Visit to Basel

Few Eyebrows raised when we mentioned that we are going to Basel in Switzerland. The immediate question was "why not Zurich?"  My Mrs and I thought why go to a bustling city every time. Why not go to a place where there is less of man made structures and more natural beauty to enjoy. Another reason being, Basel is a word that I come across in my line of work day in and day out. The Basel two and Basel three  are international banking regulations norms which is keeping professionals like us off the street. The committee which formulates these standards are based off this city.
Flights and accommodation all booked for a trip on a bank holiday weekend. We reached the city at midnight. I must admit that no matter how bold one tries to be, being in a new place for the first time does make one anxious.

We got off at the Basel central bus station and we did find plenty of people there. Some finishing late work, but many were youngsters being typical youngsters. Walking around with low waist jeans and boom box. Hair dyed pink and piercings every where. Smoking away something that stinks. Strangely we were actually experiencing a fact about this city in real. Switzerland is the country with the worlds least crime and in that; Basel the city has the least. No hassle what so ever. We took the tram as instructed and we got to the hotel.
Next morning started with a surprise. At the reception we were given a pass each and the lady said, "For the days you are here in Basel as a tourist, public transport of any kind is absolutely free". We could not believe our ears.  We took the tram straight to the central station , dived straight into the tourist office. Unlike the Holland pass which was more of a value for money pass for tourist, the Basel pass was not that attractive, but we went for it anyway. There was one spot that I had made a mental note off before I left to Basel. I enquired about the mode to get there. First stop "Reigoldswil" village. It was a good one hour bus journey from the city. As we traveled we noticed that the people are not obsessed with building huge houses or buildings, the nature is conserved in its purest forms. Even the houses looked minimal and well suited to the greenery all around. It was a post card picture every where around. We bought our tickets to get on to the cable car. A ten minute ride in that took us to an elevation of 1200 meters.

That ten minutes presented us with views that we will remember  a life time. Dangling several hundred meters with the valley below was spectacular. We assumed we are going straight to the peak of the mountains. But the assumptions generally don't turn real. There was a mountain on another mountain. The weather was spot on and the views fabulous. Hiking to the top could only mean better. On the downside in comparison to the massive upside of this mountain was that none of the sign boards there, was in English. Using the sixth sense of magnetic field orientation that all men claim to have I began to lead the way. We started hiking into the wooded area. Few other hikers accompanied us. The trails looked treacherous as we precariously made our way on the narrow edge of the mountain. Several hundred feet drop on both sides. We were able to catch some glimpses of the beautiful scenery on the other side of the mountain. As we reached the peak, the views were absolutely breathtaking. Pretty little houses dotted midst the smooth mountain curves which was completely carpeted with green.

Few glimpses of the Alps from there made it all worth it. A habit of mine is to pick up a rock from a place that I would love to remember the rest of my life. It has to be a place that has touched my heart and made me feel happy. I did pick one up. It was time to head back down, we could see the cable car station to get back down to the village, but we were lost up there. I don't mean in a emotional way, Quite literally did not know our way back down. Another hiker there seemed to be lost as well, He saw us wandering just like the way he did and knew we all were on the same boat. He was kind enough to offer us a lift back to Basel city. Georg was a German IT professional who spent most of this life in US. His English was as american as it could be. When we got to his car, was thankful that we were lost and ran into him. It was a Landrover that awaited us. What more can I ask for. He knew much about the Indian IT strength and we had discussions about the state of the EU post recession, while my wife comfortably slept in the backseat travelling at 160 kmph. The hike had worn us out equally, so we went back to the hotel to rest. Both of us had the same symptom of head ache and a slight temperature. Only did we realise later in the day after we recovered that we had sun stroke. The power of the sun, making its impact on us after continuous six hour exposure.
Day two started late. Nice and Relaxed charted our route to the Basel zoo.  As everything else in Basel, nothing is gigantic to stand out in terms of structure or building, same applies to the Zoo.

Just a small entrance, but as we made our way through we came to know it was vast. The subterranean  sea world alone took us an hour and a half to get by. From snakes larger than me to millions termites busy building a ten feet high mound, were all there. The elephant enclosure was under construction so we could not see much, but what we could see really up close was the Lions.

A lioness and her cubs stood mere feet away. We gained a new sense of respect for toughened ten inch glass. Few good clicks and we moved on to the tropical bird emporium. The large building was kept hot and humid for these tiny creatures. Small their stature might be , but each one tries to outdo the others in terms of noise.

Singing in competition.  The day ended with us just wandering about the city looking for good food.
Day three started relaxed since we had covered most of the sights we needed to visit. We had marked out a cathedral that we wanted to go to and got there. Few minutes too early. Once the door swung open we went in to be greeted by the organ music. It was loud and surreal. The music felt like it was emanating from the building rather that from one corner.

I had been to many cathedrals before and had seen this large three storied instrument before, but I had never seen one being played. All we had to do was look back and see this one man play an instrument seated in a high chair exercising all his limbs. Though he was of an average size the sheer size of the instrument dwarfed him. Engrossed in the music that reverberated through our body we spent half hour in there soaking up the magnificent architecture.

The one thing about cathedrals is , if we have been in one it feels like we have been in all, but to the eye that pays attention to detail there is lots to pick up.
Next stop, SBB (central station) We took the trams to Marketplatz and the word says it all. It was the main market area with loads of  options for all kinds of shopping. We did get inside an interesting old building, we still don't know its significance, but it did provide us some good clicks. My better half gets excited about the activity of shopping.

Walked into few stores and did come out with the same pace as we had walked into. Stellar prices! We found some that suited our budget and we shopped few items for family. The area was pock marked with shops for luxury watches. Each of the top brands had their own outlet. That speaks much for the fine watch making legacy that the swiss had. The prices of some of them ; to be disclosed on request only.

I will leave that to your imagination. A short walk from there, we were at the water sculpture park. mechanized contraptions powered but water pressure made for some interesting work of art. Pictures would not speak much hence took a short video. The free trams for us in Basel meant we could go anywhere , anytime , any number of time. So we identified an other land mark which was a park. St Alban park was a silent park with nothing much mentioned off it in the tourist guide. But we dared to explore and we found that it had a river running across it and there was an old fort wall . Not a soul around so we pretty much had the place to ourselves for posing and picture taking.

The day finally was drawing to a close and we had to head back to the airport. To round things up, Basel is fantastic city in terms of safety and convenience. One could walk out to any place at any time and not be worried. The fact that transport being made free to tourist was simply amazing. The local trams stood  out as a highlight. We only realised how good it was after we reached back home. They were extremely frequent, connected every part of the city, they were on time, all the time. They occupied the roads more that any other automobile; in fact the only traffic jam we saw once was that off the trams at a junction! Wish every city had such fine, zero pollution infrastructure. A city dweller never needs to think about individual transport.  That being said, this city is not much of a tourists' city. On weekends the entire city is shut down, that includes everything. One of the locals said, its a mandatory shut down for all so that people are forced to take a break from work and chores. That even means Department stores being closed! The city is not English friendly, One would not find a single sign or board in English. People do speak English but the native tounge or German is what would get you by more easily. Even the airport had a quirk of its own, because half of the airport is on to the french soil and the other half is Swiss. Upon arrival or departure we have to be careful which way we want into or out off! That all being said, The experience was unique and soothing. The memories full of a cool, calm place where the policy about living life is "Take it easy". As the giant steel bird lifted us into the air, the thought that crossed my mind was, If I am going to look for a job next, in Basel it must be. For all I have now, Is that Rock on my work Desk to give me some hope.