Basel

Recently my (middle) sister and I went to Basel, Switzerland for a couple nights. It's the first time we have gone away just the two of us so it was long over-due. After a turbulent flight and bumpy landing, which included almost losing my hand (she doesn't like flying) we were in Basel airport. Which is an airport with exits to three countries - France, Germany and of course Switzerland.

We had a cozy studio apartment just a stroll away from the Rhine and a wee walk from the town centre. The host had left us a lovely welcome in the form of mini bounties on our pillows, so after our swift tiny snack it was time to explore and make the most of our 48 hour trip.

We meandered along the river - coffee and pastry in hand - taking in the beautiful architecture and pointing out our favourite houses, passing nursery groups lead by men (a sight I've not come across before) and many joggers. All the building are in muted colours, with accentuating darker shutters and balconies, many of which have crow statues on them (never found out why but guessed it might be to scare away other birds). They are all piled on top of each other varying in height and width, my favourite being skinny tall buildings squashed in between grand townhouses. It is a city of no traffic lights, just full of zebra crossings which everyone stops for (we think we slowed everyone down by waiting till they stopped before crossing rather than just going for it). Shortly before arriving at our destination, the Tinguely Museum, we were startled by a man running past us head to toe in a wetsuit who then climbed down into the Rhine for a brisk swim. It is a popular swimming place during the summer months and although it was one of the cleanest rivers I've ever seen I wouldn't fancy a dip in the low temperatures (however mild it was compared to Glasgow) and pouring rain, each to their own I guess. 

The museum is full of moving sculptures made by Jean Tinguely. Some clever some odd, most made from scrap he's found. I enjoyed pushing the big red buttons to get them to move (what is it about big buttons that just have to be pushed?) however I wouldn't be desperate to return. We are spoilt in the UK by free museums so I always slightly begrudge paying for them (especially 18 francs each), luckily my sis is like me and is satisfied by a quick walk round rather than reading every single plaque. There was a very clever sculpture made from a pulled apart formula one car and another sculpture that was a car which would be well suited to the movie Mad Max. However most of the sculptures had teddy bears or dead deer heads incorporated in them which put them more on the creepy side of art. 

On our way back we decided to toast our trip with a nice glass of Moët (the cakes looked amazing, unfortunately we didn't go back there) before moving on for dinner. We split a lovely pizza (one of the best I've had) and a salad (which we had to order as there would be a surcharge for just splitting a pizza) in a restaurant overlooking the water - unfortunately there was no window seats available. We soon realised we would need more money as Basel cannot be considered a cheap holiday destination. However in saying that we got a nice bottle of prosecco and biscuits cheaply at the supermarket to enjoy that evening while watching catfish (only thing on in English) before an early night.

The temperature had dropped dramatically the next day but it had stopped raining which is always a good thing. First stop - breakfast. After croissants, coffee and people watching, we headed off to explore. Basel is full of boutique stores, each individual and cute, most with Christmas trees outside, which makes it a great place to go to get the festive feeling (even if we were a week too early for the Christmas markets and the lights being on). We had decided to do a (free) walking tour that afternoon so grabbed a large extra hot coffee and some fresh hot chestnuts to take with us to try put some warmth into us (we had left gloves and extra layers at the apartment due the mildness of the previous day). The tour guide was brilliant and we covered all the major landmarks within the small city and lots of the back streets in the old part of town (being a European city it is all old, even more so because they weren't part of either of the world wars, so really it was the old old part). We then headed to the warmth of our apartment for a quick rest and to bring feeling back to our noses and toes. 

Next stop was xocolatl, for a hot chocolate made from the finest Swiss chocolate. It was delicious. Then burgers and beers (the most expensive burger and beer I've ever eaten) followed by another early night.

Our final morning was spent much the same, eating and wandering. We ended our holiday with prosecco and ice cream over looking the spectacular bright red town hall before heading to the airport for our short flight home...the flight was short but due to engineering issues (which meant having to get a different plane, which had other routes to fly first) we arrived home 5 hours later than expected.

Basel itself was brilliant. It's a beautiful city that I'd like to see in the summer and covered in snow. We couldn't get over how quiet and peaceful it seemed and both agreed we would go back.