As I mentioned a few posts ago, my trip to Switzerland was an absolute whirlwind: although I was staying in Basel, I didn’t actually spend that much time there.  We did an overnight to Freiburg, a day trip to Strasbourg, and a balls-to-the-wall, eek-everything-out-of-this-36-hours trip to Locarno in the south. That said, what I saw of Basel, I absolutely loved.

Basel seems like a lovely, laid-back little city.  There are some things that are perplexing – for example, many shops are literally only open four hours a day.  How does that work? And for a European city, they were a little short on sidewalks outside the historic part.  But things that I loved included: tiny ferries across the Rhine; a map detailing where you can swim in the river (nevermind that its glacially cold); the spontaneous street party we attended with our host on Friday evening; and the view from the Munster (prominently featured above), the Italians who came barreling down the street after their team won the soccer/football match; and the variety of shutters (with hearts, crescent moons, and flowers cut out from the top.  I should have taken more photos).