Europe Spring 2019 Switzerland

Basel, Switzerland

Here we are near the top of the cathedral Basel Minster!

We left you in our last writing in Lucerne,Switzerland, and we are still there. Though we took a train one day to Basel, and this was a very good choice.

Ever since we went up on the terrace walk in Sicily’s cathedral Monreale, we always look to do the same in other cathedrals. And here we were rewarded. The two towers you see in this photo are 205-210 feet tall. The tower on the left being taller. This is the tower we climbed up!

This required us to first climb into the bell tower. And it was very near 5:00 and time to ring!

Then further up the spiral staircase built sometime in the 14th century. With only a rope for a handhold, and the small slit windows for light.

Bumping into this guy could really hurt.

And of course a little walk around a ledge that is about 16 inches wide and 160 feet off the ground!

Then back into the spiral staircase to go yet further up.

And finally your at the top with this view of the other tower that you are level with. Wow! If you ever get the chance to go up in some of these old cathedrals, don’t pass it up, go for it!

Here are some other views from up in that steeple. We were way up there!

A bit better than the street music back home.

After coming down from the tower, we took a rest on a bench listening to this man play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in a side alcove of the cathedral.

Another structure in Basel worth noting, is the quite ornate Rathaus.

It was difficult to get it all in the photo so take a look at some of the details,

The Rathaus is a 500 year old government building. It houses the meetings of the Basel-Stadt parliament, consisting of about 100 members.

We spent a good long day in Basel and really liked the feel here. Similar to Lucerne it has it’s statues and fountains.

Nancy came across the Natural History Museum and came out with a new friend!

This guy looks pretty excited! I’m not sure if I should be worried or not? Although I do like his hat.

The green bundles are like a wild asparagus.

Ran across a nice wild mushroom stand.

Most of these shops make them right there so they are really fresh!

And fresh pretzels are everywhere.

And of course y’all know what this is for.

The next day we went on another adventure, this time in the alps. From Lucerne we took a boat on the lake to the town of Rigi.

This is the paddle steamer boat we boarded. Like the name suggests this boat uses steam to power paddle wheels on either side of the boat.

Like anything Swiss, it runs extremely smooth and is immaculate. Nancy spied the engine and got a good photo.

I went and checked it out. There was not one bit of dirt or grease on these pistons. They are sparkling clean!

From Rigi we took a cog train. A cog train has the usual two outside rails that the train rolls on. But a third track is in the middle and is notched to catch a geared cog. This is so the train may go up or down very steep grades. So we are going straight up into the alps!

These cog trains run all up and down and all around the alps. They are amazing! I don’t think we were prepared for what this really meant, ’cause in a very short time you are in the Swiss alps hiking, and it is really quite outstanding. Take a look at some of our photos on a hike that was listed to take 45 minutes to an hour. It took us over 3 hours! We got really sidetracked!

First there were the mountains. Wow!

Then there were the flowers.

Then there were the mountains again!

Whoa! Then there were those flowers again!

Oh my! This is much more than we expected to see. This is why it took us so long to hike this short 45 minute hike. But wait, there’s more. Let’s add some animals to the alps.

How ’bout some cows!

I mean these are free range cows. ‘Free range’ as in ‘they get to use the path too so don’t get in their way’.

But they are awfully cute!

So if you have cows up in the alps, then you must also have cheese!

Everyone knows that a good alpine hike can’t be without cheese. This is what I figured as I waited to order my cheese. Oh yeah, of course you can also get your ‘bier’ here!

We ended this hike by taking a funicular from halfway down the mountain. But we remained in awe of this day in the Swiss alps. The beauty and splendor of the mountains and nature refreshed our souls. To answer that question, ‘Is your cup half full or half empty?’ Our cups were very full indeed!