I woke at 6, but my husband K was already up. We finished the suitcases and put them outside of our door at 6:30. By 6:40, we were heading downstairs to meet our daughter J at the breakfast room.
From what we understood, this would be our last buffet breakfast. I had my cold cuts and cheese on rolls, along with Muesli, fruit and juice. I checked the outside temperature-53°. That would be chilly.
Then, it was back upstairs to get washed up and gather the carry-on items, including the bottle of water for my CPAP machine. The machine stayed in my carry-on to be sure that it was not tossed in the bottom of the bus.
Since we had not really checked in, we did not have to check out. We just deposited the key cards in a box in the lobby. At 8:15, we went downstairs to a room accessed from the sidewalk to make sure our bags were there. We identified them to Rolf, who put a new mark on them.
We then joined the rest of the folks standing around outside. We soon all realized that we had to watch our bags. Our two busloads were not the only ones leaving. In fact, there were too many groups trying to leave at the same time; some for touring, others for good. I wound up asking J to go to the far side of the entrance to watch for our bags to get moved to the correct bus, while I watched from near the room. It was an absolute zoo. Rolf was just barely keeping his temper in check. The hotel staff was not paying close attention to the symbols on the bags. It might have been better, if each person had taken their own suitcase to a bus.
We got on the bus with the yellow card, as our tags were marked, at 8:50. We sat in the middle of the bus, as usual. We were finally on the road at 9:15 and there was some sun.
We stopped for a rest stop at an actual highway rest stop at 10:17. It was very large and actually stretched over the highway to serve both sides. After using the restrooms, we roamed around looking at the wares. As might be expected, there was quite an array of cheeses for sale.
An entire wall was devoted to the Basel Läckerli cookies that K and I had seen in a travel video at home. There were samples and we realized that they were very much like gingerbread, albeit in a variety of flavors. We decided to definitely buy them in Basel.
I got a chocolate bar to satisfy that craving, before we got back on the road at 10:50.
Rolf was on our bus, but we had an actual tour guide today. She proceeded to start telling us all about Basel. Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland, but it can't get any bigger. France, Germany, and the Canton of Basel surround it. It has the third busiest airport and you need to be careful there, because it has exits into France and Switzerland!
She also told us a bit about Switzerland. Its population is approaching 9 million. French and Germans cross their borders to work in Basel. The city has more than 40 museums due to more links with higher education and a love of culture and art. The number one sport in the country is hockey, not soccer as in other European countries.
Around 11:07, we could see the Roche 1 and Roche 2 towers, which are the 2nd tallest and tallest buildings respectively in Switzerland. I liked their modern design. They were designed by local architects Herzog and de Meuron, who also did the Birds Nest for the Beijing Olympics and the redo of a power station into the great Tate Modern art museum, which we've been in. Rather successful guys!
At 11:17, we passed another of their projects, the Messe (basically a convention center). Besides appreciating the modern designs, the three of us were delighted to see people in costumes arriving for Fantasy Con. How cool!!
Soon, we had our first glimpse of the Rhein (Rhine River).
At 11:22, we were let off of the bus beside the Kunstmuseum Basel (Art Museum), which holds the oldest public art collection in the world and is considered the most important art museum in Switzerland. Across the street was the new addition called Kunstmuseum Basel Neubau (New Building) by Christ and Gantenbein, who are based in Basel. This building is the third holding the collection and opened in 2016 and is connected to the original building, also known as the Hauptbau, by an underground passage. Artwork from after 1950 are housed in the Neubau. We didn't get to visit either building, but it is good to know these things.
We joined the Gentle tour here. With K still recovering from his December broken heel bone and me having knee replacement coming, this sounds like a good bet.
Our city guide led us around the corner to the Rittergasse. Along this street, she said, the houses dated to the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries for the most part. As we walked, she told us that 65 was the retirement age in Switzerland. There's no tax before that due to paying into pensions. However, after one retires, they pay taxes. While they work, people pay into the OASI, which is the mandatory state pension. They also pay into a pension fund. There is also a non-compulsory fund that they can pay into. Employers must pay at least 50% of the total contributions.
The old buildings have been kept up quite well around here. It is obvious that the owners had some wealth. The building in the courtyard is the Ritterhof, which was rebuilt in 1743 on the site of the 133 building. It's an office building now. The blue-grey house with the lovely door is the Olsperger Hof, which has the year 1389 over the door.
Zum Delphin is the name of the house with the fancy grill work and the fancy script. It was first built in 1759/60. Now, it is the estate and wills office of the Canton Basel-Stadt.
Our destination was the Basel Münster, which used to be the Catholic cathedral and is now a Reformed Protestant church. The original church was built from 1019-1500 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The Catholic theologian Erasmus is buried there. As always, it hurt a bit knowing it wasn't Catholic any more.
As we came up the street, we could see its lovely roof. When we got closer, we saw its sundial. Since the sun doesn't reach that part of the church at certain hours, those numbers are not there. We passed the beautiful arch that connected the church to the bishop's former residence.
As we got to the church, wee could see just how red the sandstone was. She led us into the cloister and we noted just how elaborate the ceiling was. Bernoulli, the mathematician, was to have the logarithmic spiral, with which he was so impressed, carved into his memorial stone here he is buried. However, the engraver didn't understand and gave him an Archimedean spiral instead. An issue that only mathematicians would understand. So, I sent a photograph to my former colleagues who teach pre-calc and calculus. They loved it.
We could hear singers and she said they were practicing for the 13th European Festival of Youth Choirs. The festival is held here every two years. We were not taken into the church, where some were practicing. Rather, we were led into the garden, which overlooks the Rhein. Looking south, we could see those two towers again. Looking east, we saw Klein Basel Altstadt ("Old City"). Looking north, just under the far bridge, we could see the boat which would be our home for the next ten days.
Looking down, we could see a ferry crossing. This was no ordinary ferry. The currents here could be quite swift. The boat was attached to a line, which attached in turn to an overhead line. The line slid across and helped the boat get to the dock.
She led us around the other side of the church and pointed out architectural details. Probably because an earthquake caused major damage, there are various shades of red sandstone here.
Around the front, we had time to notice the St. George and the dragon statues on the facade. We also noted that the sundial on this side had different numbers missing.
A stage was set up on the north end of the square and a choir was performing for an enthusiastic crowd. We tarried a moment to listen.
The guide pointed out the high school (Gymnasium) facing the cathedral. At the other end of the plaza, we saw a group wearing beautiful costumes, who were leaving.
When we left the square in the same direction as that choir had, I took the opportunity to turn around and take a last photo of the cathedral.
Our guide led us to Barfüsserplatz (Barefoot Square- named for the Franciscan church that had been here) and told us we were to meet here at 2:30 to be led to the buses. K, meanwhile, was a bit distracted by the interesting musical instrument being played there.
It was now 12:38. We knew that we had to eat lunch and we wanted to find those cookies. I was also hoping to find a miniature museum that I'd seen in magazines for years. We saw a McDonald's up the street and figured that would be fast. We like to eat once in McD overseas to see what it is like.
J and I each chose the Menu McChicken that came with soda and fries for CHFr 14.10 each. Not cheap. K chose Menu Filet-o- Fish for CHFr 11. There were no seats downstairs and we did not want to eat in the cold. So, we went upstairs. It was clean and quiet, although we saw a sink that was set up for a child to use. Our food was brought up to us and it was as expected.
On the way in, I'd noticed that the very museum I'd wanted to visit was catty-cornered from the restaurant. With this in mind we thought we'd go to get the cookies and come back. J pulled up the locations of the stores on Google maps and we headed down the street past the museum to get to the nearest one. We came upon this ornate fountain with a warrior whose shield had SPQB, which had to be a play on the Roman SPQR.
We quickly saw that we were headed in the opposite direction of the correct route to the shop. J suggested that she and K should go to the shop, while I went to the museum, since it was more important to me. That's why, at 1:28, I found myself paying the CHFr 5 reduced entrance fee to Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel. (That little fellow and the case are what are in the ads all the time.)
I said, "Nein," when asked about using an iPad. I simply didn't have time. There were 4 floors and I quickly decided to only see the miniatures. I rode up to what seemed to be the floor with miniatures. It had a wall-sized glass cases with so many miniatures! One of the first I saw was an actual toy store. It was hard to photograph many of the other shops because of the glass.
Out in the main part of the room was a huge complex of amusement rides behind glass. Later, someone managed to find a way to turn it on and the rides all worked!
There was a nice display of Oriental dolls and a few shops, including one of a woodworker. An unusual one was a laundry room from Germany from around 1820/1920.
Then, there were so many kitchens, most in the Nürnberg style, which was meant to
teach girls housekeeping. (Boys played with shops to the same end.) One
or two of the kitchens were much larger, closer to child size.
I was beginning to despair of seeing any other kinds of minis. So, I went to the elevator to look at the guide to the floors again. I found another floor that was full of a huge variety of minis. I also found a paper that told you how to access an online guide. Mainly, the guide gave you a good photo or even 3, place of origin or building, date, and size. You just put in the number next to the display. Sometimes, there was no info. However, I did start take screenshots for use in my future album about the trip.
One of the incredibly detailed miniatures was not only multi-roomed, but multi-leveled. It was the Sea Cadets School and was made around 1890 in Germany. The rope leading down from the gym to the pool is particularly cool. Larger boating-related toys were displayed around it.
Some of the shops were of places I've never seen done in miniature before. They were absolutely marvelous.
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I don't include dolls in my mini scenes, but this one of Dornröschenschloss (Sleeping Beauty's Castle) would have been nothing without the dolls.
One incredible display was two shelves decorated with shops and street scenes. The bottom shelf showed what might have been in a park or the countryside.
I tend to build modern dollhouse scenes and furniture, rather than Victorian. I just loved what I found here.
I know that I did not see everything, but I was running out of time. I rushed downstairs to the mini shop and saw a few things that I would have liked to have known the price of, but there was no one around that area to ask. So, I picked out some postcards and went out to the entry desk to pay the CHFr 20 for them and found K and J waiting.
They'd had success with the cookies and J had found a pin and postcard. However, she hadn't gotten them for me. So, she hurried back to that shop, which was nearby, while K and I went to the meeting place at 2:25. She was there by 2:30.
I noticed that there was an interesting sculpture above the fountain there. I think it is of a guy getting his haircut, which would have been done to somebody entering the Franciscan order, and the square and street are named for them, after all. It's not considered important enough for me to be able to find any info on it, unfortunately.
They did not lead us along the interesting streets we'd been on before, but rather more commercial ones. I did espy this cute angel and this clever trompe l'oeil.
We boarded our previous bus at 2:44 and sat with our hand luggage. The buses departed at 2:47. Along the way, we saw this rather odd building, which turned out to be the Bank for International Settlements, whatever that means.
We were at the Terminal St. Johann (Passagierbootterminal St. Johann) at 2:57. We gave the guide a 3CHFr tip, as we got off the bus. It had gotten warm enough that I took off my coat.
I took a panoramic of our boat, the AmaPrima, and we took a selfie before we headed down the concrete stairs in the embankment to the boat. We noticed pretty poppies amongst the tall grass as we descended the stairs.
By 3:05, we were seated in the lounge at the front of the boat. They served us drinks, as we waited to be called to get our cabin keys. As we sat there, I started to get a headache. It quickly became obvious that it was going to be a sick headache. So, I dug out one of my migraine pills.
Finally, we were called at 3:45. We got our photos taken and our keys scanned. Scanning the key when we left the boat and returned was impressed upon us. J had chosen a cabin on the lower deck, because it was cheaper and she could sit on our balcony. She got cabin 107. K and I were on the deck a few steps down from the lounge and had cabin 203, which was the second cabin on the left.
When we got there, our luggage, which had been up on the embankment, was now there. On the bed were the Daily Cruiser info sheet, which was also on the app that now worked since we were officially on the cruise. There was an AmaWaterways bag that held two luggage tags, too. The balcony was on the other side of our bed and the French balcony was to its right with two chairs, just as there were two on the balcony. On the counter we found the bottle of wine and box of chocolates that were part of our welcome, along with cards from AAA, wine glasses, a bottle of mineral water, earphones, and individual listening devices or "Whispers" for each of us.
Just to the left of the bed was the very nice bathroom that had a glass window overlooking the room that you could cloud over with the flip of a switch. Opposite the bath was the closet and just inside the door was a closet of shelves and the safe. The full closet wound up taking hanging clothes and my suitcase, which wouldn't go under the bed. K's and the carry-on roller did go under the bed, but there were two large drawers under there on the balcony side. We did use them and our night stands' drawers. We didn't really make use of the drawers under the counter/desk. It was nice to finally unpack for good.
When we'd finished unpacking, I still wasn't feeling well. In fact, I got sicker. So much sicker. I got cold and K got me one of the robes from the closet. I laid down and fell asleep, but awoke to my stomach in an uproar.
The rest of the evening was a blur. K and J went off to dinner, with me too sick to go. When the steward showed up to make up the room for the evening. I asked him not to, as I was too sick. I didn't dare let him in and have to rush to the bathroom. He wished me to feel better quite kindly.
J took photos of dinner as I would have for the future album.
I have no recollection of the rest of the evening, except for running to the bathroom so often and alternating between being cold and being hot. I think K brought me a Coke Zero from dinner.
The phone, by the way, said I'd done 5,111 steps for 1.8 miles and climbed 3 floors. The day had gone so well until the late afternoon.
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