Ode to Basel

For those of you who didn't know or might've forgotten, the town in Germany where I will be living is a hop, skip, and a jump from Basel, Switzerland, which is where I was an Au Pair (nanny, babysitter, whatever you want to call it) 3 yrs ago. In fact, I will probably be spending a lot of time in Basel since Weil am Rhein is itty bitty and especially b/c there are 3 Starbucks in Basel as opposed to zero in Weil. As much as I am going to miss it here and miss everyone back home, a twinge of excitement runs through me when I start thinking a/b Basel. It was truly a fun little town. It sits on the Rhein River and there is a bridge that runs over it called the Mittlere Brucke (Middle Bridge). When you cross over to the left and right are steps that lead down to the Rhein. There were many times I came into the city w/my journal and a cup of Starbucks and wrote for hours or just sat and people watched. In the summertime, you can swim or ski down the Rhein and there is even a day designated that people jump off the Mittlere Brucke into the river!! From the bridge you can see off to Germany and France. And then there's my favorite part of Basel (or I guess my 2nd favorite part!) which is Steinenvorstadt. This is a street filled w/shops and restaurants and STARBUCKS. It's where my friends and I used to go for a cheap piece of pizza or wonderful Chinese noodles at Mister Wong's. Walking on down Steinenvorstadt brings you to the Marktplatz (Market Place) which is where they would have fresh produce from local farmers on Saturday mornings. During Christmas, Basel has a Christmas market (along w/the rest of most European towns!) and there are roasted chestnuts for sale and you can smell them for miles!! It's freezing outside but the minute you step into a store, it's nice and toasty!

I didn't mean to ramble on and on, but maybe this will give you a good idea of what awaits me Tuesday morning....with the exception of the chestnuts.