Aah, Switzerland… the Alps, numbered bank accounts, cheese, and chocolate. I have visited Switzerland before, on business trips and vacations, but I had never been to Basel, the destination of my latest trip.
I didn’t see the Alps this time. Basel is located at the Rhine River in the northwest of Switzerland, a stone’s throw away from the borders of France and Germany. There are beautiful hills, but no Matterhorn. I didn’t open a numbered bank account either. The small change in my current account can stay where it is.
This only left cheese and chocolate to enjoy, and wonderful lunches at the banks of the Rhine. My ass only expanded a little. I walked it all off during sight-seeing.
My trip consisted of two days of wheelings and dealings for Cosima Inc and one blissful day of exploring Basel.
When I looked for a hotel room on the internet – much too late, I admit – I was only able to find outrageously priced rooms. As Cosima Inc is a start-up company, and its only shareholder/employee/gofer runs a tight budget, the Trois Rois was out of the question… unfortunately. But a call at the Basel tourist office yielded a private room in Dornach, a village just outside of Basel at CHF80 (US$ 66) a night. Private rooms can be a little risky, especially if you haven’t even seen a picture beforehand, but this one turned out to be very nice. I had a huge room with balcony, a bathroom with shower, and even a small kitchen on the upper floor of a house owned by a very nice couple. The only downside was the location of the house, at the outer edge of the village, on top of a hill, far away from the tram and train station. The village bus came every thirty minutes, at night only every hour… I walked quite a lot during my trip.
But my strolls through Dornach were quite interesting. Every morning, I came by the Goetheanum, and other buildings that were slightly out of the ordinary.
The Goetheanum is the the center of the Anthroposophic Society and hosts its offices and a performance theater. The founder and architect was Rudolf Steiner, whose educational and philosophical teachings form the basis for Waldorf education.
Upon seeing it, my first thought was “bunker”. I guess in the 1920s, when the Goetheanum was built, concrete was still seen as a new, exciting building material, valued for its formability. Upon nearer inspection and seeing the sculpted walls inside, I was almost converted to the building’s virtues… almost.
I liked the smaller buildings much better.
::giggle:: This is the furnace building.
I had the choice between a fifteen-minute train ride or a thirty-minute tram ride to the center of Basel every morning. Basel’s old town, built on the banks and hills above the Rhine, and the promenade along the river are very beautiful.
In the old town, houses often have their name and building date above the entrance. In the older quarters, I saw dates from the 13th to 15th century. In the “newer” neighborhoods the buildings dated from the 18th century.
I also enjoyed crossing the river by ferry. Although there are plenty of bridges, at several points along the river it is possible to get to the other side by taking a small boat. These ferries don’t have motors, but are attached to steel ropes hung across the river, and are propelled by the current alone.
Before coming to Basel, I didn’t know much about the city. It’s not known as Switzerland’s most picturesque spot… it’s hard to compete against romantic villages nestled in the Alps. The city is also infamous as the centre of Switzerland’s pharmaceutical and chemical industry. Novartis, Roche, and other companies have their headquarters here.
The Other Side of Town
In 1986, a chemical warehouse of Sandoz (which is now part of Novartis) burnt down, and the runoff fire-fighter water poisoned the Rhine for hundreds of kilometers. The river seems to be back to its old self, but the incident is still remembered by many, and still tarnishes the city’s image.
