Herbstmesse - 540yr Old Festival

We arrived in Basel at the perfect time! It's the Herbstmesse, meaning "Autumn Festival". I obviously had no idea what this meant until we got here nor how special this time of year is, so let me explain. Basically, it's a carnival that is spread throughout the city and intertwined in all the major squares. The festival is the largest and oldest in Switzerland with a 540+ year history. The city continues to make it bigger and better each year as there is a "competition" of sorts among the different countries as to who has the best festivities. Apparently, it's a time of year that little kids and big kids wait for all year long. After visiting a couple spots, I can see why! Rides, carnival games and food treats galore! 

Picture(s) speak a thousand words...

Stop 1) Messeplatz = Festival Squate : the largest of the fair venues

Chinese food?! :)

My 1st (of many) cheese stops! Melted delicious cheese with spices on toast. What more do you need?!?

Look who's manning this carnival game!

Just hanging out with the other local wildlife. (Obviously, we visited this stop on Halloween since there isn't much trick or treating in Basel we made our own adventure this year). He loved checking out everything!

Stop 2) Barfüsserplatz = ?? : this was more of just a drive by but definitely at the city center!

Stop 2.5) Claraplatz ... We didn't actually visit here but you can see a ride from across the river 

Lesley, Big Zipper in Basel?!?! ;)

Stop 3) Münsterplatz = Cathedral Square : my favorite spot with the Ferris Wheel

Great view on the walk up of both the Ferris Wheel & the Cathedral

Denise purchased some "magenbrot" for us. A Basel confectionery treat of spiced sweet bread local to Basel and only available this time of year. (There are different varieties of magenbrot but supposedly this type was unique to Basel alone)

Phew! While we may be too little for the rides, we are exhausted from all the fun!

Here's a link to learn a little more about the festival & a little video!
http://www.basel.ch/en/Portrait/Veranstaltungen/Basler-Messen-und-Maerkte/Basler_Herbstmesse.html

This is the last weekend of the Herbstmesse. I'll be sad when it's gone and the Ferris wheel is no longer a part of the skyline. Until next fall! :)

The Zeller Haus - Temp

We are currently living in our temporary hosing provided by Novartis and I have to say it's pretty nice! While the location is a tad more industrial / less neighborhood than I would eventually like, it does have it's perks that will be hard to beat! For me: it's the grocery store on the 1st floor. So when it was raining today I didn't even have to set foot outside in order grab supplies for a delicioso soup for dinner. For Matt: it's the ~10min door to door commute - walking. Or the 6min door to door commute with the tram stop that is at the foot of our apartment. It's going to be hard to get him to move... I will say having a tram stop that goes into the city center at your front door, has some great benefits!

And while we don't have a You Lan (our Ayi in Shanghai, who I miss regularly) we do have a dishwasher and functioning washer + dryer!

The building:

Kitchen:

Guest bedroom! / some times Evan's room

Front door tram

The grocery store: pronounced co-op

We should start looking for permanent places next week but probably won't move in until after the new year. 

Even in our temp home, we are ready for visitors!

Hunting Cheese in the Land of Cheese!

Well, we are back at it again. This time we've added an extra human to our cheese crew, the Big EZ, and we on to a different locale. I'm thinking it'll be much easier to find as much cheese as I can handle in the land of cheese. (Spoiler Alert: there are 3 separate cheese sections in our local supermarket) 

I'll start with the basics of Basel, Switzerland:

- Location: northwest of Switzerland on the border of France and Germany. Actually, when we landed at the Basel airport you could turn right to exit to Switzerland and turn left to exit to France / Germany. 

- Population: ~195k, 3rd most populous city in Switzerland. ~30% expat (but this doesn't necessarily mean English speaking. This could also be German, French, Italian, etc)

- Language: Swiss-German (like German, but not exactly) The good news is that most everything is in multiple languages: German, French & Italian... Wait a minute... ;)

- Setting: it is absolutely beautiful here! The city straddles the Rhein. GrossBasel aka "big Basel" is located to the West of the river while KleinBasel aka "little Basel" is the East side. With the river running through the city it feels like every spot is picturesque. The city definitely has some great European charm. 

Here are a couple pics that I've taken from our walks through the main part of the city. Photography isn't great, but you get the idea!

See the Ferris wheel in the background? More on that soon! :)