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.  

Two Crazy Guys In Milan - Due pazzi ragazzi a Milano

Milan's Awe Inspiring Duomo

Mark and I made a last minute decision to travel to Milan in March 2019.   This was truly a last minute decision.  We had been planning for a year to travel to Bulgaria to meet with our Virtual Tourist friends for their annual Euromeet in June.   Then suddenly Mark had a drastic change in employment  The bank where he works was sold and we had no idea what he employment situation would be for the rest of the year so we put all travel plans on the back burner.  Fortunately Mark found a new job before his current job ended.  He was to start his new job the end of March.  So there was no way we could still plan the trip to Bulgaria in June.  He would have no time accumulated for a vacation and let's face it, it's not good practice to start a new job asking for vacation two months later.  So we decided to take take a brief vacation between the ending of one job and the starting of the other.  But we only had two weeks to make the plans and leave for the trip to make this work.  And how do you plan, research,and book a trip in that short of a time span?  The easiest thing would be to plan a car trip locally.  Maybe the Blue Ridge Parkway, maybe North Carolina's Outer Banks.   Even a flight to the the western US using airline mileage and a rental car would not be too difficult to pull off.    So what did we end up doing?   We went to Milan, Italy.

I always like to name my vacations.   It makes it easy to label the file folders for my photos in my computer.  It gives me an instant reference when thinking about the trip and reflecting on it months  later.  Since this was such a crazy last minute idea I named this vacation Due Paazi Ragazzi a Milano which is Italian for  Two crazy guys in Milan.

When we plan vacations we brainstorm ideas of places we might both want to see, especially places neither of us have visited before.  Many times we mention places to visit and then realize one or the other of us have already been there and we always say "But you have already been there. Let's find someplace we both have not seen."  So I was hesitant to mention Milan at first as I had been there in 2002 long before I knew Mark.   And also Milan is not always the most popular choice of cities to visit in Italy.   I fell in love with Milan on my first visit although most of the guide books warned me there were more exciting cities to visit.  Even at the airport when I was checking in for my flight the woman at the Alitalia ticket counter questioned my choice of visiting Milan.  So it may have been that I was not expecting a lot when I arrived which caused me to be pleasantly surprised.  But I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and have always said I wanted to return one day.  However I was concerned when Mark agreed on Milan.  I knew it would be his only major vacation this year and I did not want him to be disappointed.   I warned him Milan was not Rome or Venice or even Florence.  It was unique to itself and its treasures were not obvious.  You had to walk the street, keep your eyes open and explore the back streets to find the hidden treasures of Milan.  Other than the beautiful Duomo not a lot screams at you Stop Now in Milan.   You have to go find it.  I think this is what sold Mark on Milan.  He loves to walk and explore.  Give him a map and he is thrilled to see what he can discover.

People watching in Milan

We found many churches to visit of course.  However we did not get to see DaVinci's The Last Supper.  You have to make reservations way in advance.  So after two trip to Milan I still have not seen the masterpiece.   Maybe I will get back one day to to eventually see it. Instead I saw lots of interesting people like this romantic couple in the photo above.  The girl is obviously in a romantic mode in this beautiful city and the guy is obviously more interested in his cell phone.   She  has no idea.

I also discovered a new beer which became a favorite.  I have not seen it here at home so I made sure to have plenty while in Milan.

We stayed at a kooky hotel named Allegroitalia Espresso Hotel.  It had a strange subway map motif in the hallway.

Our hotel room had a wine cork screw design on the door.

And the hotel had no morning breakfast which is common is so many European hotel.   But we were not disappointed because they had a free dinner buffet in the evening  instead.  This hotel did everything out of the ordinary.   They had a huge lounge area with the food and also a bar.  There were huge flat screen TV's where we got to watch soccer live.  The employees were encouraged to interact with the guests.  So they watched the games with us.  Ate at the dinner buffet and also played table top and video games with everyone. 

Free food and soccer at 2100 hours in the hotel

Next subject.  Food.  We love Italian food.  It is my favorite type of food  And Mark is Italian so he knows good Italian food.   We loved Rome two years ago.   We had great meals in Rome.  But we both agreed we were more impressed with the food in Milan.  We ate most of our meals in our little neighborhood where the kooky hotel was located.  And we found a favorite bar and restaurant which was on the unusual side also.   It was named Le Biciclette.   Small, ecelectic, and very much a small neighborhood favorite.  We had great food, interesting drinks and laughs with the bartenders.   I love a good Aperol Spritz when in Italy.  But I have never seen one made with an olive and a cherry.  Always just a cherry.  But the bartender added an olive each time and it elevated the drink to a very different and interesting level.

Le Biciclette 

We sat in a rooftop bar near the Duomo on another day for another Aperol  Spritz, this time without the olive.   But look at my view in the photo.  Could there be a more picturesque location for a mid afternoon cocktail?

Other than Aperol Spritz's and Ichnusa beer we also found time for some of our favorite foods in all of Italy.

We could have planned for months in advance.  We could have booked reservations for The Last Supper.   We could have taken hours visiting churches and monuments we found on internet searches instead of just finding them by surprise on our daily walks.  But we would have missed the soul of Milan.  I think this is why so many people do not find Milan to be a favorite.   It's a city with a hidden soul.  It's a city that is waiting for you to take the time to discover it's secrets.   And it was so worth the effort.   So if you are planning a last minute trip and only have two weeks to book the trip do something different.   Discover the back neighborhoods and side streets of Milan.

A room with a view.  The view from our hotel window

Vittorio Emanuelle II memorial in the Piazza del Duomo

Be like the Due pazzi regazzi a Milano, the two crazy guys in Milan.

The two crazy guys at Le Biciclette