25/6/10-Basel

I woke up to the chatter of people eating breakfast at the restaurant below the hotel. Oh how Adelboden is such a quiet village high in the mountains, I sometimes miss the constant movement, the loudness and the semi-polluted air of the city.  Moushira went to go meet her friend from Egypt, so I got to sleep in until 10am. We had free continental breakfast at the hotel, which was nice. I then took a stroll down Rheingasse (a street) and later met Jenny and Moushira at the tram stop. In Basel there are trams to take you all around the city, and the most challenging part of Basel is crossing the street! (because of the trams) We were able to leave our bags in the reception area so we didn’t have to carry them around all day. We walked along the river until we got to the ferry stop. We took a mini boat that was attached to a cable/rope across the river. We then walked all the way up the steps to the courtyard of Münster. This is when we discovered we had not gone to Münster the previous day. It was a beautiful cathedral with rose-colored concrete and inside on the bottom level there were various tombs dating back to 916. We walked around Münsterplatz, sat in the open garden next to the fountain and then back to Mittlere Brücke. This was the oldest bridge in Basel built in 1226 for fortification reasons, as well as the most prominent. We had to cross the bridge if we wanted to walk to the hotel. We then walked for half an hour to find a place to eat. We ate at an American restaurant and enjoyed burgers and pommes frites (French fries). After our lunch stop we headed to the Kunstmuseum. It was a fine arts museum with collections from 1400-present day. It was three stories and the rooms and collections that never seemed to end. We saw contemporary and modern art, German expressionism, a special exhibit by Gabriel Orozco (from Mexico), religious art and American art. I saw paintings from Picasso, Van Gogh and Claude Monet. I enjoyed the two hour walk through the museum. But after walking for that long, It was time for a sit, so we enjoyed an iced coffee and ice cream drink in the café, it was very good. After our afternoon snack, we sat by the river and watched all the people swim, hang out and relax. It was nice to just sit in the sun. After that we were off the Summerblues concerts in Basel. They had 6 different venues and 2 street bands and all the music was free! I was so excited to listen and watch live music, it was exhilarating! It was one of my favorite parts of the entire Basel trip. After we enjoyed a few of the concerts we made our way back to the train station to check departure train times before we ate dinner. We ate dinner at a very good Italian restaurant called Da Roberto which was just a block over from the train station. The walls inside were elaborately decorated and the food was delicious! We boarded the 20:28 train to Bern/Spiez then to Frutigen. Jenny gave me a lift back to the chalet so I wouldn’t have to walk up the hill alone, yay! I made it back safe and sound, and all in all it was a great trip.