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Published: October 1st 2022
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Our night in Wilderswil was warm and comfortable, partially due to the thick hand hewn timber lining the internal walls, a major source of insulation in the older buildings. The Edelweiss Lodge opened its doors in 1900, and has been servicing travellers and tourism with a smile, continuously ever since. The restaurant overlooking the structured ornamental garden, and the bountiful vegetable garden that supplements the restaurant, serves traditional Swiss cuisine at a reasonable price, and the complimentary breakfast was a buffet affair, with something to satisfy all tastes.
We were fuelled up and ready for the bleak conditions awaiting us outside.
It’s great weather for ducks. The rain has been gentle but consistent since leaving Wilderswil, but still allowed a last look at the Alps before starting on our journey to Strasburg. Our stop at Lauterbrunnen earlier today was blessed by light drizzle, allowing a stroll up through the village to view the waterfalls, with water free falling hundreds of feet, only to land at the base of the mountains.
The dense fog and shifting cloud cover reduced our visibility, but rare glimpses of snow capped peaks made it all worth while.
After leaving the
Alps behind, we passed through green fertile countryside with pumpkins lying among wilted vines, waiting for collection , low lying leafy salads carpeting large fields, and ripe corn bowing to the heavy winds that have come up this afternoon.
We are driving towards Basel, having foregone other pretty villages due to poor weather.
Basel is divided by the Rhine River, and is considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland. It has a picturesque Old Town, dating back to the 11th century, and boasts of Switzerland’s largest university, The University is known as a haven and supporter of humanitarian issues. Erasmus of Rotterdam, the renowned philosopher, fled to Basel and is buried in the Cathedral.
It has developed into a major industrial hub, and is home to the largest group of pharmaceutical producers in the world, Roche, and Novartis.
Roger Federer, the recently retired tennis player is its current most famous resident, but we didn’t go to wish Roger best wishes, we will just have a breather, stretch our legs, look around, and get back on the road to Strasburg.
We bought sausages in mustard wth a slab of rye bread for lunch from the
Town Market, held every Saturday outside the Town Hall, and wandered the Old Town and Cathedral Precinct . It’s a beautiful busy city, has a constant flow of trams moving up the Main Street, and the Cathedral and it’s surrounds, set high above the River Rhone , offers uninterrupted views up both sides of the river from a shady , stone paved courtyard out the back.
As the sun just reaches that place on the horizon where it’s just a pain - the glare slicing the car in half, making driving an extra challenge- but fortunately I’m not driving.
We drove into the heart of Strasbourg for dinner, and ate pork at The Pigeon, a restaurant more in the German mould than French, housed in a 1530 building. I chose the Pork Knuckle with salad and potatoes but the salad went missing. The serve was generous and delicious, so I let the salad pass.
It’s been a long day but we have two free days coming up before the Netherlands.
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