Let's Do It Again - Basel Switzerland - The Second Time Around

 

Basel on the Rhine River

When I first started traveling years ago I never wanted to really visit a city or location more than once.  I told friends and other travelers that there were so many places I wanted to see I did not have time to return to someplace I had already seen once.   Of course that was pure travel naivety on my part.  Then after a few years I fell in love with some locations and truly wanted to see them again.  But there are locations that I really had no big desire to return to a second time.  Basel was one of these places.  I love Switzerland.  It is my favorite country I have visited.  And Basel was my least favorite city I had visited there.  I've been to to Switzerland four times times now.  I have been to Zurich on three of those visits.  And I would return to Zurich again any time.  Each trip to Zurich has a required a visit to the mountain over looking the city for a cliff side glass glass of wine or cocktail at the Auto Klum on top of Uetilberg. .

Aperol Spritz at Uto Klum 2023

If I return to Zurich again I would go to Uetilberg and visit the Uto Klum again with no question.  But Basel was another story.  I first went there in 2003.  It was a lifetime ago now.  My life has changed so much since those days.  And there was nothing of interest that was calling me back to Basel. Mark and I went to Zurich in April 2023.  This was our third visit to Switzerland and our second to Zurich.  We had eight days to spend in Zurich and a five day Swiss Travel Pass for day trips.   Mark had suggested Basel as a place he was interested in seeing.  He liked the idea that it was on the German and French border and wanted to go there.   I told him I had been to Basel and was not really impressed.  It was probably my least favorite location I had visited in Switzerland.  There was nothing awful about it.  I just did not find it as interesting as many other cities I had seen in Switzerland.  But it was not a long train ride to get there. And we did have five travel days to explore so we ended up in Basel on one of those days. 

When I visit a city or a town for the first time I am always busy snapping photos, checking out restaurants, visiting churches and museums, the typical tourist stuff.  But I don't always notice the small unique things around me.  I am two busy trying to take in the over all experience of the location.  When I do return a second time it's usually a different experience.  My photos end up being detailed small objects.  The massive churches I have already seen and photographed.  The river banks are already in my collection of photos.  So I find myself focusing on the small details that I never notice on an initial visit.  But I ust was not sure about Basel.  I did not think I would much more  of interest on my second visit than I had on my first. 

I still took photos of the churches on this second visit of course. When I was in Basel in 2003 the Grossmunster was covered with scaffolding, as many churches are when I travel.  My photo was disappointing of course from all of the construction.

Basel Grossmunster - 2003

 However when I returned in April 2023, twenty years later I was able to get a photo free of scaffoling.

Basel Grossmunster  on the Rhine River 2023 sans scaffolding

But I did find another church this time covered in scaffolding to include on my annual church renovation travel photos.  I just expect this when I travel.

Elizabethenkirche - Basel under scaffolding 2023

As I walked through Basel on this visit I had a very different experience than I did in 2003.  I noticed many small details that I simply passed by on my initial visit.  These are not big things or necessarily important things.  But they are things I found interesting making Basel a much more fun experience this time.

I noticed people sitting along the banks of the Rhine River.  I don't know that I would have paid any attention to them on my initial visit.  I was too busy looking for the "big picture" experience of Basel. But they had the right idea.  Perhaps it was their second visit also.

I walked across this bridge several times in 2003.  I even had a photo taken of me on the bridge.  But I did not notice a lot of details.  On this visit I saw more than a bridge.  I noticed a lady on the sidewalk asking for coins bringing the human element into focus of Basel. 

Lady asking for coins on the bridge

This one makes me laugh.  I saw a head of a king on the side of a building sticking his tongue out at people was they walk by.   It's a small detail but it made me laugh.

Lällekönig -  King sticking out tongue  - 1914

I have also been learning a lot of German from my time in Basel.  While labeling and editing my photos of small details I have seen many words that I did not know.  Lälle könig interprets as Little King in my Google search.   I also learned that it is a well known symbolic figure in Basel and has probably existed since the 17th century. The house where he is hanging today was built in 1914.  

I saw this sculpture of St. George Slaying the Dragon over a fountain.  Labeling the photo I realized I had never read the story about St. George and the Dragon.  I had seen images before and even a know album cut called The George and Dragon from an old Herman's Hermits album   (now that is telling my age!)  So I took some time when I got home and researched the legend of St. George.  Thanks Basel for that interesting lesson.  

We walked past a restaurant called Papa Joe's.   It's a rather odd restaurant in Basel.  It's menu consists of American and Mexican food choices and I read that it's difficult to get a reservation here.  However what caught my attention was this unusual mural over the restaurant.  There is an angel on the left of the mural. And then three naked ladies or perhaps angels flying toward what looks like a naked Jesus with a cape.   I am not sure exactly what anything represents here.  But I was fascinated by the image and had to get a photo of it.  

Amazon leading a horse

Here is another sculpture that caught my attention.  This is titled Amazon Leading A Horse. It was created by Carl Burckhardt.  I found out it was his last work before his death in 1923 and it was donated to the city in 1926.   It is one of his best known works and it is  on the Mittlere Brücke. It is also his last work. The casting was done after his death.  I am sure I will return to this statue again and do more research.   I know it is an interpretation of an ancient statue.  The girl is looking across the river in this location.  And I am sure it has some historical significance for it's placing.

I saw this bar and restaurant called the Braunen Mutz  (The Brown Hat).   It has bear images on it's wall and a metal bear symbol hanging over its door.  I know bears are important images in Switzerland so this caught my attention.  But I was surprised when I translated the name to find it call The Brown Hat.  But all of this continued to make this visit Basel fun for me.

This is probably my biggest surprise of my visit.  There is a Rodan sculpture in Basel that I just happened to walk past after leaving the train station into the city.   Les bourgeois de Calais (The Burghers of Calais) by Rodin, 1884 - 1886 ~ outside  Kunstmuseum in Basel.   I am a huge fan of Rodan's works so I was thrilled to have seen this.  However when I walked past it I did not realize it was a Rodan or that it had any importance.  I only knew that I really it and was fascinated by it.  Not until later in my research did I realize who created it.  

As we were leaving Basel I told Mark that I found the city much more fascinating on this visit and that I was glad I had returned.   He told me he was surprised as he was not very impressed with Basel at all, much like me on my first visit.   He may have to return again and see if he finds it more interesting the second time around.  I'll take the train to Geneva that day.  Although I had a wonderful experience revisitng Basel, it once again was still my least favorite city I have visited in Switzerland.  But it was certainly worth a second chance.  

From bronze statues of Poseidon ...

To dragons hovering over bridges...

To me taking selfies with strange murals ...

I thoroughly enjoyed my second visit to Basel.    I was a member of Virtual Tourist, a travel web site that no longer exits, when I first visited Basel in 2003.  I wrote on that site that Basel had the opportunity to become a travel destination in the future.  The possibility was there for the future if the city had the resources to work on it.  Twenty years later in 2023 I still say that Basel has the potential but still needs some attention to detail.  

I am glad I returned.  I am glad I got to notice the small and unusual details that I missed on my first visit.   So I life a glass to Basel and a cheer because I enjoyed it much more the second time around.

Cheers! To Basel.  

Fulfilling Dreams - Swiss Travel Fantasies

On the cliff walk - Top of Europe

 

Diane Arbus said the word fantasies means " to indulge in reverie. to create or develop imaginative and often fantastic views or ideas. Doing things I'd fantasized about in my sheltered childhood" I was raised in a very sheltered childhood. I escaped through movies to worlds I thought I would never see and imagined adventures I would never be able to do. I have been very fortunate in my adult life to live out many of those childhood fantasies. Counting my blessings I often think of my family. I often wonder what dreams and fantasies my parents and grandmother had. I think about what they wanted to see and do but but were never able to fulfill those dreams. My mother never traveled abroad. She was a child of the depression and a young adult of the World War II years. Travel was just not an option for her. My father was raised in the country. He had a seventh grade education. I doubt he ever thought about Europe or world travel growing up. But he did get to travel to Europe. But it was no fantasy. He was drafted during World War II and almost died from war wounds in Italy near Rome. My grandmother was born poor and struggled most of her life. She married a young soldier she met during the World War I years. They met when he was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland near her home town. They married and they moved back to his home in Indiana. To my grandmother that was a huge move. She gave birth to her first child in Indiana. The child was still born and she went into a great depression and just wanted to return to her home in Maryland. So they returned to Maryland and that was the extent of her travel for her entire life.

My grandmother at Ocean City,Maryland

I love this photo. This was my grandmother in her late sixties. She lived just a two hour drive from the Atlantic Ocean yet had never been to see it. I remember this day how she stared out at the ocean for the longest time fascinated with the waves and the sand. She is sitting here with my sister Shelley and my father. She was his mother in law and he treated her with love and respect. They are in Ocean City, Maryland. To this day Ocean City is still a favorite destination for my sister.



One of my mothers fantasies was to visit New York City. She wanted to see a taping of The Tonight Show and maybe even a Broadway play. She never got to New York. The thought of taking a car or train to New York was just beyond her comprehension. We did have vacations growing up. We visited Ocean City. We took mountain trips to Skyline Drive and The Blue Ridge Parkway. My father loved his boat and we spent many vacations on his boat up and down the Chesapeake Bay.

I was never satisfied with any of that. I had big fantasies and places I wanted to see. I watched the world through the imagination of the James Bond movies. I wanted to see Switzerland where James Bond skied down the Schilthorn from Blofeld's sanctuary Piz Gloria on top of the mountain. I wanted to see Thailand where James Bond dueled with Scarmanga. And I wanted to see the Eiger in Switzerland, the mountain Clint Eastwood climbed the mountain in The Eiger Sanction. These were big fantasies. I was never satisfied with the safety of staying home. I wanted to get out and see the world. And I have been blessed as an adult to do this.

Larry at Piz Gloria on top the Schilthorn

Twenty years ago I did get to visit Switzerland.  It was a huge fantasty come true.  I got to take the cable car 10,000 feet into the Alps and visit the top of Schilthorn where Piz Glora, Blofeld's home was located.  The building is actually a rotating restaurant where I had lunch and a James Bond martini shaken not stirred.  

At Piz Gloria on top of the Schilthorn

In 2014 I had the opportunity to visit another fantasy location.  Jams Bond Island in Thailand.  This was the home to Bond villain Scaramanga.  I was very excited about this vacation.  However I slipped on a wet curb in Chiang Mai, Thailand and broke my ankle.  I did not realize it was broken.  We had three more days left of our vacation and I thought it was just a sprain.  We flew from Chiant Mai to Phuket. And from there we took a boat out to James Bond Island.  So I waded in from the boat to the shores of the island limping a little and hobbling a lot.  I was the old man holding up the rest of the tourists on this excursion.  But I was determined.   

James Bond Island in Phang Nga Bay - Thailand

I think that if my parents and grandmother were still alive they would be shocked at the places I have visited.  I know my husband Mark's parents would get upset with us traveling a lot.  His father told us we were tempting fate.  You can only fly so many times before something happens.  And I am sure my parents would have had similar fears.  My mother never flew an air plane.  My father drove to New York City with a tractor and trailer for his job and said he would never drive in that city again.  And to my knowledge that was his only time to ever see New York.  But one of my biggest fantasies was yet to come.

Mark and I returned to Switzerland for our third visit, my fourth, in April 2023.  We had a wonderful vacation, one of my favorite adventures of many we have shared.  And finally the Eiger mountain awaited me.  The mountain that Clint Eastwood challenged in The Eiger Sanction.  Another movie fantasy for me.  

We traveled by train from Zurich to Grindelwald.  The Swiss trains are wonderful to use.  They are extremely punctual.  They are comfortable even in second class.  And they allow you to see almost any location you want to see in Switzerland.  The town of Grindelwald was beautiful.

Grindelwald Switzerland

We took a twenty five minute cable car ride up to First Mountain which faces the Eiger.

And then we did the cliff walk.  A metal bridge attached to the side of the mountain 6,500 feet in elevation.  This is not my photo.  It's from a web site about the cliff walk.  But it shows the walk better than my photos.

This was a thrill.   Unlike Clink Eastwood (who did his own stunts) in The Eiger Sanction were were not hanging on the side of the Eiger.  But we were facing it and looking directly at it.  

Fulfilling Fantasies 

And how did we end out visit?

With a well sanctioned Eiger glass of wine.  I count my blessings.  I am very fortunate.  At age seventy still living out my fantasies.  I think my parents and my grandmother would be shocked but yet thrilled if they were here.  When I travel I often thing how much I would love to share the experiences with them.  And I often wish I could tell them all about it when I return home.  

There Are Many Paths to Follow - Enjoy the Journey

 

Helsingor, Denmark 2005

A path.  It can be a beginning.  It can be an ending.   It can be a road.  An alley.  It could be a winding river.  A bridge perhaps.  Even an abandoned rail road track.  There are many ways to define a path.  And there are many ways to look at them.   I took this photo above in Denmark, in the city of Helsingor.  I did not know then that it would inspire me to look for other paths to photograph.  It was just an interesting side street that I walked past.  I had recently joined the photo web site Flickr when I took this photo.  I was posting all of my travel photos there for my own enjoyment and for a back up storage.  I never really thought much about the fact that many people might see my photos on Flickr.  I posted this photo and labeled it Small Alley in Helsingor.  And suddenly I started to get comments on the photo.  I was invited to add it to a group in Flickr just called Paths.   In a short time the photo had 351 views.  I was amazed.  People even sent me messages about the photo.  And this started my interest in looking for paths to photograph.  The photo itself became a path.  It lead me to photograph many other streets and alleys.   And even now 17 years later I am still fascinated with taking photos of paths.

 

Pa'ia - Maui - Ho'okipa Beach.  

This path was at the end of a dirt road in Hawaii on the island of Mau'i.  The dirt road itself was a path that led me to this beautiful path.      At the end of the dirt road we found a secluded little beach.  There are many quiet and inspiring locations like this in the tourist heavy islands of Hawaii.  We looks for these when visit there. 

Some paths can tell you a story.  This interesting little crosswalk in Littleton, New Hampshire has a history and a story.  The Disney movie Pollyanna was based on the novel Pollyanna which was written in this little town.  The novel was a little darker than the Disney movie.  It ends with the little girl Pollyanna getting hit by a car.  This sign in the crosswalk has Pollyanna pictured waving and tells you to stop on the corner,  Look, then wave and cross the street. Each time I see my photo here the path leds me to memories of the seeing the movie as a child, and also now it leads to memories of an excellent brewery named Schilling Brewery at the end of this street.  

Some small paths are in big cities and lead you to beautiful churches.   This small side street in Montmartre in Paris led me to the beautiful Sacre Couer.  The photograph though focuses on the path with the huge over powering cathedral waiting to be discovered later in the background.  

It took a long journey for me to find this path.  It started in a junior high school English class where I was taught Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey and ended here in Wales at the actual Abbey over fifty years later.  That small sidewalk is the culmination of a life long journey the see this historic Abbey.  Looking at that path in the photo I am immediately transported back to my English class and learning to appreciate Wordsworth and then finally walking this path to the Abbey many years later.

Many paths are simple.  Just a narrow dirt path and a small stone wall.  Yet they are magical in their own way.   This path led to an isolated beach in Maui.   No crowds.  No tourists.  Just a quiet beautiful cove.  

Sidewalk cafe's in Trastevere - Rome 2016

I belong to several groups in Flickr that are just for paths or trails.  Several require no people in the photo.  They want just a path to tell the story.  But for me sometimes people are as much a part of the story as the path itself.   I can look at a photo of the Colosseum and immediate know it's Rome.  And I have a lot of photos of the Colosseum.  But to really feel or experience Rome all I need is a simple photo of a path with people dining in a narrow street.  This immediately transports me to Rome.  I don't need the crowds at the Spanish Steps or the throngs of tourists throwing coins in a fountain to transport me.  I need a simple path.  

County Wicklow - Ireland

Another path.  Another country.  County Wicklow in Ireland.  Not a fancy or elaborate photo.  But the path transports me once more.  This one brings back childhood memories going with my grandmother to see the Walt Disney film Darby O'Gill and the Little People.  It's a great memory because my grandmother did not go the movies ever.  But for some reason she and I ended up at our little small town theater watching Darby O'Gill.  And there are parts of that movie that are terrifying for a young child.  But my grandmother was with me and it became a favorite memory.  Not of fear from from the scary scenes, but a memory of being with her doing something special for me.  That's the journey I take when I see this photo of the path in Wicklow.  

Road to Chateau Aigle - Switzerland 2003

I have a several photos I took of  Chateau Aigle in Switzerland.  It is one of my favorite locations I have visited.  The Chateau is surrounded by a beautiful vineyard.  I walked from the village of Aigle to the Chateau.  I sat inside the Chateau and had a glass of wine made from the vineyards surrounding the Chateau.  Just me, by myself.  A wonderful quiet moment.  But then I look at this photo of this small road that led me to the Chateau and that memory completes the experience for me.  

A path can  be part of a beautiful bright blue day.

A path can take you to a quiet reflective moment on the water front.

Pier on the Patapasco with the Hanover Street Bridge in the background - Baltimore

A path can take you out of a bustling tourist filled city center to a quiet hillside view.

Mark climbing the steps
 to Janiculum Hill  - Rome 2018 

And a path can lead you home.

I have not traveled since Covid happened.  I have missed flying.  I have missed seeing new and exciting places.  But most of all I have missed the paths that take me away.   Things are opening up now.  People are traveling once more. And we have some travel plans for the very near future.    Enjoy your journeys.  But most of all take time to reflect on the paths that take you there.  

The 2021 Variant - The Year We All Said Would Be Better

 I reread my 2020 year end blog before starting to write my new one for 2021.   I ended last year in isolation, staying at home, and being anxious about Covid.   The vaccines were not quite available yet.  It was scary to even think about going out any place.   I started the new year with hopes of getting a vaccine and getting my life back to normal.   I soon realized I had no idea what normal was any more. We were not getting a new year.   It was going to be 2020 the 21 variant.  

I grew a Covid beard in 2020 and had planned to clean it up in the new year.  But we never really got that new year and the beard remains.   I have kept it trimmed and not long.  But this is still a first for me and I have grown to appreciate it.  I have a feeling it will still be here at the end of 2022 also.  

2019 

2020

2021

I spent most of January and February still in lock down but not just because of Covid.  Our dog Tallulah had been hit by a car in December 2020.   She had surgery on December 23, 2020 and the emergency vet tried to save her front leg.   We brought her home on Christmas Eve 2020.   She was under complete sedation and was not supposed to move at all.   We found out eight weeks later that the surgery was not successful and she would need her front leg amputated.  So I remained at home with her for her recovery from the amputation which was just as well as I had not received a my Covid shot yet and should not have been out anyway.

Me with Tallulah in recovery

My daughters and Mark were all concerned that I should get my Covid Vax as soon as I was eligible.  My age group was opened in March for the shot.   Katie drove me down to the Raven's Football stadium where the state of Maryland was doing mass vaccinations.   

Johnny Unitas Memorial masked up at Mass Vaccination site.

I was glad to get the vaccination hoping it would allow me to get back to some sort of normalcy.  But as I mentioned above I was soon to find out I still had no idea what normal really was any more.  Three days after getting the vaccine I woke up to find that I had no sense of taste of smell.  I knew what that meant!  I had Covid.  I went to the nearest test location at my local CVS Pharmacy to do a drive through test.  One day later I had my response.  I tested positive for Covid.  This was certainly not part of my plane.  I was still home with a recuperating dog and now I was concerned about getting ill from Covid.  I was very fortunate.  My case was very mild, thanks to the vaccine I had taken right before being diagnosed.  I had no other symptoms other than no taste or smell.  No fever.  No weakness.  And within the week my taste and smell has returned.  But we still had to stay quarantined for a full ten days.  I spoke with my personal physician by way of a Zoom meeting.  He said I could assume I caught it while in line for the shot at the mass distribution site and that in his opinion my vaccination worked because I had such a light case.

April the fourth was a big day for me this year.  I felt some sense of things returning to some kind of normal.   

I was a fully vaccinated Covid surviving member of society and I returned to favorite bar, Racers, and had my first beer back inside the bar.  

Now for the next big step.  Mark was finally qualified to be vaccinated.  So now we were wondering if we would be to do some traveling.   Nothing big, nothing out of the country.  We had really wanted to go to Hawaii again but that was just not possible.  So instead I found a wonderful beach rental on the Outer Banks.  Tallulah was doing well with only three legs but we could not see ourselves leaving her at a kennel just yet.  Luckily the house I found to rent had handicap access ramps.  It was perfect.  

Tallulah loved the beach house and spent a lot of time on the deck watching the neighbors.   This had to be one of our best vacations in a long time.  We were still somewhat isolated but it could not have been more relaxing.  

We were able to do some more local traveling in September over the Labor Day weekend.   Oh how we wanted it to be Hawaii again but that still just was not happening for us.  Plane travel was still sketchy.  People were fighting on planes over mask mandates.  Flight schedules were not dependable.  And honestly Hawaii was not being too open to tourists returning yet anyway and who can blame them.  And due to the unvaccinated Covid just kept growing.  After some initial Google searches we were able to find a log cabin to rent in New Hampshire in the same area we vacationed in 2020.   So the 2021 varient year of 2020 continued for us.  

We enjoyed New England as much this year as we did in 2020.  And the blending of the years continued.  Writing now it's difficult to remember did that happen in 2020 or was it 2021.  It's almost liked we have blotted out 2020 and just jumped from 2019 right into 2021.  It's still difficult even going through photos to tell the story of this year to differentiate what happened and when.   And to make it even more bizarre I am currently researching plans for a return this spring to New England.  

We found out that Tallulah does travel well.  She managed the both trips in the car with no real issues.  She was more relaxed than at home. At home she is on constant guard duty guarding our house and yard growling and barking at everything and anything that moves.  But on the vacations she seemed to be on vacation also.  She ignored most of the dogs at the rest stops.  She did not bark at any of the neighboring vacationers at either location.  She pretty much became a some what normal dog.  And then we returned home and she went back to her self appointed guard dog duties.  

Tallulah on vacation from guard dog duty

Our isolated cabin in Eidelweiss Village New Hampshire

Our cabin was isolated and on a dirt road.  We were surround by beautiful lakes, trails, mountains and wild turkeys!  The only time Tallulah got really animated was when a large group of wild turkeys decided to visit out yard.   She also got a little agitated one evening and the next morning I saw a paw print that might have been from a small bear in our back yard.   But other than the wild life there was nothing there bother us and we had one of our most relaxed vacations in years.  We hiked.  We photographed lakes. We saw lighthouses and cliff climbers.  We drove to Maine and my daughter from Massachusetts drove up to see us for a day also.   

Portland Maine Lighthouse

Cliff climbers at Cathedral Ledge

The year progressed to a slow end by December.  I saw some friends get sick.  I saw some friends die.  I got angry at Covid.  I got angry at the unvaxxed who continue to make this pandemic a political argument while I tried to avoid political arguments.  And I spent a lot of time at my local bar.     Day drinking at Racers was my one refuge.   With Covid and the restrictions, depleted staff,  and the general malaise of the year they survived.  Many places closed permanently.  Some closed temporarily.   But my favorite bar survived.   Monday mornings this was where you would find me.  It was never crowded.  There was no real concern of getting infected from people who were not there.  It was just me and my bartenders this year.  Roxy, Mariam, Bernard, John, Eric, and Brooks kept me entertained and hopefully I didn't bore them too much with my old man stories.   And I thank the manager Emily for her kindness to an old man with free tickets to a local beer event this year and many free samples of the newest beers on draft. And Monday regulars Lou, Chris, Roger all properly vaxxed.  All feeling safe.  And all glad for the escape.   They all helped me keep my sanity this year.  

Colorful beers in a black and white world - Racers - The 2021 Varient

 

Ending this year I am glad t to have had my family together all at the same time over the Christmas holidays this.   I am grateful for the vaccinations and the boosters being available. I am thankful they are all vaccinated and have received their boosters.  I am thankful to have survived a very minor Covid infection.   I am thankful for a year with strong leadership from our President and no longer going to bed angry or fearful each night from the actions of his predecessor.  And I am looking forward to a new year.  Will it be 2020 variant 22 this year?   Will we all adjust to the new normal?  It's difficult to say.  I do know I will miss those good friends and family who did not survive this year.  I dread hitting the big 70 this year but grateful to have been able to make it this far. 

And Tallulah is looking forward to another vacation from her guard duties and returning to her mountain retreat.