Despite the annoying arrival, Basel was a great end to spring break. I only stayed two days until Sunday night so I chose to stay in Basel (where EasyJet flew into) instead of taking a train to Zurich or Geneva. However, a friend who went to Zurich highly recommended it so check it out as well. In comparison to my other spring break cities, Basel was much more quiet, peaceful, and relaxing. It reminded me of a stereotypical well-to-do Connecticut suburb - many well-dressed white people, pleasant springtime weather, and impressive but quiet (in the sense that they weren't hoards of tourists surrounding it) architecture. Granted, I've never been to Connecticut, but there you go.
My hostel was fantastic, probably the best I've had all semester. For 33 francs (which is roughly 30 dollars), I got a clean bed, a huge locker, a clean bathroom, and free Internet. Breakfast cost 9 francs, but I still loved it. It's the YMCA hostel close to the train station, and I also met a few great people.
The Town Hall, or Rathaus. This building is in the middle of a lively square with a farmer's market on Saturdays, Marketplatz. It's the only building of the type, and it's spectacular. Every inch of the exterior is elaborately decorated, not just the front or one tower. I'm not sure if you can go inside since all the signs were in German.On that note, I was surprised by the lack of English in Basel. Since they're in the corner of Switzerland by both France and Germany, German is the predominant language. Some people spoke a little English, some spoke none, and only the occasional few were fluent. It seemed like more people in Istanbul spoke English than in Basel, which was odd but not too much of a hindrance.
Basel Munster, or the main cathedral in the city. It was free to enter, and the interior was impressive (but nothing special in light of the other churches I saw over spring break). Near the church was a cemetery with the grave of Erasmus, but I could not find it for the life of me. I actually went there twice (since it's close to the center of town) to find him, but no luck.
Spalentor, one of the original city gates for Basel. It's quite a sight with sculptures of odd creatures. Many of the fountains and buildings in Basel seemed to have interesting gargoyles with creatures far weirder than I've seen elsewhere. There were dragons, rabid mice, odd-looking fish, etc. Definitely a trend that I support.
Helvetia, the female personification of Switzerland, or the Helvetic Confederation. This sculpture is located on the Mittlere Bruck bridge near Marketplatz, looking downriver on the Rhine. I really liked the sculpture although I couldn't get a good view of the face due to the morning sun. However, in the afternoon, the banks of the Rhine, especially near this bridge, become packed. It seemed like a great place to hang out like sitting by the Hudson in downtown Manhattan.
One of many public drinking fountains in Basel. I think it's the first city in which I saw such fountains so at first, I was nervous about drinking from it. In fact, this fountain was down a quiet street so I quickly drank from it, not wanting to be seen by the locals in case it was taboo. However, plenty of people (though mainly children) drank from the fountains. I certainly think it's a good idea, especially living in London, where water fountains are nearly impossible to come by, even within buildings.
Basel's Hammering Man sculpture. It forms a part of a series of sculptures in different cities throughout the world, including Seattle, Frankfurt, and Seoul. The cool part is that the arm with the hammer actually moves. The sculpture's located in a random street, and it doesn't even have a base. It just seems to be plopped down near the middle of Basel.
The coolest piece of graffiti I've ever seen. It stretched even wider than my camera could capture in the narrow street. Actually, it may be public art because I can't see how the police wouldn't catch someone who made this art illegally. Nonetheless, it was fantastic.
The Bank of International Settlements. Here comes the Stern side of me, the Basel Accords I and II were written here to establish capital requirements for banks. This Bank has no enforcement mechanisms, but it's a means for central banks to come together and discuss regulatory frameworks in their countries. Central banks then work with national legislatures implement the Accords into law, state by state. I'm not sure what the architecture is supposed to represent. If anyone from the Fed is reading this post, feel free to correct me.
A tiny sculpture from the Historical Museum. There are four buildings in which this museum is located, but I went to the Barfusserkiche one. Barfusserkiche is the center of Basel so this building is the main one, located in an old church. You weren't allowed to take pictures, but I snuck this one in. For the other exhibits, I'd definitely recommend this museum. It has cool tapestries, religious sculptures, and altarpieces. It also gives you an English guidebook, which is key, since all the readings on the exhibits are in German.A room in the museum was devoted to death and the prominence of it in religion to remind everyone that death is inevitable. One side of the room was filled with tiny sculptures like this one, with death involved with someone from nearly walk of life and profession. They stressed death as the great equalizer, and it reminded me of Dia de los Muertos in Mexican culture.
Basel has many museums. I wanted to check out the Pharmacy Museum, but it was closed on Sunday. Pharmaceutical companies is the reason why Basel became rich, and one of the people I met at the hostel was an American Ph.D student who had followed a chemistry professor from Columbia in New York to Switzerland. In addition to the pharmaceutical companies, I noticed many bank buildings for Ernst & Young, PwC, Credit Suisse, etc.
I also went to the Kunstmuseum, which had great art (again no pictures allowed). Much of the art was from less well-known Swiss and European artists, but there were a few pieces from Picasso and other well-known artists that I forget. However, this museum is worth the visit.
I included this picture because this phenomenon fascinates me. Every city invokes other cities when it comes to fashion, food, or films. For example, New York fashion stores invoke Milan and Paris, leading me to think that those cities wouldn't invoke other cities. However, places like Venice, Paris, and Basel may alternatively invoke New York, in a never-ending cycle. It seems to just be a statement about human nature, where we think the grass is greener on the other side. Nonetheless, this phenomenon is of personal interest, just because I've noted it in each city I've visited.The food was quite expensive in Basel, which I suppose comes with the high standard of living in Switzerland. Most regular meals, nothing fancy, even for lunch, ranged from 15 to 25 francs. I definitely didn't want to spend 20 dollars on each meal so I ate at a Chinese restaurant (Mr. Wong), a Turkish restaurant (Aladdin), and twice from the supermarket for my two days worth of meals. I don't think I missed out since I'm not sure what Swedish food really is, but just a warning. Even for the chocolate, my hostel owner told me to buy it at a supermarket since it's vastly overpriced in the chocolate shops. In her words, the Swiss eat it there so might as well have the real experience.
On the whole, Basel was peaceful and relaxing. On the first day, I took four self-guided walking tours through the city's hilly streets, and on the second day, I went to a couple museums. I'd recommend the city, but I could easily see some of my friends becoming bored with the city rather quickly. Still looking back, I'm very satisfied with my decision in the Istanbul airport to come to Basel rather than to take a flight home to London.
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