It was a short stay in Basel, but we saw a lot! The Rhine River flows through the city and was a short walk from our hotel in Basel’s Old Town. On our first night we walked to the river to find dinner. It was a very busy place, with most of the restaurants doing a brisk business. We continued to wander until we found a small restaurant in a quiet spot, with tables overlooking the river. The food was delicious, and it was fun to watch the activity along the river. There were even a bunch of swimmers in the river!

The Old Town is very walkable, with plenty of places to shop, eat and explore. We took full advantage of the pastry shops for tea and sweet treats. I think my favorite was the schoggiweggli – a soft milk bun with chunks of chocolate, and a specialty of Basel. Now that I’m writing about them, I have to see if I can recreate them at home! And with the chilly weather setting in, outdoor chairs have sheepskins to keep you warm!

The town hall is the seat of seat of Basel government and parliament. It dominates the central square of the Old Town.

We picked two sites to visit on our last day. There were many to choose from, and one was a given for us – climbing the tower of the cathedral! First we stopped at the Basel Historical Museum. Located in a building that was originally a monastery in the 1200’s, it houses an impressive collection of artifacts from the area’s cultural and religious history.

Then on to the highlight of the day (yes, pun intended😁) – the Basel Minster. Construction of the original cathedral was begun in 1019. The building has changed over the centuries, most notably after the destruction from the Basel earthquake in 1356. Even being rebuilt after that, it’s still wicked old by our standards! The church is one of the most prominent structures in the city and you can’t miss seeing the towers. As soon as I found out that you can climb them, we were off!

This was the best tower tour, mainly because it wasn’t a tour. We bought our tickets and were shown the door to the stairs leading up. We got there just as it opened, so there were just a few others climbing with us. We would go up a bit, find a door to a balcony, walk along that to another door leading to more stairs, another balcony, another door with more stairs, another balcony – you get the idea. Eventually we were at the tippy top, just under the spire. Wow!! The view was amazing and the feeling of being so high was incredible. And there was so much to see in the architecture all around you. Someone told us there was a hidden cat and mouse at the top – we found them! Only after we came down did we realize that we could have made another turn and gone up the other tower as well. 242 steps was enough for one day, maybe we’ll go back someday and finish the tower tour.

Below the church, the crypts were on display. There was a great video presentation about the history of the church that was projected onto the foundation and remains of the crypt. It was very well done, and it was in English.

For many years we have known that the Rolls came from the small town of Kiffis, France. John’s parents made the trek to Kiffis close to 30 years ago, and by shear chance, met up with a bunch of the local Rolls during lunch at the local restaurant. They no longer lived in the town, but were there for a day of apple picking. That was the beginning of an international family connection, including several more visits by his parents to France.

Knowing that we would be in Basel, a mere half hour from Kiffis, John’s mother reached out to our french cousins and we made plans to meet for lunch. What a fun day! First, we had to get to Kiffis, so we rented a car and hit the road.

During the day, we lost count of the border crossings between Switzerland and France. There were at least 6, if not 8, as we wound through country roads. Only one road had an obvious (but unmanned) crossing — the others were just announced by the GPS with a “Welcome to France” or “Welcome to Switzerland”.

We had lots of time before lunch, so we stopped at the ruins of the Chateau du Landskron. We love visiting these ruins, and this one did not disappoint. Other than some groundskeepers, we were the only ones there.

And now to Kiffis. It’s a tiny town in a beautifully picturesque setting. We stopped at the war memorial and the church to find family names.

We were meeting for lunch at the Restaurant au Cheval Blanc. This is where John’s parents first met the Rolls. We were the first to arrive, as they were just opening for lunch, but it didn’t take long for almost all of the tables to fill up. Once the food arrived, it was easy to see why folks will travel here to dine. The food was delicious and the atmosphere is lovely. From the overflowing flower boxes and kitchen garden outside, to the beautifully appointed interior, and the delicious food, this place is a gem!

Lunch with Marie-Agnes and her brother, Jean, was so much fun! Between their English and John’s French, we had fun conversations. We also talked to the owner of the restaurant and found out that she was there on that first visit years ago. She is also related to the Roll family and pointed us to the house once owned by the family. Another Roll had visited the restaurant earlier this year – someone not known to us, but likely related. We’ll follow up and see if we can connect with that family. Almost 3 hours later we bade our newly found cousins good-bye. We are already talking about our next trip to Kiffis!

I am finally catching up with my blog posts. My keyboard stopped working mid-trip, so I had to wait until we got home. And then life gets busy and things drop down the priority list. But here you go – the remainder of our Switzerland/Denmark trip in a few more blog posts. Enjoy!

With John’s work commitments behind him, we headed out of Zurich to see some more of the country. We were heading to Basel for a couple of days, and broke up our trip there with a visit to Mount Pilatus. We stowed our luggage in the Lucerne train station and took a bus to the small town of Kriens (have I told you that we love the public transportation in Europe?). Here we boarded gondolas to head up the mountain. Near the top we transferred to the new aerial cableway, the Dragon Ride. The Dragon Ride carries 55 passengers up the last 2000 feet of elevation in just under 4 minutes. Surrounded by glass, it’s a spectacular view!

At the top of the mountain there are cafes, a gift shop (of course) and a beautiful hotel – 30 rooms, built in 1890, and spectacular inside. I’d love to stay there sometime! Check it out – https://www.pilatus.ch/en/discover/hotels/pilatus-kulm-hotels

We wandered around for a bit, climbing the steps to the 2 peaks, and walked along the dragon path, partially tunneled through the rock. The legends and myths of the dragons of Pilatus live on! We were just on the very edge of the Alps, but able to look out over 73 of the Alpine peaks. It is quite impressive!

Deciding to make the most of our trip, we took the cog railway down the other side of the mountain. At a gradient of 48 degrees, this is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. A 30 minute trip brings you through the barren rock formations at the top, into meadows and grassland at the base.

And to finish out what is called the “Pilatus Golden Round Trip”, we hopped onto a boat for our return trip to Lucerne. It was a spectacularly beautiful day, and the gentle cruise across Lake Lucerne was the perfect way to cap off that adventure.

We actually got some sleep last night and woke up just in time for breakfast. We found a cute bakery just around the corner and enjoyed tea and pastries while watching folks get started on their day. There are a few more bakeries near by, but I think we’ll be back to this one.

Since all of Switzerland is new to us, it was hard to decide what to do for the day. We opted for a trip to the town of Chur, which is the oldest town in Switzerland, has a neat “old town” area, and a cable car up the nearby mountain.

Once again, we had to navigate ticketing on a different train – thank you to the friendly train employee for her assistance (I think we can do it on our own next time!). I love the trains here! They are dead quiet, smooth riding and comfortable. And, you can go almost anywhere you’d like. This train ride did not disappoint! We rode along the shore of the lake and into the beginning of the Alps. The mountains are very impressive, rising steeply from the lakes, with many small vineyards dotting the lower slopes. It was a pleasant 1 1/2 hour ride.

We went directly to the cable car – about a 10 minute walk from the train station. The first part of the ascent is in a large cable car. There were about a dozen people and 4 mountain bikes in our car. Then we transferred to smaller cars – 4 seaters, more like the ski gondolas back home – for the rest of the climb. The views were spectacular!

(Click on the photos for the full pictures)

At the top, we walked along to an area with a hotel and a couple of restaurants, then walked some more. The signpost said 30 minutes to walk to Alpbeizli Malix. We didn’t know what that was, but decided to go. It took us less than 30 minutes (even with me stopping and saying I couldn’t make it), but it was walking up a ski slope. The Alpbeizli Malix and neighboring Alpibar (restaurant and bar) were closed, but pictures online look like it’s a popular place during ski season.

We walked back down to one of the restaurants for lunch, and enjoyed a plate of Brapo – bratwurst in onion sauce and fries. Delicious!

Back down the mountain in the cable cars, and a short stroll into the “Old Town” – a lovely, pedestrian-only area. We wandered around here and visited Saint Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, built between 1150 and 1272. Then back to the train and a quiet evening at the hotel.

I sit here at the airport with my favorite travel buddy, waiting for our flight to Copenhagen, then on to Zurich. John has a business meeting in Zurich this week, so we’re turning it into a vacation. I’ll entertain myself for a few days while he’s at the office – I think the Lindt Chocolate Factory and Museum is right in town! Then some travel around Switzerland, lunch with Roll cousins in France and a couple of days in Copenhagen on the way home.

Since neither of us wanted to be stuck in the middle seat, we initially booked 2 aisle seats. A few hours before we left for the airport, I decided I wanted the window seat so that I could curl up and sleep (wishful thinking!). I was able to get the window seat, leaving the middle seat between us up for grabs. I know this is a new strategy people use to maximize their chance that no one will book the lone middle seat. At boarding we were told the plane was completely full, but no one showed up in our row. 😀 And I still didn’t get much sleep.

The Copenhagen airport was eerily quiet when we arrived at 6 in the morning. Not knowing what gate our connection would be, we waited where we were until the departures board was updated – only to discover that we (and a few other travelers) couldn’t figure out how to get out of our terminal. We finally did make it to the other part of the airport, through passport control and the duty free shops to a much busier gate area.

Arriving in Zurich, we had to figure out how to get into the city, and how to buy a ticket for the tram. Luckily, fellow travelers are friendly and we made our way into the city center and to our hotel. The afternoon consisted of napping, walking around to find food, more napping and visiting with some of John’s colleagues in the hotel bar.

Happy Anniversary to my love! I’m so happy that we’re still doing fun things after 31 years. Let’s keep it up!

Today was a beautiful day! The sun was shining and felt so good as we traveled along. There were a lot of boats on the canal today. I think the good weather has brought them all out.

Yesterday I had John man the 9 locks while I drove the boat, and today we switched it up. We had 3 sets of locks, with 10 in total. Some of them were close enough together that I walked between them instead of hopping on and off the boat for each one. The boat travels at about the same speed as walking, and it’s a good way to stretch your legs during the day. Plus, it was a great day for a walk. The final set of 6 were in rapid succession, with 3 individual locks and a staircase of 3 locks. We had a little backup of boats going up those, which we hadn’t had yet in our trip. This set had a few volunteer lock-keepers, so the kept things in order and made sure we made efficient use of the locks. During the busy season there can be a 4-5 hour wait to traverse these locks! That’s why we’re on the canal now.

For the past few days we’ve been trying to buy eggs, but none of the local shops have had any. As John was waiting for one of our locks, there was a canalside egg cabinet – 6 eggs for 1 pound 50 (about $1.85), and we happened to have some change, so… eggs for lunch!

Once we were done with the locks (the last for this trip), we found a quiet mooring spot for the night and walked into the town of Whitchurch. Usually when we walked into a town, we had to contend with small country roads, no sidewalks, cars driving on the wrong side of the road… In Whitchurch, there is a nice wooded path from the canal into the center of town (about a 20 minute walk). Whitchurch has the claim of being the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire, since the Romans settled here. It’s a cute town with lots of shops and pubs, and was pretty busy on a Tuesday afternoon.

We stopped in at the local Heritage Center and learned about the Cheshire cheese that was a big industry here, and about some of Whitchurch’s famous residents. Victorian illustrator Randolph Caldecott lived here – if you’ve read children’s books, you’ve seen the Caldecott Medal on some of those.

We also toured another neat church – St. Alkmund’s.

One more night on the boat. We’ve had such a fun time on this trip. We saw beautiful landscapes, pretty towns, amazing architecture, and crossed paths with many friendly people. There’s so much more to see, and we definitely want to return.

Today was one of our late starts at 9am. As soon as we set off, we had the set of 4 Hurleston Locks ahead of us. No lock-keepers yet this morning, so John had to man all of the gates and paddles, while I tried to keep the boat from floating away between each lock. It’s surprising how easy it is to pull a boat this size by hand once the propulsion stops. We usually tie up on a bollard either side of the lock until it is ready to enter or the lock operator jumps back on board.

Today we had nine locks, one hand crank lift bridge and one powered lift bridge. Most of the bridges that carry traffic are tall enough for the boats to pass under. Some of the smaller farm bridges are too low and need to be hand cranked to raise for the boat to pass. Just like the locks, someone hops off to lift the bridge, then hops back on after the boat passes and the bridge is lowered. This canal has one regular road bridge that needs to be lifted. Our first time through, I was walking back and forth with a bewildered look when a nice gentleman stopped his car and told me I needed to raise the bridge with a key. “Where do I get the key?”. “It should be on your boat keys”. “Oh, that’s what that extra key is for!”. Operating this bridge is fun! You turn the key and press the OPEN button. Alarms sound, road barriers drop, traffic stops, and the bridge slowly rises. Once the boat is through, push the CLOSE button and everything happens in reverse. Today I was at the bridge a little early and was able to raise it for a very grateful solo boater. Everything is a bit more work when you don’t have a second skipper on board.

We made a stop in the town of Wrenbury, walked around a bit, stocked up on our chocolate, and visited the local church. We think our houses at home are old, but this church was built in 1500, on the site of a former church. Now, that’s old! We had a wander through the graveyard, trying to find the oldest stones. Most were from the 1800’s but there were quite a few that were so worn or damaged to be unreadable. Inside the church was quite lovely. Instead if open pews, there are boxes that seat 5-6 people. There was sign with some bits of church trivia that mentioned the “dog whipper’s box”. That needed a googling – The dog whipper was in charge of keeping the dogs in order and for waking those parishioners who fell asleep during the service.

Back to the boat for a short motoring to find our mooring spot for the night. Cell service is very spotty along the canal, but we managed to get a couple of facetime calls in to folks back home. Remember when you’d send a postcard home from your trip only to arrive back home before the postcard was delivered. How times have changed!