ON OUR WAY

Got the dogs off to the vet yesterday (Friday) and got the car off to a repair shop so they can fix it while we are away.   Hopefully it’s nothing major.   I did a LOT of walking last week being without a car.  I even figured out how to get the bus into Waterloo.  Very easy to do from Lasne but they only run once an hour.

So Saturday morning we planned on leaving around 8:00 but it was pouring rain and we moved a bit slower.  Plus Randy woke up with a really bad cough.  So we got on the road by 9:00…and had to turn back in 10 minutes…forgot to put the trash out!   Randy had heard from people at work that this weekend is typically THE worst weekend to be on the road throughout Europe!   So we set our hopes low for a good drive to Basel, Switzerland.   Luckily we had no problems and found ourselves at the Basel Hilton 6 hours later.  It’s an interesting city.   Very young.   Lots of bicycles.   And the trams are very popular.    After relaxing at the hotel for a couple hours we walked to the “old town” to find a place to eat dinner.  While we were having dinner at a nice Italian place there were some torrential downpours but by the time we head back to the hotel it had let up some.  Got some great shots of the city at night.

ELISABETHEAN CHURCH

TINGUELY FOUNTAIN

BARFUSSERPLATZ

RATHAUS, BASEL'S TOWN HALL

BASEL BAHNHOF - SELF-PROCLAIMED AS "EUROPE'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRAIN STATION"

STRASBOURG STATUE

Randy went out before breakfast and picked up some Starbucks!   Yum!   I’ve had total withdrawal for the last 6 weeks!   Only Starbucks in Belgium is at the Airport!  So after our caffeine fix we had a late breakfast at the hotel.  Took a walk over to the Basel Zoo.   The zoo was quite large.  Took a few hours to get through.   I don’t think we expected it to be this large. 

THIS PICTURE MAKES ME LAUGH.  MARK WAS TRYING TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE
SEA URCHIN IN THE BACKGROUND BUT THE PUFFER FISH DECIDED HE WANTED TO BE
IN THE PHOTO TOO....SO HE 'PHOTO-BOMBED"!!

MARK CAUGHT THIS GUY STICKING OUT HIS TONGUE

A CAMOUFLAGED CROCODILE

I COULDN'T HELP BUT THINK ABOUT THE NEWEST VERSION OF
PLANET OF THE APES MOVIE WHILE WATCHING THIS GUY.   HE REALLY SEEMED TO BE WATCHING ALL OF US AND THINKING...SOMETHING.

J. FRED MUGGS!!

Then we took a tram over to the Basel Cathedral, also known as Basel Munster.  The cathedral was originally commissioned back in 1016 but then it was almost completely destroyed in an earthquake in 1356 along with much of Basel.  It was re-built smaller at that time but even so it didn’t get finished until 1500.  After paying four Swiss Francs each we walked up the tower.  Incredible views!  Brian and I decided to continue up the spire!   A very narrow spiral staircase brought us up to the second landing.  We could have gone further but there were quite a few people ahead of us and you had to wait for them to come down before we could go up any further so we decided to just head back down.

PAINTED ON THE CEILING OF THE CHAPEL JUST BELOW THE CHURCH

CRYPT

BLURRY - BUT THIS IS ON THE WAY UP THE SPIRE

VIEWS OF BASEL, SWITZERLAND

ELISABETHEN CHURCH

THEY LOVE THE VIEW....BUT NOT THE HEIGHT SO MUCH!

COOL AS A CUCUMBER!

THE RHEIN

GARGOYAL

LOOKING AT THE OTHER TOWER AFTER BRIAN AND I GOT TO THE 2ND LANDING

HEY...DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT US!

 

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at the Elisabethean church.  This was a much newer church built in 1865.  It was the first Protestant church to be built in Basel.  Love the detail work on the steeple.

Leaving Basel tomorrow.  Driving to Lake Lucerne area.   More rain predicted.  Guess our driving days will be rainy.  Can't complain.  Bye!