Switzerland

view of Basel from the Munster tower

Second stop on our European tour:  Switzerland.  Our friends, Lance & Miriam, live in Basel, and have been kind enough to give us a place to stay for awhile.  If it seems as though we've fallen off the radar, we have.   (I have also, regretfully, fallen behind on my blogging - we have uploaded photos of our Stonehenge trip for viewing, but there is no blog post to go along with it.)  For the last several days, we've been touring around with our local guides, seeing everything from castles to cathedrals, taking in breathtaking scenery and wandering through the autumn festival, complete with it's own mini Oktoberfest. 

Basel is situated on the Swiss, German and French borders and we were brought to the "Three Points", where the countries meet.  With it's extensive bus and train systems, reliably consistent and punctual, you can get anywhere fairly quickly.  But with the pleasant autumn weather, it's much more enjoyable to slow things down and so we've been exploring the city on foot.  For history buffs, particularly the middle ages, Basel is the place to be.  A well-preserved medieval wall in Europe can be seen here, along with gates & towers.  A must-see in Basel is the Munster (cathedral), containing the remains of Erasmus, the Dutch Renaissance humanist.  With it's red sandstone architecture and colorful tile roof, it was built between 1019 and 1500 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles.  The four of us climbed one of the bell towers and got a panoramic view of the Rhine and other sights dotting the river's edge.  

the city's medieval walls

One hour before closing, the entrance fee to the city's museums is waived and so we took advantage of this to browse the Barfusserkirche Museum.  Full of tapestries, altar cloths & other religious artifacts, some highlights were the relics of Sts. Ursula and Pantalus, along with gold reliquaries and monstrances.  

the Rhine

Back outside, the air is redolent with the smell of heissi maroni, chestnuts brought from Italy, and it was impossible to walk by without sampling some.  A bag between the four of us took the edge off our hunger.  Street vendors roast the nuts in a large copper pot until fragrant and the heat cracks the shell.  Speaking of food, we were treated to Raclette on our first night.  Miriam prepared some potatoes and set out the condiments: pickled onions, baby corn, pineapple and cornichons while the cheese was melting in the raclette stove.  Once bubbly, we poured the cheese over the potatoes - delicious!