Basel-A Big Swiss City

Old town, of which Marktplatz is the center of action. This is the old town square with open-air market stalls and beautiful painted and decorated buildings surrounding. Crossing the river Rhein offers you a spectacular view of the city, old buildings on the river side, trees all in their Fall colors. Visit to the Vitra Museum was another highlight, even though it's actually over the German border. My photos are still being developed-please check back next week (Nov 13 week) to view them posted.

Quick Tips:

If you arrive by train, go to the Tourist Information office to pick up brochures etc but go to the Basler Kantonalbank counter to pick up your free Basel map. There is also an ATM machine outside the door for your cash withdrawal. I think 1 day is enough. Remember that museums don't open till late (i think 10 or 11am) so do your strolling around town in the morning. It's less crowded as well.

Best Way To Get Around:

Get a mobility ticket from your hotel-they will issue you a card with the hotel stamp on it. It is good for 24 hours and it's dirt cheap. It works for all public transportation (trams and buses) within the Basel city limits. Once you are in the old part of town, then walking is the best mode of transport.

First of all, hotels in Basel are very expensive. We happened to find this hotel off the internet, and we lucked out to pay only $105 per night. This is an interesting hotel-it is actually an annex to the 5-star Hotel Euler, right across from the train station on Zentralbahnhofplatz. What an excellent location. You check in at Hotel Euler. We were early so we left our luggage there. We were also able to use the concierge facilities to get our mobility ticket and directions and recommendations around town. Our room was on the first floor walk-up (they luckily brought our luggage up for us!) and was very nice! Full down comforters and pillows, satellite TV, modern bathrooms, wood armoire. Trams into old town were right out front-very convenient!

This is a supermarket and food square inside the train station (it's next to the Brasserie and on the side of the bank branch). We came here to pick up dinner as we didn't want to spend $40 each for dining out. The food was really good-we got pig's knuckle, chicken wings, tuna salad and corn salad, as well as dessert and drinks. It was pouring rain and we ran back to our hotel. There we had a big indoor picnic on our down comforters in bed and watched CNN updates!

This is the famous modern furniture manufacturer-made even more famous because of the world-class architecture on its beautiful premises. It is actually over the German border-take the Bus 55 from Clareplatz (try to bring German marks with you, or else the driver may not have change, or worse, you lose in exchange rates if you pay in swiss francs and get change in marks. This happened to me so please learn from my mistake!). There is a tour at 2pm, in German but the guide will give English explanations.

There is architecture by Frank Gehry (the architect of the moment who built the Guggenheim at Bilbao), Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando (this was his first building outside of Japan.) and Nicholas Grimshaw. It is on beautiful green open-wide fields with hills in the background. If not for the design, come for the beauty of the outdoors. As a bonus, there is a world-renowned exhibition in the Zaha Hadid Fire House (no longer used as such) called '100 Chairs' as well as changing design exhibits at the main museum. Note that the Fire House is only opened to the tour group. Also, if you are in New York from now until February 4, 2001, key pieces of furniture from the Vitra Museum are on display in an exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. It's on the Upper East Side at 2, East 91st Street, website: www.si.edu/ndm. Can you imagine my surprise when I found that out? Flying home from thousands of miles away and there is an exhibit in my own backyard???

Though it is presently undergoing renovations, the ground floor is still opened with 20th century art. There is art by Picasso, Chagall, Léger, Mondrian, Dali and sculpture by the talented Alberto Giacometti. I spent about an hour there. I think I would enjoy exploring old town and the Vitra Museum more. There are more museums and a lot of modern architecture (especially by local team Herzog & De Meuron, who recently completed the new Tate Museum in London).

Start at the Marktplatz, explore the outdoor market. Then go around the area and check out the buildings and do some window-shopping. (There are department stores as well as some pretty ritzy boutiques in this area). Don't miss Münster von der Wettsteinbrücke aus (lovely castle-like buildings by the Rhein), Andreasplatz, Heuberg and St. Alban-Vorstadt (quaint small streets and steps).