Our red-eye to Zürich departed around 7 PM, putting us in Switzerland at 8:30 AM.
It took us a solid hour to navigate passport control, retrieve our bags, and find the train to downtown Zürich.
In spite of our sleep-deprived state, we managed to quickly buy tickets and find the correct train in the Zürich main station.
It was about an hour's train ride to Basel SBB. Most of us stayed awake for the whole trip.
Once in Basel, it was a quick tram ride out to the Airbnb. It was several hours before we could check in, but we made contact and dropped off our luggage.
As usual with a 6-hour time change and basically no sleep, the name of the game was now Stay Awake, so we struck out on foot to find some lunch and occupy ourselves for the afternoon.
Our host had suggested we walk along the river, so we meandered roughly in that direction.
Almost everything is closed on Sunday here, so the streets were oddly (to us) empty.
Google maps suggested there were restaurants in-and-around Münsterplatz, so we wandered through it and chose the second place we encountered.
We enjoyed a not-so-light lunch at the Rollerhof bistro, attached to the culture museum.
After lunch, we resumed our quest to find the river.
The Rhine flows (swiftly) through the middle of Basel, separating Kleinbasel from Grossbasel.
We happened to be just above the landing of a ferry, so we found the stairs down and rode in style across the Rhine.
These ferries are unpowered. The strength of the current, redirected by the rudder, is all it takes to drive the boat from one side to the other; the boat is tethered to a pulley that rides on a cable, strung high above the water.
Once safely back on land, we strolled along the river with no particular ambitions.
There are so many of these statue/fountains around the city that they offer a guided tour to see some of them. Word on the street is that one could drink the water from them, but I haven't tried it yet.
During our river-crossing, we noticed many people floating in the river, clinging to colorful floats.
They're apparently dry bags, called wickelfisch. There are rentals available along the river, in case you forget yours at home.
It was approaching 3 PM at this point in our stroll, so we charted a course back towards the Airbnb.
We crossed back over the river on the Johanniterbrücke, and wandered through the old part of town, towards the train station.
The banks of the Rhine also serve as sort of a beach. The ferry operator told me the water is 21° C (about 70° F).
We stopped to admire city hall, in Marktplatz. (Didn't know that's what it was, at the time.)
By the time we walked back to the Basel SBB and took the tram back to the Airbnb, it was 4 o'clock. We were treated to an orientation by the host, and advised of the house rules.
The rumor that the Swiss are obsessed with cleanliness seems to be true; the first house rule was to wear the house slippers while in the house.
Google "sitzpinkler" if you're curious about the story behind this one.
The Airbnb is a four-bedroom apartment, on three floors; it's immaculately clean and minimally decorated.
Sabrina and I opted for the top floor, which is sort of like a studio apartment all unto itself.
We had time to settle in and shower off the travel film, before heading back out into the city. The conference attendees had an opening plenary to attend, so I went with them and wandered around the surrounding area.
There must be an entire series of these "boy with swan" fountains, spread across Basel.
It started to rain, so I retreated to a tavern until we could regroup for dinner.
We had a somewhat-late dinner at a local's place somewhere on Clarastrasse, although it escapes me which restaurant it was.
After dinner, we tram'd back to the Airbnb and all collapsed into bed.
Tomorrow, there's probably some conference happening. I have no specific plans.
No comments:
Post a Comment