From A to Z

My good friend Sus at one time graciously potted herbs for me and basil was the star, it is my fave herb you see. She did this knowing full well I would eventually be responsible for its untimely and gruesome death.  I have a black thumb and I kill green things.  I also eat them, so death to basil!

Anywho, she gave me a basil tutorial and taught me that it turns bitter when it flowers.  This is counter intuitive because flowers are pretty but she assured me to cut my basil before the plant grows too tall and flowers.

During our hellish move, we decided to take a break and check out the city of Basel Switzerland.  It is an hour from Zurich by train and is known for its art, theatre and architecture scene.  It has been labeled the "European Capital of Culture" so we figured the Remicks are the "Couple of Culture", so why not check it out? The day we checked out Basel, it must have been flowering.  Three things really left a bitter taste in my mouth and distorted my initial impression:

1. Being tackled by a 90 year old hag:  Someone pissed in this woman's Muesli...apparently I was walking wrong or walking too slow, but I was literally shoved to the right about a foot by this woman while she muttered something evil. Since then I have had a sore pinky toe, coincidence?  I THINK NOT! (holding right index finger up) This experience reminded me of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.  If you do not know who Terry Tate is, please do yourself a favor and visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzToNo7A-94   

2. Holy crap this city smokes them some cigarettes: So it is true that the Swiss strangely love their outdoor activities and their cancer sticks.  Zurich hasn't smoked me out any more than say London or Paris.  Europeans just haven't gotten the memo yet or they don't care about death, one or the other.  Basel my friends was different.  Everyone seemed to smoke...I bet the old hag who pushed me had one hanging out of her mouth.  It was disgusting.

3. The weather blew.  This isn't Basel's fault, but it did unfortunately color our perception of our surroundings.

With all of that being said, we still managed a great time.  We visited the main sites including the Munster which is a historic government building in the center of town:


In front of the Munster was this great open air market.  Open air markets are so European and so awesome:



So I bought a jar of fresh honey all the while ignoring he was also selling the teddy bear honey, hoping it was a generic bottle any honey distributor can buy.

We visited the historic church "Basel Munster".  Do they have to call everything "Munster" here?  By far the most memorable part of this church were the iron renderings of death and harvest:



We also meandered around and stumbled across what many do not know.  Serena Williams blood line actually begins in Basel.  You can thank me now for this rarely heard or seen piece of info:


If you aren't buying what I am selling, here is a close up:


We  visited the Kuntsmuseum and took in a great temporary Van Gogh exhibition.  We ended with a lazy lunch which is what you are supposed to do on vacation however it is not always by choice you see...the service here forces you to be lazy.  Maybe that is a good thing though.

Would I return?  Only if there was a specific event that I wanted to attend.  There are so many other great places to see but I am glad we checked it off the list.  Here are some more photos from the day:


They do have good taste in doggy sculpture.


So this person is either A. Legally blind and can't find their parking spot B. Secretly admires Gumby but didn't want to risk copyright infringement by hiring someone to do an exact likeness or C. Has a 4 year old that is difficult to impress so they pull out all the stops.


Maybe this is why the Swiss smoke, he makes it look so cool.

So check out Basel but do it on a sunny day, in a smoke proof bubble, and when you know all the hags are at linebacker camp.