13/7/24 Basel

 

    

       Okay Basel Switzerland , our first full day in Switzerland , we walked down the road to the tram stop . Had to go past this building that was a bit relevant to my working life .

     We get out near the Rhine River and the Chapel Bridge , aptly named as it has a very small chapel in the middle on one side . So important , that I didn't include a photo till later . The Rhine River was flowing very quickly , probably had a top up from yesterdays rain . Buildings are right up to the rivers edge . While we were here , a couple of young men emerged from the water onto these steps , they had a dry bag with them and proceeded to dry off and get dressed again after their float down the river - it's done quite regularly , we saw about 20+ people floating down at different times of the day .

     There's a lot of old buildings here , this one looking like it was a fort / castle .

     Many different flags were flying on the bridge , including an Aussie one , apparently there's a Military Tattoo happening soon ??? Yes it is at the building in the above photo .

     This boat caught my eye , looking like it was flying a kite , flags flying in the breeze as well .

     This is the university buildings .

     There's lot's of old buildings , but these new ones stood out - they are the Roche buildings .

     Walking into the old town , following laneways and streets , seeing what turns up - The Rathaus - Town Hall , local government . It's an outrageous building , painted or coloured red with blue & gold trimming , as well as painted pictures .

     There's also a market place outside , as well as an old water trough / fountain .

    The detail is incredible , the excess extravagant .

    Inside was a small courtyard with 3 men playing classical music . In one corner was a fountain with the best water spout .

    Alleyways appeared and disappeared as we wandered around , interesting architecture , with many different styles on display .

     We kept walking upwards to the top of town to this , Gate of Spalen . It was one of the gates into town , when the town was behind walls . It looks like the road , and trams drive straight through , but no , they curve around it to the right .

     Here's another of the newer buildings in town , this time in the financial district .

    We found this Neo Gothic Church to have a look at , it's the Offene Kirche Elisabethen .

    Here's some photos from inside .

    Definitely not as elaborate as some we've seen , but it's still up there .

     The organ is up the back on the next level up .

     The pulpit's are certainly a bit elaborate .

    We found some where to have some lunch , where else would you go in Switzerland for lunch than a Mexican restaurant - see , we aren't your normal tourists 😆😂🤣

    After lunch , we found a guy and his dog , well a sand sculpture of a dog anyway - we're a long way away from a beach though 🤔

    People were everywhere , even some Islam information - no , we didn't take any .

   We emerged from a square near another church building , to find ourselves looking out over the river again - right where this boat was going backward and forwards across the river . It was tethered to a cable  so it doesn't get carried away in the current . It was doing a roaring trade doing the crossing every 5-10 mins with a full boat most times .

    Here's a photo of Chapel Bridge , with the small chapel in the middle of the bridge .

    On our way back down to the bridge these old houses stood out , all timber framed and hanging over the lower floor on each level .

    After grabbing some shopping from a most bizarre supermarket - it had an upstairs section - we made our way home . We found a huge building clad in what looked like perforated steel , with smooth features and the occasional curves & bumps . The inside had a huge donut shape open to the weather that had a tram stop in it , it's Messe Basel - a performing arts centre .

  That was our day here , an interesting walk around the old town . As we were walking down beside the river , we heard lots of motorbikes going across another bridge over the river - this went on for 25 or more minutes - thousands of motorbikes - apparently there was motorbike rally and music festival happening in Basel this weekend , we know when to come to town haha . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Za0nyfXjHxW6Ph4TsXsG7h43PmZOgYU&usp=sharing

12/7/24 To Basel

 

    Up with the sun this morning - 4:30am - we have a train to catch at 6:30am , we're off to Switzerland via Germany . What an interesting day we were going to have , a train to Dusseldorf , then a train down the Rhine Valley to Basel in Switzerland , tickets & seats booked in 1st class to get a good carriage with large windows for viewing - excellent , what could go wrong ?? Our Bolt driver arrived 10mins early , going well so far , we get to the train station with plenty of time to spare , walk around to our platform      ( the furthest from drop-off ) , and get on board and settle in to our seats . Off we go on time , scenery wasn't great , but not bad either , and we seemed to get to Dusseldorf in no time . We get off and go to our platform & wait for our train to arrive - EC9 a panoramic ride down the Rhine River Valley . Several announcements were made as we waited , we had just over an hour changeover time , so we were ready to go . Coming close to our time to leave and our train hadn't arrived , had a look around , trains on different platforms , but not ours . One train looked to have panoramic windows and , oh look , it has EC9 on it , and it's just pulling away from the platform beside us !!!! Hmmm , what to do , there's an information post with a press to speak button , I quickly pressed the button and spoke reasonably calmly to a gentleman on the other end , explained our situation and waited for a response . He was quick , and said get on the train that has just pulled up on the platform we were waiting on , take it to Mannheim and change to a train to Basel , no problems . After a second or 2 , it sunk in and we rushed over and got on , sat in 2nd class and took off down the tracks . This train wasn't the scenic version , but , it was a very fast train - we got up to 300km/hr at one point - fairly zinging along . We arrive at Mannheim , and as it would happen , we arrived well before the EC9 did , so we waited and got onto the EC9 and found our booked seats and calmly sat down and enjoyed the rest of the trip to Basel . We went through sun & rain along the way , and I was too lazy to pull the camera out , so used the phone for a few photo's instead . Here's our first class carriage .

    Now for some rain .

     Here a are some wheat fields , these are large ones , must be a couple of acres in size !!

     An interesting shot of a random fence that appeared just as I pressed the button .

    Another of the scenery just as a tree appears 😆

    Closer to Basel and there are a lot of vineyards around .

     Now some blurry sweet corn 😂

    And finally we arrive in Basel , the scenery isn't moving anymore 🤣 , here we are at Basel Train Station .

    Our heads were still rocking later in the evening , every time we closed our eyes it seemed like we were rocking side to side . So that was an exciting day , stressful , yes indeed , but with a fast train ride thrown in wasn't too bad . The Rhine Valley will have to wait until next time maybe ??? Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1h9nHz0WwJ-AZ4KrUqMkrnfyOu8OiFD8&usp=sharing

11/7/24 Haarlem

 

    Today we headed out of Amsterdam to Haarlem , tramming into the central station , then another train ride of about 20mins to get out there . They like doing big train stations , and we walked out of it into a large square , also used as a bus stop . We just walked along one street towards a cathedral we could see in the distance . One building had a great cover of ivy .

    Further down the street we crossed a canal , with the usual cafe's , cars & bikes & boats .

     There are many streets and alleyways here as well - it was also much quieter and cleaner than Amsterdam ! Have to be a bit careful taking photo's with bikes & cars going past .

     This single house looked like it didn't know which house it belonged to ??

     Stopped at a supermarket to grab some fruit & other stuff , that was interesting - in some supermarkets you have to weigh the fruit & vegetables and attach labels to them - the staff wont do it at the checkout anymore ! This one also made you scan your docket to actually go out the exit !!!

     There did seem to be more older houses here , window shutters being a big factor .

    A cool mural down a side street .

  Interesting buildings here , always something diferent to look at .

     Finally got to the cathedral and went inside . The first thing that hit us was the ceiling - all timber lined. There was also an enormous organ down one end . There are plaques on the wall stating  " Mozart played the organ here aged 10 in 1766 ", and Georg Friedrich Handel played it in 1740 and 1750 !! There's some history for you . This organ is enormous filling the end of the cathedral - it would be amazing to hear it in use .

    Workers were assmbling a stage and associated wiring etc while we were there , must be having a concert ????

      Here's a better view of the ceiling and organ .

    This one shows the sides better 

     The floors are interesting , there are over 500 gravestones that you walk all over .

     Some are quite elaborately carved stone .

 Another of the ceiling .

     Okay you can breath again , we're back outside in the square to have some lunch .

More alleyways , nothing as boring as a straight road , these are curved as well .

     After wandering around some more , we found our way back to the train station & headed for home . Couldn't resist getting another shot of our street one last time , we're off early in the morning , so have booked a car to deliver us to the railway station . 

     Not sure we'll come back to Amsterdam again , it really didn't do it for us , I think there are other places we'd rather be looking at . Having said that , we really enjoyed Haarlem , so there would be other places in the country that would be good as well . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xPrqJgNtgO6YHyCiL71glFYHUj0mctc&usp=sharing