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.