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We once again had a 9:00 am train and had to head out by 8:15 to get to the station on time and grab some hot drinks and pastries on the way. We made the train just fine. It was a two-hour ride and were scattered around the train. It was a nice ride through the German countryside. Basel is a very old city and dates back to the Romans coming through in the BC era. It has gone through many different types of government and control through its long history. The city did not suffer much during WW2. It was mistakenly bombed by American bombers on March 4, 1945, when the bombers thought it was a German city. It does sit right on the boarder. Amazingly, no one was killed in the bombing. The city is known for its many bridges across the Rhine River that flows through it. It has some very old sections dating back hundreds of years and others that are very modern.
As we arrived the weather was very changeable all day. We walked from the station and were only going to grab some hot drinks and pastries and move on. A rain cloud let open as we ordered and we ended up staying in the coffee shop for about 45 minutes. Then Mark took off as he needed a running track to work out on. He had found a few on Google Maps and headed out to do his workout. The rest of us wandered over the Rhine and before we knew it, we were walking around one of the oldest parts of the city with gorgeous old buildings with huge doors. The streets were very narrow and there were beautiful public drinking fountains. We eventually ended up at the outside the Basel Minster Cathedral. This area overlooks the Rhine. Abigail knew that in Basel there were four areas where you can take a ferry across the river. These are little boats attached to a cable and by shifting a rudder the stream of the river and cable the boat moves from one side to the other. We just happened to be right above one of the ferries. I just had to get the stroller down the 200 steps from where we were. I did and we took the 2 Franc ferry across. We then found a little local restaurant that Abigail and read about called Schafeck. It is known for the pot of cheese fondue you can get, and that is exactly what we had.
Mark met up with us at the restaurant and we all enjoyed great cheese and wine fondue. Jamie also very much enjoyed it. We all ate way too much, but it was so good, and we just kept dipping till it was gone. We then headed back out on the streets. Since Mark was not with us when we had been up at the minster, we decided to take him up to what we had seen. The rain was now coming and going very often, but we did not mind as it was not really heavy. I got a chance to run into the cathedral. It was nothing to grand, but it was originally started to be built in the 1000′ and was not really finished till the 1500’s. It also started out as a Catholic church and is now a Reformed Protestant church. Jamie had a great time playing in the little fountains that are on the side of the public water fountain. We got out of the rain under the large canopy of trees in the large square outside of the church.
We next slowly moved down some of the gorgeous, narrow side streets. We eventually came upon a very large red brick building. Turns out it is the 500-year-old town hall. It very much dominates the area. We then found a little coffee shop for our afternoon hot drinks and pastry. Then we jumped into a Christmas shop to buy an ornament. The rain was becoming more and more frequent, and we were having to stop in stores along the way. We now started to make our way back to the train station and as we did the skies opened up on us. We were able to get into a tram stop shelter and then bought some tram tickets to get us to the station.
We were early for our train, but it was pouring so we did not mind. Then we discovered that our train back to Karlsruhe was cancelled. Mark and Abigail were able to find out that we would need to only wait another hour before there would be another train we could take. We got Jamie asleep, and we all got something to eat. We were all very wearier after all the traveling we had been doing. The weather had so changed from the very hot and dry when we first arrived in Germany 5 days earlier to the breezy, rainy, and cool weather we now were having.
We got on our train and rode the two hours back to Karlsruhe and then slowly made our way back to the hotel to get to bed.
