It was day six of our trip in Switzerland and things were to an end. Sadly, it was time to head home. Unfortunately for us, Lucerne is about a seven hour drive from where were live in France, which is a lot of time to be spending on the road.
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Contemplating the drive and not looking forward to being in a car that long, we made a last minute decision to see one more city on the way and decided that that city would be the border town of Basel.
Basel was only like an hour or so away from Lucerne so it didn't really break up the drive for us but it was a good opportunity to see one more city along the way.
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I hadn't done much research on Basel prior to going there and I originally thought that it was only a small town. But as we pulled off the main highway and up to the location I realized that its actually a large sprawling city with a population of over 170 thousand people.
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Anyway, we parked the car and immediately went and sat down at a small cafe for breakfast. There I had avocado on toast and learned that avocados and strawberries make an excellent combination.
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Small sparrows hovered around the tables waiting patiently for people to finish up their early morning meal. When they left the sparrows would quickly swoop in and feast on the small scraps of food left behind. We got a kick out of watching them eat bits of seeds from the plates and were surprised to see that they tended to favor the jam left on the plate over the small scraps of bread crumbs.
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Along our walk to the main city center I spotted this mural on the outside of a small pub. Two shadowed figures having an conversation, or maybe its an argument - who knows?
Drama in Market Square
Making or way to the main plaza square we noticed a stopped tram and a large gathering of people. It seemed that a driver in a small red car had pulled out in front of the tram and had caused an accident.
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A large patch of tire tracks indicated that the car had been dragged (or pushed rather) by the tram for some distance before it finally came to a stop. The car was still drivable though despite a large dent and scratch up the the entire length of the passenger side.
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This was the second time in the country that we had witnessed a bit of drama involving a city tram. In Bern a young woman was biking down a city street when a tram came up behind her and blasted the horn for her to get out of the way. Surprisingly, the young woman held her ground and refused to move over for the tram. Instead she turned on her bike and shook her fist at the driver while yelling obscenities in his general direction. That was followed by more horn blasts from the tram and more yelling from the woman. I was actually a bit nervous for her as the tram didn't appear to be slowing down and it came dangerously close to her back wheel.
City Hall Building
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Rathaus (aka city hall) is located in the main market square of Basel and is one of the most iconic and readily visited buildings in the entire city.
The building is large and red and nearly impossible to miss upon entering the area.
Construction of Rathaus began in 1504-1514. It is built using red sandstone and the structure is over 500 years old. The small main courtyard is open to the public and with its lavish paintings and ornate decorations, it is quite a site to see.
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Large murals are painted on each of the four walls. They were commissioned in 1521 by the artist Hans Holbein, who later went on to become the "Kings Painter" in England during the reign of Henry VIII. A statue of Lucius Munatius Plancus, founder of the city of Lyon France and the Roman City of Augusta Raurica, can also bee seen.
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The building has been added to over the years with several large additions including several administrative buildings, an assembly hall and a large attached tower.
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Fittingly, most of the paintings inside and out relate to law, order and justice. The Roman goddess Justitia appears over the front chambers.
The building is still used today as a chancellery as well as the main department building for Presidential Affairs.
After our brief stop over in Basel we headed back to our car to make the long journey back home. Thanks for following along. Until next time.
If you are interested in seeing more of the beautiful country of Switzerland then check out my previous post by clicking the link below.
Just this week I picked up my van. I left Tue. at 5:00 A.M., drove to from Saarbruecken to Ahrensburg (N of Hamburg), returned the rental car, got the van delivered, and drove it home. Arrival back home 3:00 A.M. the next day. Lots of speed limits and massive slowdowns due to patching-up construction on really shitty autobahns. Admittedly some breaks to take care of misc. bodily functions, too - including smoke breaks.
Germany wastes the resources of its taxpayers on all of Europe and doesn't have the cash to fix her own potholes anymore. The main bridge over the Rhine north of Cologne (Leverkusener Brücke) is so decrepit, it's blocked for trucks via radar weight control and special traffic lights, while cars have to cross it at 30 kph. Such elaborate protective measures point towards their permanence - no money to fix the f.cking bridge anytime soon. Yes, there is construction going on (supposedly) with a projected date of 2025. How that's gonna be we can admire at the new airport in Berlin, which is used as a carpark for surplus Volkswagens and not much else. SHAMEFUL!
(Photo from Wikipedia)
On the beautiful toll roads of France I'd gladly do Bâle - Senlis standing on my head and steering with my pinky toe. Driving doesn't bother me at all. Having said that, driving is one thing, travelling another. The trick is, knowing the difference and behaving accordingly.
Thats a lot of driving in a short period of time, wow. That would be difficult for me. I have difficulty sitting for more than 3 hours typically lol.
Thats a shame that there are so many issues with the road. Germany doesn't seem to have the same sort of tolls that France does. That would pay for the road work but then you're paying tolls everywhere you go. You can't go anywhere in France without paying a toll. I'm not familiar with the politics of how the EU collectively spends its money but I know that some countries pick up the slack of others and some aren't happy about it (i.e. Brexit).
There is no "its money". It doesn't have any. There is a saying in Brussels: "In the end, Germany will pay." That's exactly how it is. With the exception of a few smaller countries (e.g. the frugal 4) all others including the big ones like France, Italy, Spain are broke. The Brits, former net contributors, are gone. The Euro should have crashed a long time ago, this sh.t isn't new but has been going on for more than 10 years. Germany keeps flogging this dead horse with her formerly excellent economy and her stellar credit rating, but the air is getting VERY thin.
Supposedly, our economy has this great export revenue, but due to the TARGET II system we're financing our own exports. You might say, we're giving away the goods to our EU trading partners for free. The TARGET II balance is roundabout 1,000,000,000,000 EUR at any given time - a debt that's simply irrecoverable. If it was called in, the Euro would collapse that very day. But the German voter thinks we're "export champions" profiting from the EU market.
This is all complicated and very hard to explain in a few words, but trust me, it's extremely upsetting to a German taxpayer with half a brain. The German working stiff hasn't realised that he's supposed to work 'til age 70 and pay massive taxes, while some in the EU pay a lot less and retire comfortably at age 55! By rights, our political leadership should hang from those decrepit bridges for high treason.
There is a good chance they will - the day the leftist media start telling the truth. All of this is only possible because our system of checks and balances is poorly thought out and the supposedly independent media as the 4th power aren't doing their job.
Anyway that's my extremely simplified rant for today. No sense crying over what I can't change.
You did a pretty good job explaining all that despite the complexity of the topic. That's interesting. I find any conversation (or contemplation) regarding politics and economy tend to lead to internal frustration, no matter what country you are from lol.
That's definitely a long drive to do in one shot. Eight hours on the road is long. Last year, we drove from Les Sables d'Olonne all the way to Lake Konstanz then down to Geneva. Between France and Germany we had to take an overnight stay in one of the cities along the highway. The journey is beautiful though.
Yeah I'm not a huge fan of really long driving trips but sometimes they have to be done. Sometimes we will leave super early in the morning to avoid traffic which helps.
That sounds like quite the drive as well. Stop overs help
Jo next time youre in Zürich let me know! I live here and can shiw you around 🇨🇭
Greez
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I haven't been to Zürich yet so I will keep that in mind. Thanks
Awsome! Hope you had a grate time here ina the switzerland, all the best for youre journey, stay healthy and happy 🍀
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Thanks. I appreciate that.
We definitely ad a great time. The country is amazing
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