Day 5 - Basel - May 14

We got to sleep in a little today. Though when I travel "sleeping in" really isn't past 7:30am ever. We got ourselves together and went down to breakfast. And wow, what a spread. The room was covered with wood, walnut shade, stain glass windows with sunshine coming in. It was stunning. I didn't take a picture, but grabbed one from the Internet to show you. 

Photo from GAIA hotel

Just gorgeous. And the spread of food they had to offer was equally as gorgeous. The waiter came over and brought us some of the best coffee I've had. I probably could have had 2-3 cups, but when traveling, that's dangerous. If you know what I mean. 

We were meeting a tour guide this morning and I wasn't 100% sure where we were going. We stopped to ask the front desk. I specifically told her we were going to St. Alban Tor. She explained which tram we need to get on and where to get off. And so we had our directions, so off we went. 

On the tram we got to a certain point where the tram turned left and I was sure it was supposed to turn right. I had looked at a map the night before and was sure, positive, we should have gone right. One stop later I saw the stop the front desk gal had told us to get off on and it was St. Johanns Tor. NOT St. Alban Tor. Ugh. 

So we hopped off the tram, thanking God we gave ourselves plenty of time. Got back on the same tram heading the other direction. Got off as close to where I thought we were going and walked, quickly, to St. Alban Tor. I was still a little unsure we were in the right spot, but figured we'd wait and see. 

A side note about traveling with an iPhone. The map feature makes traveling so much easier. We used the map every day to get us from point A to point B. No longer needing folding maps that really made us look like tourists. 

The St. Alban Tor is one gates that was part of the fortification of Basel back in the day. It dates back to somewhere around 1400 according to our tour guide, who did show up on time and was surprised to see us there before her. She said she often has to wait for her tour. 

Francis, our tour guide, started by walking us down to see some of the older parts that were once mills and what not. Part of the wall for Basel still exists and she told us about how they built it and why they put a roof on it (honestly I don't remember why). 

Hoofing it back up the hill we had just walked down, we walked through what was ones a fairly ritzy part of town. The "elite" used to live over by the Ratzhaus and the Munster, but the smell of so many horses and carriages bothered their delicate senses. The elite started to move further from the Munster into this "suburb". 

We then proceeded to walk through this lovely street with houses from the 16th and 17th century. The tour guide filled our minds with stories of life back then. Trade, families, children, hospital care etc. She was quite knowledgeable and could see we were hungry for history. 

After what felt like 10,000 miles to me (it was probably only 1 mile) we found ourselves outside the Munster. She didn't talk much about the Munster though. We sat and she told us about the Rhine and shipping long ago. She pointed out this cable that attached from one side of the Rhine to the next and a "ferry man". You'd ring the bell and, for free, he'd pull the ferry over and take you to the other side. She said kids loved it when they could ring the bell and have this guy come and pick them up. 

Moving on we walked through more historic streets and found ourselves at the Ratzhaus and Marketplaz. Their town hall and main square. I pointed out a place where I have a picture of dad standing 35 years before looking up at the Ratzhaus.

There was a market going on in the marketplaz which made it VERY hard to get a good shot of the Ratzhaus. It's such a stunning building that I was sad I couldn't get the full thing. 

The tour guide then took us up the hill. I didn't even know there was a hill, but there it was. Thankfully she said the "easy" way was via elevator so that's what we did. We walked again in a gorgeous neighborhood and she delighted us with tales from the past. 

She told us an interesting story about this road. The whole passage way is way wider than any other alley. She said this was where they'd bring the caskets up from the Munster to be buried in a cemetery that used to exist up on this hill. In order to accommodate for the wider load they made the alley wider. In fact, the name of the road means something like "dead road" or something like that. 

Anyhow, our hour was up and she left us in front of a restaurant so being that it was time for a beer, and lunch, we thought we'd drop our weary selves down. 

Francis our tour guide

Lunch was, of course, schnitzel. You'd think I'd be getting tired or it - and at this point you'd be right. I think I have had my fill of schnitzel to last for another 35 years. .

We wandered around the marketplaz a bit more and went inside the Ratzhaus. Nothing overly exciting to see there really. After that we walked our way back to the marketplatz area to get the tram. We had to get to getting our covid test done so we can get on the boat tomorrow. We found the spot pretty easily and waited in line. The two young men administering the test looked like they were 14. Janet and I were trying to figure out how it was they were old enough to do these tests. 

Test was negative and we were relieved. We had been making plans B, C, and D in case the tests were positive. But I reassured Janet that since I had lugged my heavy-ass work computer with me we would not test positive. 

We got back to the hotel and decided to laze away an hour or so before dinner. We were hot, tired, and our brains were full. 

Dinner brought us back to the first restaurant we went to, Steinbeck. The food was good and the service was excellent so we figured, why not. PLUS it helped that it was next to an ice cream place. 

I ordered stroganoff this time. I was expecting what we all think stroganoff is, beef, mushrooms, and some beefy gravy. What I got was beef, a paprika gravy and rosti. I was not disappointed in the least. 

We noticed as we were digesting these meals there was a menu for ice cream sitting on our table. Turns out the little restaurant in the evenings also serves ice cream. So we felt obligated to order some. Janet got this cafe glaze thing (basically a scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso over it, aka affogato). I opted for this tartufo. Both were so good. We were stuffed, as expected, after dinner. 

Back to the room, we had to get ourselves organized because tomorrow we'd be on the Viking Hlin for the first time. We were pretty excited to get this cruise going. I was sure Viking would not disappoint and we'd have a great time. 

Total Steps: 11,272