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Published: April 15th 2024
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Town Hall I
The front of the building. My mum had given me a very special birthday present: a trip with Glacier Express and other panoramic trains in Switzerland. Two days prior to our departure, I caught a train to Stuttgart and spent two nights at my mum’s place. The train trip would start from Basel on the 26
th of August. Since Deutsche Bahn, the German train company, has become so notoriously unreliable, my mum and I had decided to travel to Basel a day in advance and spend one night there. So, in the morning of the 25
thof August, a friend of my mum’s drove us to the train station in Stuttgart and from there we caught a train to Karlsruhe and then to Basel SBB Station. Our hotel was just a 15-minute walk from the station. We checked in and were given the BaselCard, which, among other things, allowed us to use public transport in Basel for free. There was a tram station just a few steps from our hotel, and we caught a tram to Marktplatz (Market Square).
Right opposite the tram station, there was a café and chocolate shop we had read about in a newspaper article, Confiserie Schiesser. It is a family-run business
Town Hall II
Inside the courtyard. and the oldest coffeehouse in Switzerland. One can enjoy the view of the beautiful town hall just on the other side of the square. We went to sit upstairs, and it felt as if we had been transferred into the early 20
th century: wood-panelled walls decorated with copperplate prints, old-fashioned tables and chairs, it was amazing! We had tartes and chose from a big selection of teas.
Afterwards, we crossed the square and took a closer look at Basel Town Hall. It was built in the early 16
th century. There is a gate leading into a courtyard that has richly decorated columns and beautifully painted walls. And there is an example of past-days recycling: There were three small statues attached to a wall. The ones on the left and right were Emperor Henry II and Empress Kunigunde. The one between the two had been a Madonna statue before Reformation and was turned into Justitia after Reformation by simply putting a pair of scales into her left hand.
From Town Hall, we walked towards the river Rhine and Mittlere Brücke, a bridge crossing the river that has flags on both sides. From there, we walked up Rheinsprung, a steep
Town Hall II
Emperor Henry I and Empress Kunigunde, with the re-purposed Justitia between them (Madonna before Reformation). road that leads up to a hill on the left bank of the river. There were a lot of semi-timbered smaller houses, but also big, magnificent houses with delicate cast-iron fences and gates. The road took us to Münster, the church that is the famous landmark of the city. It was built between 1019 and 1500 in Romanesque and Gothic style. The church was closed already, but we could still visit the Gothic cloister. From one side of it, we had a beautiful view of the river, and there were a lot of gravestones on the walls and floors.
Just on the square Münster is located on, there was a nice restaurant where we went for dinner. From there, we walked to Fasnachts-Brunnen (“Carnival Fountain”), a fountain designed by Jean Tinguely. In a big basin, there are ten machine-like, moving sculptures that were built partly from former movable pieces of scenery from the old local theatre that were left after it had been demolished. It is amazing and fun to watch how rotating movements are changed into movements up- and downwards or into other kinds of movements. Wonderful engineering!
Just behind the fountain, there was a camping area.
Rheinsprung I
Steep road leading uphill on one side of the river Rhine, with semi-timbered houses. Yes. In the middle of the city. Just in front of the Basel Theatre. There were a few tents and two caravans, a small box office, washing-up facilities, and a container with showers and toilets. This is part of a project that is intended to draw attention to the future of living in cities and to climate change. One can go and camp there, and there will also be performances, different formats of dialogue, and so on. What a constructive, non-violent alternative to discussing and brainstorming about current, very serious issues.
It was getting late, and we caught the tram back to our hotel and had an early night.
On Saturday morning, I went for a morning run. It was not exactly a beautiful route, but it took me past a shopping mall where I had, many, many years ago when I was a university student, worked in a kind of sales promotion job. Our job at the time was to drive to different cities and build a climbing wall or an outdoor parkours that potential clients could use wearing outdoor clothes. We were usually on site for a few days and then went back home. My goodness.
Rheinsprung II
View towards the other side of the river Rhine, with modern buildings. The job had always been fun!
But back to the present. After my run, showering, having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, my mum and I caught the tram into the city centre again and walked to Münster. This time, it was open, and we could go inside. I was impressed with the attention to detail and the creativity that the old building masters and handcrafts had applied. Each pillar in the gothic nave had different ornaments. The windows behind the apsis were beautifully coloured. The baptismal font was richly decorated, as was the pulpit. We went down into the crypt as well. There is an old part just below the apsis, and an even older part (presumably from Carolingian times) that was not accessible but could be looked at through glass windows in two doors.
We returned to our hotel to get our luggage and went to the train station to meet the tour group we were going to go on the train journey with. Stay tuned for the next part of the trip!
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