Saturday, May 28 -- Basel 2

A good night's sleep, hooray!  Getting ready for the complimentary (at least to Viking customers) breakfast buffet.  There are some memorable details here, including this mysterious instruction:

Some more-typical European flourishes...the room key goes in a control slit by the door, which then allows you to turn on lights in the room.  The practical Swiss do not spend time on towel origami, but DO provide a very nice tray of toiletries.  There are doilies protecting the bottom of the trash can!

The plaza by the door has numerous beautiful planters.

Breakfast was a nice mix of European favorites...soft-scrambled or hard-boiled eggs with potatoes, sausage and/or bacon.  A cold buffet of meats and cheeses.  Yogurt parfaits.  A swell bakery table with both fine breads and genuine, crunchy Danish pastries (in miniature!).  A pot of coffee left on the table for refills-at-will.  Very nice way to start the day.

Today's activity was a two-hour walking tour of the older part of town.  Places NOT on the tram route!  We did start out on a tram, though, enjoying the unobstructed view of the Rhine.  After some Swiss history and an informal quiz (biggest export?  Coffee!  Also about the biggest import, therefore; Nestle processes it into various forms and sells to the world), we set off onto some side streets.

The buildings have much to tell about the complex history of this small country wedged between Italy, France and Germany.  Huge doors not only indicate wealth, but remind us that visitors arrived by carriage in those days.

There's also reminders of the ebb and flow of religions and sects, and excavation from the very early Celtic settlers, replaced by

Roman garrisons and then sequential waves of neighbors until the federation of cantons finally wrested its independence -- precipitated by William Tell.  (He had refused to doff his hat to the occupiers, and was required to shoot the apple off of his son's head as punishment.  His tormenter noted that William had TWO arrows, and made the mistake of asking the purpose of the second one.  "It's for YOU," William says, and slays the guy  right there and then...setting off the final rebellion that led to independence.) The cathedral, along with many other vintage structures, was heavily damaged by an earthquake in the 1400's.  When rebuilt, sniper shelters were included in the steeples to protect the archers defending the town.

The old town was fortified at the high point of the river bank.  Looking down today, you can see a current-powered ferry running along a cable from bank to bank. 

A few more turns and we were headed downhill to a commercial area closed to traffic.  There was a fife-and-drum corps heading our way!  The gazebos sheltered all kinds of produce, cheeses, and sausages plus drifts of beautiful cut flowers and bedding plants.  Quite literally Marktplatz!

It was time to go back to the hotel and chill for a bit.  We were fortunate that the overcast sky held off on any rain while we were out.  I caught up on stray communications and succumbed to a nap attack.

Later in the afternoon I strolled down the block to the aptly-named COOP grocery store.  Got a great sandwich, chips and half-brother of wine for dinner (biggest selection of small bottles I've seen in years, and well-priced!).  A few souvenir items, and back home again.

More work completed on the cross-stitched, the sails of the big ship are beginning to take shape.  And now, time to get some rest...tomorrow we transfer to the ship at noon.  It's forecasted to be stormy, so we'll see if a museum visit makes sense.  But we'll be on our way rain or shine.