Stadtkeller Basel

We took our German language teacher out for a holiday dinner and he got to choose the location. His other students recommended a place called the Stadtkeller (literally: city cellar) recently and really enjoyed it. Apparently this establishment is well know and it was very crowded when we arrived. Mid-way through our salads, a deep voice sounds over the room, the lights dim, and the music comes up. A spot light directs our attention to a curtain in the corner that is pulled back to reveal an animated Freddy Mercury doll surrounded by furry dogs who proceed to belt out a non-Christmas Queen song of days gone by. Next, another curtain opens with a Tina Turner doll complete with sax-playing reindeer and a disco ball. Two additional curtained areas contained Fats Domino (who looked more like Little Richard) with hula-like Christmas trees, and Docelli with Rattitui directing his performance. We were completely stunned by these elaborate displays and of course stayed for the 2nd set. It was a great time and Robert is still kicking himself for not taking his camera.

Middle Germany - Nurnberg/Bamberg

Nurnberg is a large city with (supposedly) the best Christmas market in Europe. We arrived on a Saturday evening and were amazed at the number of people and shear number of shopping opportunities. Once we found the Christmas market, it was in full swing - wall to wall people eating bratwurst (which was invented in Nurnberg), drinking Gluehwein and wandering around the market. It was so packed in some places that we couldn't even move! The most special items were nutcrackers and smoke men which both come from Germany. We went back the next day to visit the city and were delighted with the churches, streets and castle that are still contained within the city walls. Last stop, Bamberg. This is another great town that is a UNESCO world heritage site. The weather was a bit rainy so we decided to visit a local brewery for lunch: Klosterbrau. Afterwards we toured their beautiful town (which was barely touched during the war), visited their Christmas market, and dodged the raindrops before returning home. If you ever get the opportunity to visit middle Germany during the Christmas season, it will provide memories for a lifetime. See pictures of Nurnberg here and Bamberg here.

Middle Germany - Wurzburg/Buttenheim

Wurzburg is the home to the famous Wurzburg Residenz (that's okay - we had never heard of it either). It was a fantastic castle, and had very interesting displays about how it was beautifully renovated after nearly being destroyed on March 16, 1945. The Marienberg Fortress sits on a hill over looking the city- we were so lucky to be there during Christmas time because they were having a medieval Christmas fair and market complete with traditional clothes, music (see video) and even a live nativity. The coolest thing about the fortress was the the view and the 101 meter deep well that was dug many centuries ago. A short trip down the road brought us to the birth place of Levi Strauss, Buttenheim. They made a terrific museum of his residence and we learned most everything you could ever want to know about jeans. See pictures of Wurzburg here and Buttenheim here.

Middle Germany - Ulm/Rothenburg

We ventured out for a three-day weekend during our last Christmas season in Europe to experience the best of the best, Christmas markets...We were not disappointed! Ulm made the list not because of its Christmas Market, but because it's home to the world's tallest cathedral and it's the birthplace of Albert Einstein! The cathedral was indeed very impressive and on the windiest day of the year, we climbed all 768 stairs to the very top (whew - that was a lot of stairs!). Most of the buildings were destroyed during the war, including Einstein's birthplace, but there is a small plaque commemorating the site. They had an unexpectedly great Christmas market complete with a live animal nativity scene and we enjoyed our 3 hour visit immensely. Next stop, Rothenberg ob der Tauber - it's a walled city, ya know. This city has so much charm it's hard to believe it's real. We visited the city in the evening, walked around the market, drank some gluehwein and ate at a 700 year old restaurant! See Ulm pictures here, and Rothenberg pictures here.

Jura Watchmaking Road

Western Switzerland is home of the Swiss watchmaking industry. From Geneva to Chaux-de-Fonds the road is paved with all the greats: Rolex, Omega, Tissot, TAG Heuer, Breitling, Swatch...the list goes on and on. Today we visited the International Museum of Horology (the science and study of timekeeping devices) and we were amazed at the collection, the layout and the scope - it was terrific. They profiled the history of Swiss watchmaking, the development of the trade and tools, and displayed stunning examples of Swiss clocks and watches thru the centuries. One exhibit featured new technology in GPS clock synchronization, and another featured the CERN project (the largest particle physics laboratory in the world) which is located underneath this and several other cities in the area. Our drive home took us thru lovely Neuchatel and Yverdon les Bains with a terrific view of the alps over Lac De Neuchatel. See pictures - Neuchatel, Yverdon and the Museum.

Basel Christmas Market

Every year most major European cities set up Christmas markets for the holiday season. On Saturday we visited Switzerland's best - Basel. The market is a feast for the eyes and the stomach. The smell of traditional Swiss food along with warm Gluehwein fill the air and the market is packed with men, women and children of all ages and nationalities. The booths have everything: hand-made wares, Christmas decorations, children's toys, candles, jewelry and Swiss confections. It was sprinkling, but very mild from previous weather and we had a great time wandering around and enjoying the sites. Other great Christmas markets in France include Colmar and Strasbourg, but the most famous ones are in middle-Germany. We are taking a 3-day weekend next week to visit them...stay tuned! See pictures from the Basel Christmas Market and other Basel events here.

French Wallpaper Museum

Since the first time we passed the sign, Robert has been begging me to go to the Wallpaper Museum. Well, today was the day - cold and cloudy - THIS was the perfect opportunity. Everything you ever wanted to know about wallpaper (in French, no less) is contained in these 4 walls. The paper, the printing machines, the designs, the scenes - it was FASCINATING and I was barely able to drag Robert away. It's no wonder - the history of wallpaper is compelling to many and there is even a wallpaper history society! See our pictures here.

Basler Stadtlauf (City Run)

To kick off the holiday season, Basel holds a charity run. Young and old alike participate in this 5.5k event which takes place in the evening. Each gender is broken up by age group and start at 1/2 hour intervals; fans along the route cheer, ring cowbells and shout encouragement to the participants. Near the starting line a stage is set up and every hour a 'warm-up' session takes place with trainers to lively music. Robert and I both ran this year - after the race we donned our medals and drank a Gatorade toast to a job well done! See our Basel events here.

Basel Christmas Tree Lighting

On Tuesday, Basel's Christmas lights were switched on. The festive season has begun! Throughout Basel's streets and squares, some 100 Christmas trees were illuminated at the same time. The Brass Ensemble of the Boy's Choir together with an additional choir from Theater Basel provided musical accompaniment to the event, staged at Market Square. We enjoyed the evening with some of our work colleagues and finished it off with dinner at a Spanish restaurant on the Rhine river. Nothing says Christmas like tapas in Switzerland! See pictures from Basel here.

Foundation Beyeler

A quick trip to our favorite museum, Foundation Beyeler. Located on the edge of Basel, it's just ten minutes away in the car. The museum is currently featuring a "Forests of the World" exhibit with great pictures from photographers like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Ernst Haas, Frans Lanting, and numerous others. We were shocked to see that some of Robert's best pictures weren't featured. Unbelievable. Anyway, the building was designed by Nancy's favorite architect, Renzo Piano, and anytime we have an excuse to go there, we will. See pictures from Basel here.

FCB: Football Club Basel

Today we went to a soccer game for the home team: Football Club Basel (FCB). It takes place in a stadium designed by the world famous Herzog and de Meuron. One of our neighbors plays on the team: Koji Nakata - it's similar to having a Pacer or a Colt living in your neighborhood. It's a bit surreal to see the riot police with their batons, shields and helmets before the game - they are there to make sure the hooligans do not start any trouble. Soccer is THE sport in Europe, but for us, it's a good reason to eat sausage, pretzels and drink beer! See pictures from the game and other Basel events by clicking here.

Basel Autumn Fair

Every year since 1470 Basel has held a their annual autumn fair. It is held across the city in 7 different locations. Each location has food and rides and some even have markets to buy hand made items. It was in the low 40's today so we just hit the high-lights: Barfuser Platz, Munster Platz and Peters Platz. Peters Platz has the best market with everything from pottery to puzzles and vegetable peelers to window squeegees. They have tons of food booths and we tried cheese quiche, wurstli (sausage) and magenbrot (literally stomach bread). It was all very tasty and we soaked up all the kids enjoying the rides while we walked thru the other areas. Munster platz has a GIGANTIC farris wheel that can be seen from all over the city. After 537 years, they must get something right - it was a great way to spend the afternoon! See lots of pictures from around Basel here.

Cirque du Soleil - Delirium

We ventured out of town on a 'school night' to attend the latest Cirque du Soleil show in Zurich. Delirium offers lots of the same acrobatics that makes Cirque shows famous, but offered more music and singing than usual. Delirium was produced specificlly for short runs (3-5 nights in one city) before it packs up and moves to a different location. They did a terrific job with the special effects and really captured a dream-like quality the story line required. Another bonus was that everything was in English! We had a great time and enjoyed our night out - it was a nice change of pace.

Transportation Museum

The Verkehrshaus (Transportation) Museum is a treasure of Swiss transportation history located in Luzern. It's hard to believe that the Swiss have so much to say about this topic! We toured exhibits about tunnels, trains, trams, boats, planes, cars and even funiculars, gondolas and ski lifts! They have several examples of these things (even a full-size plane) so the building is very large...it's so large they have kick scooters available to get from one area to another. The museum has tons of interactive displays to capture your interest and also touts a planetarium and IMAX theatre (we saw The Alps). We really enjoyed finding our apartment on the Swiss Arena - the largest aerial photograph of Switzerland. See all of our Luzern pictures here.

Basler (Half) Marathon

Nancy (bib number 1818) has been training all summer to run the Basel Marathon, but my training fell short in the end and I opted to run the half marathon instead. The course starts just out of town and follows a lovely path along the Birs River. The weather was chilly (in the mid-40's) and it was overcast, but the leaves were turning and the 'fans' were cheering and ringing their cow bells in support of the runners. It was a great day overall and I managed to finish almost 20 minutes faster than last year. Hooray!!!

Weekend in Italy

Wow - what a terrific weekend! We ventured off to northern Italy for Robert's birthday and were treated to terrific blue skies, nice fall weather and some great site seeing. First up, we arrived in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to visit the Park of Villa Pallavicino. It was a zoo (see video) and botanical garden all rolled into one (any they even had 3 owls!). Next we took a ferry to an island in the middle of the lake to visit an absolutely over-the-top villa on the private island of Isole Borromee. We could not believe the scope of this magnificent palace and gardens complete with white peacocks! We missed the ferry back to the mainland and were forced to have a beer to pass the time (darn). We ate at a great hotel/restaurant in the town of Mergozzo to finish off our perfect day. Sunday we started in Arona to visit a huge statue that is only 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty - Coloso di San Carlo Borromeo (check out those EARS!). That riveting visit was followed by a visit to the most beautiful garden either one of us has ever been to - Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto. We couldn't stop saying things like - that's beautiful, look at that tree, check out that view...MAGNIFICENT!!! For our drive home we took a long journey through the Alps and over a couple of passes - there was light snow falling near the top. See pictures from our weekend here, and see what it looks like to drive in the Alps here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 1

The Spanish island of Mallorca is one of the Balearic Islands located just off the South East coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. Palma is the capital city with over 500,000 people including the urban areas making it the 12th largest in Spain. The history of the island includes Roman rule, a Byzantine period, and a Muslim period up to 1229. Today, the island is a favorite vacation destination for more than 20 million tourists annually, WOW! The island has plenty of things to do and see... Lay on the beach, explore many castles, drive along the coast and enjoy gorgeous views, spend a day in one of the small villages enjoying local food and wine, or enjoy never ending tourists shops full of everything you don't need! We did our best to do a little of everything. See our pictures here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 2

It's hard to believe, but we actually spent a few days relaxing! Yes, it's true, we actually laid on the beach and also lounged by the pool. It was our vacation after all! But because Mallorca has so many things to see, we also spent time sight seeing around the island. Walking around in the capital city of Palma took one day, we travelled on a tourist train another day, and finally we rented a car for two additional days to get us to places like Valldemossa, Deia, Lluc, Pollencia, Alcudia, Cap de Formentor, Sa Pobla, Manacor, Arta, Portocristo and every small village in between. We enjoyed beautiful coast lines, beaches, mountains, lakes, castles, small villages, cathedrals, olive groves, different kinds of citrus trees, sheep \ goats, a light house, and much more. Of course we made time for plenty of yummy Spanish food and wine along the way. A good combination of accommodation,weather, food, and sights made our vacation in Mallorca very enjoyable. See the pictures here.

New Blog Features

Last week, our visitor added a couple of great features to our blog. RSS feed allows you to subscribe to our latest updates - the information can be added to your i-Google home page or your MyYahoo home page. If you don't have a home page setup on either one of these sites, you can have our updates emailed to you at the email address of your choice. Either way, you can keep up to date on all of our Swiss Adventures! Check out both features on the left side of the page. If you haven't already discovered our Smug-Mug photo page or our YouTube page, you can check those out as well.

Another Visitor!

Last week, we had our last visitor of the year, Kevin P. With not too much time, and an open mind, we zigzagged our way through three countries in five days. Some of the highlights included: window shopping for watches (plus an actual purchase), the world's smallest hummingbird, cows on parade (see video), lack-luster food, terrific Alsace (french wine country) driving tour complete with wine, stork nests, unruly British youth at a terrific waterfall, NO HOT WATER!?!, Basel walking tour, perfect hiking weather at Jungfrau, MAGNUM BARS, warm pretzels, German wheat beer, sunny days with fall temperatures, luggage drama, great conversations, 160KPM on the autobahn, medieval french castle, world's largest cuckoo clock, black forest cake, tallest building in Switzerland, Rhine River ferry ride, the best of Bern-Lucern, local German wine, and the Audi A5.

All that, AND Kevin was able to add new features to our blog (see next post)! Danke, Merci, Gracias - you are welcome to visit ANY TIME!