City of Basel

November 1 - November 3

The drive from Vals to Basel took about 4 sleepy hours, but over the next few days, Basel became one of my favorite cities - I could live here, easily. The disposition of the Swiss is so kind, and accommodating - the city seems to be family/kid/young adult/elderly/bike and accessibly friendly. Not only that, but the city houses a very large selection of great architecture - both modern and classical. Our focus, was mainly on the modern - but I loved the mix of the city. It was also very easy to traverse by foot, tram, bicycle or bus. In fact, there seemed to be very few cars.

Our hostel, Basel Backpackers, was located in a renovated warehouse district, which had great character to it with artisans, rock climbing, restaurants, etc. all within the small district. And, best of all, our hostel had an authentic Thai restaurant in it - so delicious, and spicy!
The location of Basel is interesting, in that it lies on the border of both France and Germany. On Friday, we took advantage of that, and spent the day in Ronchamp, France seeing Le Corbusier's famous Notre Dame du Haute (Our Lady of the Height). It was a bit of a hike, but had amazing views of the valley. I couldn't believe I was visiting this church - it was something that I had learned so much about, but was not prepared for the amazing experience of the interior. The light quality inside was so unique, and breathtaking. It was hard not to take pictures (we got a few), but the atmosphere of the place cannot be captured in a photo.
There was not much to do in the town of Ronchamp (read, nothing), and we were stuck there for some time due to the train schedules. We were very happy to get back to Basel, just in time for our 9:00 dinner reservation at Blindekuh, just around the corner from our hostel.

Let me just state, that this was perhaps the most amazing dining experience I have yet to have in my life. It is a restaurant where you eat in complete darkness - and by darkness, I mean pitch black - it doesn't matter if your eyes are closed, or open. Nothing. You are even led to your table in darkness. Why? Because Blindekuh is run by a foundation for the blind, in an effort to promote an understanding between the seeing and the visually impaired. All of the waitstaff is blind. Our waiter, Olivier, was fantastic and such a joy to talk to. At first, I admit the experience was a bit daunting - but after a while, we learned how to feel around the table for food, listen to each other intently, and savor the taste of each course with intensity. It is one of the best meals I have ever had!

Our last day in Basel consisted of cramming in as many architectural sites as we could - we needed so many more days there to see it all. I decided to start the day with a cafe and a pretzel man. Yum.
We saw works by Mario Botta, sculpture by Serra, and many Herzog & De Meuron buildings (outstanding...wonder if I can work for them in Basel?).
In the afternoon we were able to hope over to Germany and see the Vitra design museum. The building is by Frank Gehry, and there was a great exhibit on Le Corbusier - The Art of Architecture - which had some of his original models and drawings. Whoa.
We saw so many amazing things, it would be difficult to describe them all. I hope that the few pictures I have included begin to help describe the our travels (check my flickr site for more).

Finally, it was time to hop a night train from Basel to Florence. The train was a sleeper, although it was a strange sort of moving sleep (in fact, I still feel like I am on the train, and it has been many hours since we returned). This trip across France & Switzerland was so amazing, fun and influential to my own work/life. I couldn't have asked for better travel buddies - Scott, Amanda and Nicole. Merci and Danke!