes I was in Schnitzel country. I was excited to see the Vitra Design Museum because I had read some good things about it. I was somewhat disappointed when I entered the first building (Vitrahaus), which turned out to be a kind of high end Ikea. It was a bit like a museum in that there were sections with historical timelines, but it still seemed like they were trying to soft sell me furniture. At least there was no charge for admission and it was all quite pretty.

INteresting Exteriors

While there was much sleek design inside, there were sights worth viewing outside as well. It was a bit of an eclectic mix, but there were lots of nice lines to follow. The architects were world renowned. I especially appreciated that the work of fellow Canadian Frank Gehry was on prominent display. There was even a fire station designed by Zaha Hadid. I’m not sure if it was just an exercise or if it had been in use at some point in the past, but it was empty when I peeked in. I guess they moved the fire trucks to cheaper real estate.

On a side note, it was an adventure to get back to Basel. When I hopped on the bus I was fully prepared to pay with my Swiss Francs. I was met with an adamant “Nein!”. Even though I had gotten there on a bus that originated only a few minutes away in Basel and was going back to the same place, I had to pay in Euros. Naturally I had Euros since I had just arrived a few days prior from Paris. Unfortunately I had neglected to bring any with me. I had to go into the cafe, exchange my Francs for Euros and then wait another 25 min for the next bus. Welcome to Germany and goodbye.

Looked like it would have been a cool slide down it, but it was closed.

Basel cityscapes

I don’t think that I spent much time surrounded by new structures. The newest from what I could see was one of the Roche towers off in the distance. Still, there was at least one interesting building adornment.

olden

The Basel Minster was one of the most interesting structures in the old part of the city. It was built between 1015 and 1500, so it has been around for a while. I never managed to get into the main chapel part, but I managed to get my fill from the outside.

streets

Basel was what I would have expected from a Swiss town. Lots of old buildings, cobbled streets, and plenty of scooters. The only thing that was missing were the alpine peaks. I had to go to Lucern for that kind of a back drop.

City Hall

A perfect place for a smoke.

RIver ride

Usually I take bridges to get across rivers, but this time there was a boat that awaited. It’s a little hard to tell, but there is a cable that goes all the way across and another that is attached to the boat. No engine is required for this craft to get across to the other side. The captain lets the flow of the river do all the work. He just changes the direction of the rudder. Pretty neat.