Displaying a complete disregard for the scarcity of travel days on my Eurrail pass (I get 15 total during a period of 2 months, and counting this day have used 3), I took the train to Basel, the medium-sized, northern Swiss city where my brother works.
The lady at the tourist office was extremely helpful, handed me a map, as well as suggestions as to what to see in town. I walked from the train station to the Rhine River (much wider than the river running through Zurich), walked along that river to the old town, spent about 20 minutes in the Munster church (browsed the exhibit inside regarding the late middle ages/reformation era university system in Basel), sat on a bench along the river and read White Tiger, walked to the market square area, and finally realized that I was too tired to do much more walking, and followed the Lonely Planet guide's suggestion that I head to one of the many cafes along Steinenvordstadt, and sat for a few hours, read, and ate a delicious sauceless pizza. I got there a bit before noon, before the lunch time rush, and stayed until 2, after that rush ended. This was extremely pleasant, although a few times I felt that I would fall asleep.
I took the tram to the Beyeler museum, but due to my inability to properly navigate the Basel transportation system, this took me twice as long as it should have (the trams would suddenly change lines or directions -- I learned at the passengers wishing to stay on that line must cross the street and board another tram or bus). The museum was specially exhibits of works by Jean Michel Basquiat and Felix Gonzales-Torres. I've always thought Basquiat was a overrated, and even in this exhibit I didn't so much enjoy looking at each painting individually. HOWEVER, there was something special, and pleasantly colorful at looking at room after room full of Basquiats against the white walls. The Gonzales-Torres works I think I enjoyed more -- rectangular arrangements of wrapped candies on floor, piles of candies in the corners of room, a beaded curtain, a structure made up of light bulbs wired each to the other, several foot high stacks of paper with provocative words of images imprinted thereon. After enjoying the exhibit, I sat outside in the garden, even though there was a light drizzle.
I took the tram back the central Basel, where I was meeting Rob in front of his building, but I was early and took a walk. During this walk, a rain storm started, not quite of the same magnitude of that on Saturday, but still pretty intense. I stood under a covered area extending from a modern hotel, along with some teenagers who had been similarly caught in the storm.
Rob and I went out to dinner at a Swiss restaurant, ate some delicious steak, followed up with another bar in the neighborhood, and took a train back to Zurich.
No comments:
Post a Comment