Reunion with Kamba Hamba

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Geo: 47.5597, 7.58053

NOTE about the pictures: they tend to jump from event to event and seem to be out of order. This is because the pictures are in folder by camera........7D, laura camera, Robert pocket camera, and phone camera but hope does not confuse too much!

In 2014 while at Wildlife Camp in Zambia we met two intrepid travelers, Albert and Sue. We immediately became friends, talked of travel and because they had been to Venice picked their brains for our upcoming trip to Venice. When we finalized our dates to be in Switzerland, we contacted them and they invited us to come visit them in Basel. Stefan had some family business to attend to in Basel and so we all took the train to Basel where Stefan and Marianne headed off to attend to their business and Sue met us at the train station.n

Introduction to Basel

Took the bus back to their flat and got ourselves settled in and walked over to a coffee shop to meet Albert. The Tattoo Festival was going on that weekend so the streets of the central city were crowded with festival goers. According to Wikipedia, Basel Tattoo is an annual military tattoo show performed by International military bands, display teams, popular musicians, and tattoo formations in Basel, Switzerland. We saw some of the bagpipe groups when we were in the old town square.

We decided to take the ferry to get back across to the area where the Cafe Flore was located and go check out Albert's place of work. The ferries operating in Basel have a very interesting history. They were run by families through the generations and are operated without a motor and use a cable across the river and are moved from side to side by the current of the Rhine.

Albert works at Cafe Flore which at one time was a florist shop and has now been converted into a cafe with a interesting group of locals stopping by for a coffee or beer. Have a small food menu and a nice selection of beers and some wines as well. Spent the afternoon there visiting with Albert and then went back to their place for a nice salad with Sue out on the balcony.

Picnic on the Rhine

They both had the morning off so we gathered up all sorts of things and had a picnic sitting on the edge of the Rhine. A popular past time during the summer is floating down the Rhine carrying your belongings with you a a fish shaped dry sack! Albert said there is a day in the summer that everyone that can jumps in the river and floats by in large flotillas of people enjoying the river.

Germany for Ice Cream and Beer

The day had warmed up and Albert suggested we take a ride to Germany and have some ice cream! One of the ideas they are working with is setting up bicycle tours that are fairly flat and have some sort of public transportation to get you back to your starting point if you do not want to bicycle back. Albert has been collecting unclaimed bicycles, repairing them and these will be part of his bicycle tour bikes.

So, off we set not quite sure if we were going to have to go through a border check or not but had the passports just in case. The trail we used followed a river and was very beautiful and easy ride to the town of Liestal, Germany. Liestal, like many of the European cities we have been in, have a nice old town which is where we had our ice cream. Albert also ordered us all a beer which they do on a regular basis!

Another Ferry Ride and Tour of Old Town Basel

Albert and Sue both had to work so we decided to check out the Tinguely Museum and ride along the river on the bikes. The Museum was closed but we enjoyed checking out the river and having a picnic on one of the many benches along the river.

Albert came back to their flat and took us on another one of the ferries and a tour of the old town of Basel. All was quite interesting and it was nice to walk around and check things out. Came back and Albert fixed a great meal and Sue got off work so we were all able to enjoy this last dinner together.

Tinguely Museum

This is a most fascinating museums we have every seen. Tinguely was an artist known for his moving mechanical sculptures. Each one of them was unique in itself. You could push a button on the floor or table and watch as the sculpture moved. There was one enormous one that they only allowed it to be started every 15 minutes and it had so many moving parts, noises and interesting parts to it.

This was the end of our trip to Basel and said our goodbyes and caught the train back to Zurich.

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Photos

ferry crossing the Rhine river
amazing process for the ferry to cross, no engine, put uses the current and a wire across the river to get from side to side. The ferries were one of the first unions in Basel and they are passed down through their families as I understand.

Tattoo Festival participants
this festival draws people from around the world. Part military formations and part music groups .............this was a music group all with their beer steins attached to their belts!

bike ride to Germany
great ride, beautiful day and great friends

another fountain
don't remember what the significance of the monkey is, but there are a lot of them around as well as roosters

Albert and Robert
unfortunately Robert lost his fine "hat" while we were in Basel

another fountain
symbol in white is one of the symbols of Basel