Expedition: Retirement

 After our second night in Metz, we caught a train back to Strasbourg, where we again left our luggage at our hotel and ventured out into the city. This time we had a little familiarity with the city, from our tour several days earlier. As departed our hotel, it began to rain, but we didn't let that deter us. We purchased tickets for the boat tour on the Ile River, and by the time the tour got underway, the rain had stopped. The boat tour took us  through the locks in the Petite France section of the city, giving us a close up view of the Barrage Vauban and defenses at that end of the city, before turning around and going downstream to the European Parliament building.

After the boat tour, we visited the Cathedral. which began construction in the 11th century, and once completed was the tallest building in the world until 1874, and remains the tallest structure entirely built in the middle ages that survives intact today. it also contains an impressive astronomical clock that is a remarkable work of both engineering and art.

We walked extensively through the city, visiting other churches, including the Church of St. Thomas, a protestant church where Mozart played the organ when he visited the city. We also visited the Historical Museum of Strasbourg, where we learned a great deal about this historic city. This is the city where Gutenberg perfected his printing press, and for a long time the city was a center of printing and publishing. This year, Strasbourg has been named the UNESCO World Book Capital City in recognition of that history. There is an active community of BookCrossing members in Strasbourg, and they are marking this designation with a number of events. Their monthly meeting was scheduled for the evening we were in the city, and they graciously invited us to join them for drinks and conversation.

By the afternoon of our second day here, we had thoroughly explored the heart of the city, which was just as well, because we had to catch a train to Frankfurt, Germany, where we would spend the night before flying home. Our hotel near the train station felt like the world's smallest, but it was clean and the bed was comfortable, and we only needed a place to sleep. In the morning, we caught a S-bahn train to the airport and checked in for our flights home. We enjoyed a nice Irish lunch in Dublin during our layover, and our flights home were uneventful. We even arrived back at Dulles Airport a little bit ahead of our scheduled arrival.

 Our plan on Saturday morning was to catch a morning train to Basel, drop our luggage at our hotel there, and spend the day seeing the city. However, because of some confusion interpreting the train schedules, we ended up on the wrong train, headed toward Lausanne, on the shore of Lake Geneva. It was only when we weren't in Basel when I expected to be that I realized our mistake. Luckily, there was a group of friendly Swiss hikers on the train who helped get us sorted out, so that when we got off at the next station, we had a handwritten list with the stations, platforms, and trains we needed to get us to our destination. In the end, it took us an extra hour and a half longer to get to Basel than it should have.

Basel sits on the Rhine River, at the point where the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland all come together. It is an old city, with Celtic settlements here pre-dating the Romans. The historic center of the city centers around the Basler Münster, a Romanesque and Gothic church that was built starting in the 11th century, and the Gothic town hall. Three of the medieval city gates still exist and our wanderings took us to one of them. the Spalentor, which sits at the edge of the campus for the University of Basel.

The historic part of Basel is quite pretty, situated on a hill above the Rhine River. We walked up and down, and around, enjoying the narrow streets and the lovely old buildings. Our initial destination was the Basler Münster, but it was closed for a wedding, so we had to come back to it later. However, on the river side of the church was a lovely, shaded plaza high on the bank above the river. Below us was a unique ferry that used the river current to power it as it traveled back and forth across the river. A cable was strung across the river, and another cable attached the ferry boat to a pulley that moved back and forth on the traversing cable. That second cable connected to a bar on the boat that could be moved from one side of the boat to the other, so that the boat was always slightly skewed to the current, so that the current would push it sideways across the river. It wasn't a fast crossing, but I still found it to be an ingenious design.



One of the things that struck me as we walked around the city was the rose bushes. There were a LOT of roses, and they were absolutely gorgeous. Some of these roses were clearly quite old, with thick vines climbing the sides of the buildings. And the blooms were large, colorful and plentiful. The people of Basel clearly love their roses and put a lot of effort into maintaining them.

But the most surprising find of the day was a giant mural painted on the side of one of the alleys near the main shopping district in the center of the historic center of the city. It was a fascinating pictorial summary of the history of Rock and Roll, with portraits of prominent Rock performers or symbols related to them or their albums. We stood here for quite a while identifying the many different Stars portrayed here. It was a truly impressive piece of public art.