Basel Herbstmesse

Autumn Festival.

Basel's 542nd fall festival started on October 27th and ended this past Sunday, November 11.  It's Switzerland's largest and oldest amusement fair, attracting around one million people from the Three-Country Region and abroad.  Throughout the city, cute wooden stalls were set up selling handicrafts, specialty food/drinks, sweets and art etc. (just like any fair, really).  There were also rides for children in different areas and a huge ferris wheel was set up in Münsterplatz, the main church square.  It was very cold the day we went, so we enjoyed some hot mulled wine (glühwein) and fried apples while we walked around the traditional "Hääfelimäärt" market in Petersplatz.

 

 

 

 

Amsterdam

Museum Night.  Canals.  Rain.
   

Although it was raining pretty heavily when we arrived on Friday night, we didn’t let it dampen our spirits!  We booked a hotel in the Museum quarter and it was quite artsy, we really liked it.  We quickly dropped off our bags and with umbrellas in hand, we hit the town to find some of those tasty frites we heard about!   Mission accomplished and dang, they were so good!  More please.  Surprisingly, several of the shopping streets were already lined with festive holiday light displays.  It's early in the season, but Amsterdam is already in “Christmas” mode!

We started out Saturday morning by putting the map away and losing ourselves in all the different canal-lined streets, along the way picking out which house “leaned” the most.  Not a lot of right angles here!   

 

We walked through the Jordaan neighborhood to the edge of the Red Light District to see what all the fuss is about (probably a bit more lively at night), and I didn't want to stare, but we did see "ladies in the windows".  And they looked bored -- one was on her iPhone and another was reading.  Funny.  IAt this poing it had started to rain a bit more so we headed to the classic department store De Bijenkorf, which is equal parts history, culture and retail therapy smack in the middle of Dam Square.  I found a much needed hat (which I wore the rest of the weekend) and we found some cool sunglasses for Matt.  We then continued down to Rembrandtplein and ended at the Bloemenmart / Flower Market.  

 

  

Along the way, we stopped in the Tassenmuseum (Museum of bags and purses) as it started to rain again quite heavily and Matt was umm, the minority gender here!  I think he quite enjoyed it though.  Alligator or armadillo purse anyone?  It was actually a nice display overall, we just thought these bags were a bit out there and Matt couldn't resist snapping a few pics.

 

Uh oh!  This bike took a wrong turn....

Saturday night was reserved for the annual Museumnacht (“Museum Night”), where dozens of Amsterdam museums offered special, themed events and performances during unorthodox hours -- 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. Several museums also offered food and drinks aligned with their themes.  We made it to 8 museums and returned to the hotel after 12:30 AM!

Our first stop was the Van Gogh Museum (Impressionist art collection temporarily at the Hermitage).  We then continued to the Portuguese Synagogue (no electricity - just huge glowing candelabras), followed by the Tattoo Museum (carnival-like atmosphere where you could watch customers getting real, permanent tattoos) with a short stop to the Hollandsche Schouwburg (photographs, video images, objects composed to show the gradual development of discrimination against Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands).  After that, we waited in line at FOAM (black and white photography of Diane Arbus), and then went across the street for the Museum Van Loon (magnificent private canal house built in 1672 where they've kept the interior of the house largely intact from centuries ago).  By this time it was going on 11PM and we needed some food!  We found a great burger joint to rest and re-fuel before heading to the famous Rijksmuseum (magnificent selection of Dutch paintings from the Golden Age).  Our night ended at the Stejdelik Museum (contemporary art), our 8th and final museum of the night!  We did pretty good, no? 

 

 

 

Sunday morning we awoke to sunshine, which was short-lived.  As long as it wasn’t raining we were happy though.  We walked through the vast Vondelpark, which was around the corner from our hotel and it was full of runners, walkers and bikers.  Popular spot, even in cold weather!   
 

We were getting hungry so we found a lively and cozy café for brunch where we warmed up and filled our bellies (we even had apple pie with whipped cream!) before heading to the Anne Frank Huis.  We waited in line for approximately 50 minutes, but at least it was dry.  The wait was well worth it as the exhibition was very moving and educational.   

We ended the evening on a more upbeat note with a visit to the Heineken Brewery, which was a lot of fun.  It was a self-guided tour offering a little bit of history, interactive games, 4-D movie of what it's like to be "brewed" and "bottled", and of course, tasting beer at the end!

 

Maybe on our next visit we'll see some windmills and tulips!

Vals / Therme

Relaxation.  Architecture.  Snow.

Ahhh, we just spent a very relaxing weekend at the thermal baths in Vals.  During the 3-hour drive southeast we passed Alpine pastures and several ski towns chock full of traditional chalets.  The final portion of our drive up to Vals was on a windy little road following a river on one side and steep mountains on the other. 

The town of Vals itself has a population of less than 1,000 but is famous for its Valser spring water, which is sold in grocery stores throughout Switzerland.   

Ok, there is literally nothing in town!  It reminded us of Roslyn, Washington, but much much smaller.  We did a loop around town and found one cafe to get a snack, but that was pretty much it.  We overnighted at the Hotel Therme, where the baths were designed by Basel-born architect Peter Zumthor.  “Using 60,000 slabs of local quartzite and playing on light to amplify the feeling of space, Zumthor created one of the country’s most enchanting thermal spas”, which is now listed as a historical building.  There’s a labyrinth of both indoor and outdoor pools of varying temperatures, watery nooks and crannies, drinking stones as well as purifying steam rooms.  It was heavenly!  Cameras/electronic equipment aren't allowed inside so we nabbed the below photos from online.   

 

We relaxed in the baths upon our arrival Saturday afternoon when it was very packed, and again on Sunday morning, when it was open to hotel guests only, thus much less crowded.  On Saturday afternoon it also started to snow….and never stopped.  It was a lot of fun to swim in the heated outside pool to enjoy fresh air and let snowflakes fall on our heads!  The hotel itself was very 1960’s (maintaining its original décor) and quirky though.  It was pretty strange in my opinion and Matt felt like he was in a James Bond movie!  

That night we enjoyed a fabulous 6-course dinner at the hotel’s Red Restaurant, feasting on tasty items like stinging nettles soup (warm and creamy), deer medallions (very tender) and a delectable selection of local cheeses.  I wasn’t sure if the food would be as good as it was considering we were in the middle of nowhere, but it was truly delicious and the restaurant had a very cozy atmosphere.

Although it was beautiful, we weren’t prepared for the huge amount of snow we woke up to on Sunday!  It was a good foot + of fresh powder.  That’s a lot of snow, right (keep in mind it’s still October)!

Time to bring in the goats!

We used hotel brochures as mini-brooms to remove the snow from the car and Matt used a plastic toolbox to scrape off the ice!  Yes, we had to improvise, and it was really really cold, brrrr. . . .  To make matters worse, the door on my side wouldn’t open easily, so Matt had to really pry at it.  It finally opened, but then it wouldn’t close!   We were slightly panicked (ok, I was really freaked out).  Some doo-hickey was frozen, thus prohibiting the door from closing all the way – it would just bounce back open.  Upon further investigation we figured out the little latch inside the door had frozen and wasn’t “catching”.  We cleaned out all the ice out and Matt manually opened the latch so the door could finally “click” and close properly.  Woo hoo, crisis averted!   Now we just had to safely get down the mountain.   
 

On our way out we were lucky enough to pull up behind the town’s snow-plow, which we followed most of the way down, what luck.  It continued to snow all the way past Zurich, but stopped about 30 miles from Basel (although the temperature never really got above 0° Celsius the whole way home).  We were not expecting freezing temperatures and so much snow in October?!