Basel

We spent a fun weekend visiting our friends Lukas and Dita who live in Basel, Switzerland. They were gracious hosts, making us delicious breakfasts each morning and entertaining us all around the city. (click on photos for larger versions)

Basel is located in NW Switzerland, where Germany, France, and Switzerland meet. In fact, when you arrive to the airport you have your choice of exiting to either of the three.

We visited three museums, took a peaceful ferry ride across the Rhine, walked through various neighborhoods and had two lovely dinners, including at Restaurant Erlkönig situated the middle of the trainyards in a building that once served as a mess hall for railroad workers.



My favorite part of the weekend was our visit to the Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing which traces "the technical and cultural development of paper, writing and printing."

It's very well done, set in a 15th century papermill that still operates today. We had the chance to make paper, as I'm doing in these photos. (I have no recollection of making a distressed expression at any point during this relaxing weekend, least of all while making paper.)

The museum also hosts workshops for all sorts of paper arts, including one of my favorites--marbeling--an example of which is shown at the bottom.