Once again, strange happenings outside my living room window. By now I have learned that when I hear prolonged piping of fife and drum, I really outta check out the commotion. Today was no exception. There was a big spectacle. Since I didn’t know that anything was planned for today, I was basically clueless as I observed the festivities. So, let’s see if I can piece this together now.
Today was the “Die Drei Ehrengesellschaften Kleinbasels” Basically speaking each house of Klein Basel has a mascot and together they all march through Klein Basel. While marching through the streets they stop to pause and engage in dances. There are also four Ueli (jesters) that jump about shaking beer mugs to entice the onlookers to give them change. In turn, the money is given to charities in Klein Basel. There are lots of other details that you can find here: Vogel Gryff
Overall a very cool and jovial experience... just ask this guy!
The procession begins with children carrying colorful lanterns
then, flag bearers from the three houses of Klein Basel
The mascots are close behind. Here you can just see "Greifen" and Rebhaus is in the foreground.
followed by the music: first Fife players, then the drums.
Lastly, for everyone who made it this far.... a video of the action! (BTW: The video is more for the music ...since lighting was pretty poor)
It just so happens that there is a music school about two blocks away from my place. Occasionally at night, between 8 and 10pm I hear this strange sound in the distance becoming louder. By the time it is outside my windows I can tell that it is a fife and drum marching band. I'm pretty sure that this is the school is the starting place of many a late night (perhaps somewhat intoxicated) march. However, I can't be too sure, because just the other day and without any known reason I also saw an impromptu marching band walking Clara Platz...one of the major shopping streets.... busy with trams...and apparently fife and drum marching bands. In moments like these I am not sure if I will ever become "adjusted" to the Swiss way of life. Either way, I'm pretty sure that I'll enjoy my time standing on the sidelines in wonder and disbelief. In fact, it is the wonder and disbelief that keeps me from becoming annoyed when they are marching around at night. I always think "this cannot be happening, there is just no way this is happening... it's not the 18th century or something... I must be hearing things..." Yet now I am sure when I begin to hear the distant music of exactly what is to come, though I still can't believe it is actually happening.
Here's what Drum and Fife UK has to say about it: Fifes were adopted as a military tool by the Swiss in the 14th century. The shrill tones could cut through the noise of battle to relay messages to troops spread over a wide area. A fife is extremely portable and yet it can be heard over a distance of several miles. Use of the fife as a military instrument was probably spread by Swiss mercenaries who traveled and fought in battles throughout Europe. Dutch armies would have used fifes in the 1600s, although the British army didn’t adopt the use of military music until the beginning of the 18th century. Historians have uncovered fife and drum calls for all aspects of a soldier’s day, from reveille to lights out, and everything in between, but it was also used on long marches to relieve boredom, to motivate and to bring thoughts of home.
Cheap in Switzerland? Am I hallucinating? Manor has an outlet store, similar to Nordstrom rack, Filenes Basement…etc in the US. Now Manor Outlet doesn’t really compare since it is much much smaller, but either way, low prices in Switzerland are refreshing no matter what! Today was the first time that I ventured in and I walked out with two pairs of shoes and some kitchen supplies for under $30 CHF. --- which by the way is about the same as a meal at the corner bar.
You might have deduced from my title that today I’m going to talk about the Rhine River. Well, save that thought for another day.
One of the things that I find so charming about Basel is that there are fountains everywhere. Everywhere! Nearly every street in Basel Stadt seems to have a fountain on it. The word on the street is that the water (unfiltered) in these fountains is so clean that people drink from them. Even though this is in Switzerland, probably one of the cleanest countries in the world, I was still a bit skeptical. About a month ago I saw a woman filling a water bottle from a fountain, and then yesterday a jogger paused for a sip. (As a side--- yes, a jogger in 25 degree weather with a layer of ice on the ground!!!) Coming from an extremely dirty city in America, this is simply amazing!
There are many styles for the fountains, some modern, some sculpture, some just functional. One of the fountains closest to my place has a little area for doggies to drink from also.
The most famous fountains are the Tingley Fountains, one in Gross Basel and one on the Klein side.
I’ve never been much of a fan of good ole American apple pie. As a matter of fact it is one of my least favorite desserts. However, the people here really know how to do wondrous things with apple… and it doesn’t stop at streusel.
At one of the restaurants that line the Rhine in Basel, Spillman, they serve “Apfel Küchli.” This is a battered and fried apple dessert similar to a stuffed doughnut. The most appealing part to me is that the apples are not cooked entirely (as in the US, they are often mushy when in desserts) so the apples are tart and tangy. Wonderful! As with any other good apple treat in this Germanic region, it is served with a vanilla sauce that will have you wondering what the big deal is with chocolate sauce. Typically after eating my dessert I continue spooning up the remainder of the vanilla sauce—it is that good!
After reading Balehoo's favorable review of Caffé-Restaurant zum Schmale Wurf I decided to try it myself. It certainly doesn't hurt that it is right down the street! I went for lunch, but it looks as though they have one menu for both lunch and dinner. Don't forget to ask for or read the chalkboard for the daily specials... which are pasta dishes that come with either a soup or salad. The service staff does not speak much English..which is good and forces me to work on my terrible German. After a question about a dish's ingredient that couldn't be answered by the wait staff the chef came out to try to help. At which time we discovered that the chef is from southern Italy. (My dinning partner is fluent in Italian)The concept of the restaurant is for the chef to do dishes that best represent the various regions of Italy and additionally a few dishes that blend Italian and German style pastas. I was quite pleased and incredibly stuffed. So far, in my Swiss experience, service particularly in bars and restaurants has been pretty poor. The service staff here was an exception. They were quick, friendly and eager to wait on us. Most dishes on the menu were in the $20CHF range with a few specialties up to $35CHF. A great deal considering the size of the portions.
I ordered a German style pasta noodle in a white wine sauce with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. My guy ordered a spicy spagetti. Both of us also had the tomato soup... and I must say, this 'aint your grandma's tomato soup. Very nice, very rich and certainly as homemade as the pasta!
They also have a large dinning area outside along the Rhine... I can only imagine how lovely it must be in the spring. As it was a sunny Fall day, there were still plenty of locals and tourists mingling outside.
Basler: 1. someone from Basel , 2. heavenly pastry
2:04 AM
Move over Berliner, there is a new specialty pastry in town! I have had Berliners occasionally over the past few years. They are basically the better than average jelly filled doughnut. When walking Mo from the vet this morning, I saw a Backeri that looked particularly good and decided to try a "Basler." You know, the whole when in Rome... It could have been hard and crunchy and dry, but oh no it was delicious! Pure deliciousness. It is generally like a long cinnamon bun, with a soft moist center and more well done edges. The inside has a squishy almond paste and the entire thing is topped with roasted sugar rolled almonds. Ah, heaven! Needless to say, you must like almonds for this pastry, but if you do, then I highly recommend it.
Made it to Basel in one piece. The whole process was ridiculously smooth. No problems with customs as we crossed the border. At the apartment, the woman was there on time to hand off the keys. In spite of hearing horror stories about parking in Basel, we were able to easily find parking. We circled around for about 10 minutes and found a "white" parking space without a meter. It was perhaps a five minute walk from our apartment. This also gave us the first opportunity to get to know our immediate community....which is mainly shops. This turns out to be a pretty good thing, as I'll explain sometime later.
The first day we tried to get a cell phone. There are three providers, Orange, SwissCom and Sunrise. SwissCom as a government outfit was of course the most orderly. When you enter the store you must take a number for service. Talk about Swiss! Since this is government run, it is also the most expensive. Orange also had great service personnel but didn't have a very friendly international plan. In general, an international plan is very important since Switzerland is such a small country. Many of the providers also offered decent rates with Germany. Sunrise has some of the least expensive plans, but i wonder if sales service is the trade off. It doesn't matter right now anyway because to get a cell phone plan, you must show your Swiss visa.... which I don't have yet...since the University hasn't finalized my paperwork. We will be leaving town almost as soon as we got here. This coming weekend we must go to London for business. Since that is in the UK, we cannot take Mo doggity with us. Quickly we have to find a place to board Mo for the weekend. We asked a woman at the pet store for suggestions. She didn't seem particularly helpful... most likely since she thought we would not be doing business with her. Her suggestion was the Tier Heim--- which turns out to be the same thing as the ASPCA back in the states. Suprisingly, yes, they also board pets. Mo has an appointment to be dropped off on Samstag Abend(Saturday evening) and picked up on Dienstag (Tuesday) We just need to double check that all of his papers are in order. One of the cool things about Switzerland is that there is actually a law that requires all animals to have a certain amount of human contact each day. So I have no fear that Mo will love his stay. whew. I'm too tired to write anymore today. X's
