Basel, Switzerland!

We had a nice last dinner with Carmen, just talking and reminiscing about our time in Salamanca, what we were on to next, and wishing each other well.  Tim and Tanner and I went about a week ago to the plaza mayor at night with shirts and ties on and took a picture, which we framed and gave to her, 

along with it we gave her this really cool wine holder (the wine holder was originally supposed to go home with me for mom and dad, but there was no room in my backpack and the post office was closed on Saturday, sorry mom and dad).  She loved both gifts, and started to tear up a bit giving us hugs, but held it together.  Saying goodbye in the morning was sad, I’m gonna miss her.

Tanman and I had a longgg day of travel to Stuttgart, total transit was 6AM to like 10:30PM, from the door of our apt in Spain to the door of our hostel in Stuttgart.  Highlight of the travel was flying over the Swiss Alps, SO AWESOME.

beautiful swiss alps

When we got to Stuttgart, we went out for a beer and some cheap mexican food which hit the spot.  Next morning we woke up and headed to Basel via train.  The weather thus far has been terrible, and is not looking any better for the duration of our trip, but it hasn’t put a damper on the trip yet.  The first night in Basel we took a tram to the city center, and did a walking tour that they had signs for every few hundred yards, and they had like 4 different walking tours, which was very convenient and tourist friendly.  We walked a bit out of town for dinner because everything WAS SO EXPENSIVE in Switzerland, so we just got deliciously cheap but super filling Kebab stuff.  We grabbed a beer after that and sat along the river, just taking it all in.  After that, we went and drank some Gluhwein (Glu – vine) in the holiday market, which is like a hot wine, with cinnamon, oranges, apples, and a bunch of other spices, yummm.

Cheers to Gluhwein by the fire!

Day 2 in Basel, we headed to the Vitra Museum of Design and Architecture, just over the German border outside of Switzerland (basel is RIGHT on the border).  It was a different type of museum, which I liked, with an exhibition about the famous architect John Steiner and how his views came about.  The main museum building was the first one built by Frank O. Gery in Europe, and that’s where the Steiner exhibition was.  Here it is, it looked crazy from every angle.

The other building we went in was more along the lines of the interior design side of things, but I liked the look of it better.  It looked like it was several houses on top of each other, but it was all connected, intertwined – a cooler and more interesting design for my money.  

It was all one big Spiral of an inside!

The furniture was interesting to look at, it was neat to see what is on the cutting edge of interior design, and how far behind that cutting edge I am!

We got back into old town Basel around 2:30, and walked around some more just sort of wandering – we went through the “Venice” type area of Basel where the river jutts into the old town for a few hundred feet.  

cool little canal

From there we hit a different Christmas market for a few glasses of Gluhwein and some browsing at the Christmas Markets they had, which were so neat and right up my alley.  They were soo expensive, but there is one here in Salzburg, Austria, where I am right now, so I'm thinking prices will be better there.

Christmas market!

tonss of little booths like this with all kinds of nick-nacks

Both nights we were back at the hostel pretty early, because it was outrageously expensive at night – a draft beer was 8 Swiss Frank, or just over 9 US Dollars.  Needless to say we just relaxed at the hostel and spent our energy walking around and touring all day.

Off to see Salzburg for the next two days!  Happy Holidays everyone!