Fasnacht - Basel Carnival

Last week was the Basel "Fasnacht" (Carnival) we've been telling you about. CRAZY, that's what it is... Confetti, drums, flutes, costumes, parades, and floats to name a few. The streets were blocked, the tram and bus schedules were modified, and to make it more convenient, Basel got about 16 inches of snow (all in one day) two days before it started. So anyway, we've told you about this event several times now, so finally, after all the hype, here are the pictures. Enjoy! See pictures here.

Rome Day 3

We only had a couple of hours to see the Vatican, so we decided to see St. Peter’s. We had planned on taking a tour with the same tour company we used before, but we arrived late (because the buses are not on a schedule) and had to make a go of it on our own. We walked to the top of the cupola to see the magnificent views of the city and also the fantastic mosaics up close (you can’t even see them from the ground). Michelangelo’s Pieta was definitely the hi-light of the Vatican trip. See can see our pictures of Rome here.

Rome Day 2

We had a guided tour scheduled for 11am so we walked from the subway station to see the Spanish Steps (of Roman Holiday fame) and then walked to our tour of Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill (the origin of the word palace) is a ruin located between circus maximus and the roman forum – the tour was again, fantastic and we learned that the white togas of the vestal virgins are why we wear white wedding dresses today and that the Romans invented bricks and mortar. We walked through a fantastic park just outside the city to wind down and discuss what we had seen. Italian food was on the menu all three days – not to mention gelato! You can see pictures of Rome here. And our pictures here.

Rome Day 1

Our first full day we took a bus tour to orient ourselves with the city. In the middle of the bus tour we got off to see the Victor Emmanuel Monument dubbed the “wedding cake” by the American GIs during WWII – just look at the picture, it is aptly named. Just behind this monument is the Roman Forum and behind that is the Colosseum…Circus Maximus is just down the street. Each of these historic sites is completely unbelievable and that they are within easy walking distance is amazing.

Oh, you should see the Colosseum, Spaniard: we missed our tour bus connection and stumbled into taking a guided tour of the Colosseum. The Colosseum, it’s history, our tour and the guide were AMAZING! We learned about how and why it was built, that it had a retractable roof, how the floor worked, who attended, who fought, the bathroom facilities, the earthquake in 1349 that destroyed half the building and that the marble and iron was stripped out of it to build St. Peter’s.

We also took a walking tour of the city in the evening that was a great opportunity to find the hidden treasures in the labyrinth of city streets where cars aren’t allowed. The highlights were: Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio, Mussolini’s balcony and the adjacent Napoleon balcony, many Egyptian obelisks which came to the city between 50 BC and 45 AD, the magnificent and HUGE Trevi Fountain, and the just to round it out – The Pantheon. Click here for pictures of Rome, or you can see our pictures of Rome here.

Rome MMVI - Prelude

We had a long weekend and decided to spend it in Rome. There is a low-cost airline that flies out of the Basel airport (EuroAirport) and goes to many popular destinations. The flight to Rome was about 1 ½ hrs and once there, we enjoyed getting to know the city. Italy has much different views on rules, punctuality, and litter control than is evident in Switzerland, but after understanding and accepting these differences we were able to go with the flow. Here’s a great web-site that has a lot of information about all of the sites we visited.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Once upon a time there was King Ludwig. He was the King of Bavaria. King Ludwig loved to build castles and Neuschwanstein was the grandest of them all. He dedicated this castle to Richard Wagner and had the rooms painted with scenes from his operas (there is even a CRAZY cave room that is on the 4th floor of the castle). The castle is almost as unbelievable in person as it is in the pictures. The Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disney World is based on this castle. And we all lived happily ever after. The End. You can see our pictures of the castle here.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Located in southern Germany (a mere 5-6 hrs from Basel) is Garmisch. In 2004, Robert had the opportunity to meet a Roche colleague, Robert Huber, and his family (Gaby, Daniela, and Florian). The Huber’s invited us to visit for the weekend – they were gracious hosts and fantastic tour guides. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is Germany’s largest alpine resort and consists of two towns that were merged for the 1936 Olympic Winter Games. We spent half a day sight-seeing (see castle blog), a day and a half skiing and the rest of the time eating and enjoying the Huber’s fantastic German hospitality. Mr. Huber spent time teaching Nancy how to ski while Florian introduced Robert to slopes that were a bit more challenging. The weather didn’t allow us to see all the great mountain views while we were there so we’re planning a return trip in the summer – we can't wait! You can see the pictures from Garmisch here.