Everyone loves a parade!

Here's the weekend update. It seems as if I'll probably just be posting on weekends, since that's when I actually get to do fun stuff. On weekdays I walk to the archive, I walk home, sometimes I go running. Ho hum.

Saturday, though, was fairly interesting. I left on my first trip of the day to go food shopping. As I was walking towards the store, I heard the sound of bagpipes. "Hmm," I thought, "I'm not in Scotland." I followed the sound to its source:

Apparently there's a whole shop devoted to the Basel Tattoo! Which, sadly, Patrick and I will miss, though I checked their website and it's already sold out. So why bother with the advertising? Anyway, Matt, you still want something from the knife store? Or are you thinking something a little more bagpipey?

That was not the end to the day's musical surprises, but first, the market:

OK Dad, which do you like more, olives...

or cheese?

These weren't even the biggest blocks of cheese on display, but I was trying not to be totally obnoxious about taking pictures, and these weren't directly in someone's face. You could get some flowers instead:

But why would you, when there's all that cheese to be purchased?

I had to stop back at home to drop off my bulging bag of groceries, but then I headed back out to get my ISIC card, one of the tasks on the day's agenda. Walking down to the main shopping street, I heard another musical novelty:

A brass band! Leading some sort of parade of old men:

Some of the old men got to ride in a carriage pulled by horses:

After they passed by, I went about my business and got my card (yay! discounts!) but I then had to go find a photo booth to put my picture on the card. This involved walking back through the Marktplatz, where I again heard the brass band. I followed the sound into the Rathaus, where they were clearly having some sort of display:

The guys were proudly showing off the flags, and then after playing for awhile, they marched out of there and continued on around town. I have no idea who they were or what this was for, and I didn't want to ask due to my almost complete lack of conversational German. Besides, everyone else seemed pretty baffled as well.

That pretty much covers yesterday's excitement, though I also went running (by myself!) along the Rhine. I would like to take pictures of that, but running with a camera seems like it would be awkward. Oh but wait, one more picture for Dad from the market:

Look at all those bikes! There are bike parking lots all over the place, but I think this is the biggest.

Today was decidedly less exciting, though I did go to the art museum:

This is the Kunstmuseum, which is the most basic and mainstream art museum in town. All the others have themes - super modern, cartoon, architecture, 18th century decorative, etc. This one is most famous for its Renaissance art but I basically skipped all that and went to the modern stuff. The featured exhibit was weird; one of the installations featured dryer lint draped over clothes lines. But there was enough Picasso and Mondrian and Klee and some awesome Swiss artist I'd never heard of before to keep me happy!

Inside the Archive

My internet stopped working when I was in the middle of posting this last night, so you have to pretend I posted it on Friday and then all the wording about "today" makes sense. It seems as if I'll just have to live with sporadic internet access!

Today was rather quiet in the archive, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to take some pictures of what it looks like on the inside. Despite the obvious age of the building, the inside is really modern and features some impressive art. The way it's set up, you walk in on the ground floor, which turns out to be the top floor of the place. Here's what you see when you walk in:

I don't remember who the artist of that one is, but I think it's pretty cool. Notice the big skylight above. From that floor you walk down a staircase to a common area:

You can see where we all hang our coats, and there's a piano, a sitting area, and a staircase down one more floor. This is hanging on the wall in that room:

Oh it's just an original Andy Warhol, you know, no big deal. The woman is Mrs. Paul Sacher, the one who had all the money that built this place. I've been working on this middle floor, in the reading room:

Not such a bad place to be all day! Here's my spot, where I kill my eyes from going back and forth between the microfilm and the laptop:

Today no one else was around, but usually there are a couple of other people working in there. That's why I don't have a very good spot. Some girl claimed the primo space right in front of the window and I got stuck with my back facing the window. That girl hasn't been around for a few days, but she left a whole bunch of stuff claiming the good desk! How long do I wait before I move it all and claim the space for myself?

Here's the view from one of the windows:

When the trees bloom, we'll lose a lot of the view so that will be sad but at least it'll be green!

And here's the view from another window:

That's one of the ferries you can take to cross the river. They're powered solely by the current of the river, which is pretty amazing. Another girl working in the archive told me that the captain of this particular ferry speaks some Japanese, which got her really excited because she's from Japan. Apparently he gets so many Japanese tourists that he's picked up some of the language!

Lazy Sunday

I've spent most of today procrastinating about grading by messing around online and rewarding myself for grading by eating chocolate (both in bar and Nutella forms). I did, however, take a brief walk just so I could be out of the house for awhile and get some fresh air. So I'll post pics of some of the things I saw!

Today I went north, towards the University, though I didn't make it that far. I stayed in the old city and saw some buildings that were pretty damn old, like this church, the Peterskirche:

According to the information given on a small sign, this church was built mostly between the 9th and 12th centuries, but wasn't complete until the 14th century I think. Anyway, it's really old. Across the street (where I was standing to take a picture) was a nice little park. And right in front of the church, daffodils were blooming! Hooray spring!

From the church I walked towards the river and to the Mittlere Rheinbrücke (which basically translates to the Middle Bridge). On the way I passed this restaurant, called Soup:

Underneath the name it says "Suppenbar" just to clarify that they do, in fact, serve soup. I'm actually very curious to find out whether they serve anything else, because a place that serves just soup seems like it would have limited appeal. But they weren't open (does no one want soup on Sunday?) so I couldn't find out. Down the staircase where all those people are standing is called the Fischmarkt, but thankfully that is not open on Sundays either.

Here are some views from the bridge. This is the other side, known as Kleinbasel:

Despite the crappy weather, there were people hanging out on the steps by the river over there. I look forward to joining them sometime when there aren't ominous gray clouds in the sky.

This is my side of the river, Grossbasel:

That big cathedral is the one near the archive that I've posted pictures of before. You can see the building that houses the archive, I think it's that pinkish one!

Back on land, I wandered through the narrow streets back to my apartment. On the way, I found the oldest labeled house yet:

I also found the coolest apartment entrance ever:

Once you go in the door, you have to walk down that whole narrow passageway!

You can see all the mailboxes on the right wall. I think this would be a pretty amazing place to live.

Across the street, one house had a huge yard, with an incredible tree:

When I got closer to my place, I decided to explore this "street" that I've been eyeing, because I pass it everyday. It seems like this is where the hooligans hang out, since there was a lot of graffiti - one of the biggest surprises I've had walking around here is the amount of graffiti generally.

One of these artists had evidently been practicing his English and wanted to show it off:

Someone else thought it would be funnier to do this:

Why are orthopedic shoes on that windowsill? Is it a joke? Does the owner of that apartment not realize that the shoes are there? Or are they his shoes and he just wanted to air them out for awhile? Is this Basel's equivalent of throwing shoes over power lines? That was today's big mystery.

Shopping day

It's Saturday, which meant that I got to sleep in and had to go shopping, because nothing will be open tomorrow. I decided to put on my big girl panties (sorry Patrick, I know you hate that expression) and brave some of the places I've been avoiding. First stop: the outdoor market on the appropriately named Marktplatz:

Sorry, it's not a great picture, but I think you get some sense of the busyness of the area, with all the stalls set up in the central area, trams coming and going, and people walking everywhere. It was like a big, fabulous farmer's market with tons of produce, lots of flowers, and all the cheese and bread you could want. It's open everyday except Sunday, though today it seemed bigger and busier than on weekdays. I managed to buy bread, leeks, Swiss chard and parsley though I wound up with some random amounts due to my unfamiliarity with ordering things in grams. So I have lots of leeks and very little chard. But I did manage to communicate what I wanted and how much, in German, and pay with the correct amounts of money!

I decided to stop back at my apartment, which is only a few blocks from there, before finishing up at the supermarket. I neglected to remember, however, that those few blocks are entirely uphill. Here are some shops along the way:

I haven't been in there yet, but it's on my list of places to check out. Notice the angle of the sidewalk in front of the shop.

Here's one of many cheese shops, with a funny cow display:

They also apparently sell cheese from goats!

This is a Christmas themed tchotchke shop, which was featuring a big display of what seemed like wedding-cake toppers in the window (sorry about my reflection):

I think I'm going to have to buy one of these. Did you notice the ones on the top level? Oh yes, two grooms!

Here's a knife shop:

For some reason the front of their display is lined with toys. Because nothing says knives like little children's playthings!

After dropping off my produce, I headed back out and returned the stupid USB wifi thing I bought when I first got here and my landlord and rental agent confused me about how to pick up the internet signal in my apartment. But I got my money back! I also found a large supermarket/department store that I think will become "my" store and I was able to buy just about everything on my list - a hairdryer, a baking pan, yogurt, muesli (the only even somewhat reasonably priced cereal here), etc.

And now it's time to stop procrastinating and do some grading! I've been putting it off since I got here and I just can't do that any more. If I finish today that means I can treat myself to some museum or something tomorrow. I'm itching to get to the modern art museum! Plus maybe I won't be sore any more from my run on Thursday and I'll be able to walk more than a few blocks without hating every step...

Cash in an Envelope

That's how they paid my stipend! I suppose I'll never have to visit an ATM now...

So I finally found some internet, though it's a little mysterious. I noticed a place that I walk by everyday had "connect" in the window and lots of people on laptops. I figured that I could come, order a beer, and use the internet along with everyone else. The mysterious thing is - no one tried to sell me anything! I'd been sitting here for awhile and no waiter or waitress - and then as I started writing this I noticed that people are walking back from someplace with drinks...So I finally figured it out and went to order "Ein bier, bitte" which I must have pronounced decently because I got a beer! And for much less than yesterday's dumb Starbucks purchase, much closer to my apartment, and unlimited internet. I have a feeling I might become a regular here...

I started at the Paul Sacher yesterday, which is an incredible place. It might as well be dripping with money (in envelopes). Views of the Rhine from every window, gorgeous interior - it's pretty incredible. And everyone has been really nice so far. Oh, and the research is good too, so far. I'm in archive heaven.

So now what everyone's waiting for...the pictures!

When I was out the other day (Monday?) I went out on one of the bridges a bit, so here you can see the big cathedral that's right next to where I'm working/studying/whatever. You can probably see the building itself, but it's hard to say which one it is.

Here's some pictures of the cathedral close-up:

So, um, what's up with the star of David? Anyone? Is that a standard feature of cathedrals that I never noticed before?

The building straight ahead is the Paul Sacher, though they share it with other people. Notice all the crazy construction in front of it! The whole square in front of the place, which seems like it would otherwise be nice, is in a ridiculous state of being torn up. On the upside, yesterday the construction workers were playing some weird game during their lunch break in the middle of it. It seemed vaguely like horseshoes.

Here's some pictures just from walking around the old town the other day:

And in that building (or one that looked just like it, I don't remember):

How old are these buildings, you ask? About this old:

I think the oldest I've seen so far is 1300, but I'll keep looking. I have a feeling the "Condomeria" is a bit more recent.

Happy Easter!

Here's the Rathaus, or town hall. It stands facing a large plaza that gets filled with vendors every morning, like a farmer's market:

These are for my dad:

Super Happy Lucky Cats!

And bikes!

There are bikes everywhere! Though it's so hilly that pretty often you see people walking their bikes up (and down) the enormous hills. Patrick claims that he could ride up these hills that all the weak Swiss people can't manage, so that will be good fodder for a future video blog post!

No internet!

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. The free hotspot I've been "borrowing" hasn't let me sign on in over 24 hours. I just paid $7 (!!!!) for a small hot chocolate at Starbucks just to use their free internet - and they only gave me a 1/2 hour! Plus, it's going really slow, so no way will I get pics up with this. I'll post more as soon as I have reliable access again...

Pictures of My Neighborhood

Because they don't fit anywhere else, they get their own post!

Here's the front of the Spanish wine bar/restaurant on the ground floor of my building:

And the front of the building (the picture from the other day was the back):

My windows are those on the "first" floor, i.e. the first floor above the ground floor.

This is my block, looking towards my building:

And looking the other way:

Finally, here's a side street: