Basel, Basel City, Switzerland
We
had agreed to take Katherine to Basel once we ended up with a Swiss vignette (highway
ticket). The alternative had been to drop her in Freiburg but this was no
longer necessary, so we made plans to return via the Black Forest.
John
had not slept well the previous night so we were a bit concerned about the
drive. However we got away in good time and were a few km from where we are
staying when the GPS said … ‘now take the
ferry!!’ ‘What!!’, was the
reaction of the three of us. We had not expected this, and had to frantically
adjust the GPS to send us overland.
I
did know there was a car ferry, but had no details about it. Looking later, it
would have been about 18 euro for the car and the three of us, so it was not
quite worth it, even for a slightly shorter journey.
The
drive was a nice one, given we were on motorways, just not the sort of scenery
that you can take photos of.
We
arrived in the quiet residential street where Katherine’s friends Lisa and Batie
now live, after moving in just a few weeks ago.
Their home was roomy but bare as
they were still moving in, but also because a lot of their crockery smashed in
transit, the only thing that survived was a Donald Trump mug!! It was
interesting to discuss renting there in comparison with NZ rentals. The house
was very bare (it is common to get just a shell) even for unfurnished (a good
kitchen but bare light bulbs), but there was a chance that a laundry could be
installed for them so tenants have a number of rights.
I
knew they were close to the French border as we had discussed where we could
get Katherine to without buying the Swiss highway pass. We would have been able
to as the border could be seen from just outside her bedroom window. Lisa goes
to France to shop as the Lidl supermarket is just 10 minutes away. As New
Zealanders (as is Lisa) we all found it rather weird.
Lisa
kindly cooked lunch for us, and gave us time to load pictures onto our blog.
We
left, and routed ourselves near Freiburg to get to the Black Forest area. It
was as nice as I remember, but we decided not to stop to let John get back for
a snooze. I was going to walk to the supermarket but instead we drove there
when he surfaced and had a walk to find a cache.
The
drive to the parking coordinates took us through a newer area of Bermatingen.
We then walked along a narrow road through farmland and saw lots of rye grass
as well as grapes. We didn’t have the hint and hence we didn’t find the first
cache, but intended to look for it later. Unfortunately, when we returned later
the handy bench nearby was occupied. We had not seen anyone walking or cycling
this part of the area although there were lots in other places, so it was bad
luck. We did find a second cache however, and returned a slightly different way
through a forest, so got in a walk before dark.
2025-05-22