image

Posts Tagged ‘basel’

I wonder if I’ll ever grow out of being excited about snow?  I think it has something to do with how often I get to see it.  My father grew up in Wisconsin, and after seeing snow nearly every day from November until March, I guess the novelty wears off a little.  But not for me.

Growing up, I lived in an area where we got snow every winter, but just enough that it was always exciting.  When I moved to the UK, we might get a few inches each year, but never very much and it would never stick around very long.  So living in a place with regular snowfall is new to me.

Depending on which weather report you listen to, we’re expecting anywhere between 15-50cm of snow this weekend.  Less in Basel, I guess, more where we are due to the slightly higher elevation. Bring it on, I say.

Snow on fields

Snow on house

Snow on field

Snow on house

The snow tyres are on the car, and this morning was the first time I’ve ventured out on the roads before they were plowed.  The snow tyres make a big difference to the handling (it’s also the first time I’ve had snow tyres), and I was happy as could be, heater turned up and the heated seats doing they’re job at keeping my backside warm.

Snow build-up on windows

For a country that gets so much snow, the Swiss architects don’t seem to have made many design concessions.  I woke up this morning to find that shutters were frozen shut, and when I finally managed to get them open, I discovered that our angled windows are not steep enough that the snow slides off them – instead, it accumulates and blocks out all the light in the room!

After being stuck in the house for a week, a combination of the stores being closed for the holidays and then miserable, rainy weather after they reopened, we finally emerged today to go downtown to walk around the city centre, do a little shopping, and see the decorations before they take them down later this week.

Basel Rathaus at Christmas

Basel Rathaus at Christmas


Matthew at Marktplatz

Matthew at Marktplatz


Aude at Marktplatz

Aude at Marktplatz


Entrance to Marktplatz

The entrance to Marktplatz


Street scene

Christmas lights

Street scene

Street scene


Fountain with Christmas lights

Fountain with Christmas lights


Christmas lights at the Hotel Basel

Christmas lights at the Hotel Basel


Christmas tree at the Hotel Basel

Christmas tree at the Hotel Basel


Lights on tree

A creative use of bottles to decorate the tree outside a bar


Our first fondue in Switzerland! (Well, the first one we did at home. We’ve had a few in restaurants…)

Eating fondue

Our first Christmas in Basel was a success.  We spent the day at home with Aude’s parents (not that there was much choice – pretty much everything shuts on Christmas Eve and stays shut for the next three days).  I’d stocked up on firewood, and we had a fire in the fireplace most of the day.

Aude and her parents went out for an early-afternoon walk in the countryside, leaving me at home to get started with the Christmas dinner.  I opted for a traditional German / Swiss Christmas dinner of roast goose, stuffing, spaetzle, and red cabbage.  In the end, I had to make a small concession to our Swiss kitchen: my oven is too small to take an entire goose, so I roasted two goose crowns and two goose legs.  In the end, it was a better compromise as there was plenty of meat to go around.  The last time I cooked a whole goose, I ended up with about three slivers of goose meat per person and an enormous pile of bones.  I was certain that wasn’t going to happen again this year.

Daisy by stool
We’ve made an example out of Calypso. Here we are showing Daisy the consequences of misbehaving.

Aude hiding
Once again, it becomes clear that Aude was never top-of-her-class at hide-and-seek.

Christmas table
The Christmas table

Christmas table
The Christmas table

Christmas dinner
Roast goose, spaetzle, stuffing and red cabbage

Daisy by Christmas tree
Daisy gets into the Christmas spirit.

Sylvette reading a book

 Catching up on some holiday reading

Fire in fireplace
 

The new firepalce got a good workout all week

 

Sylvette
 

Sylvette in front of the fireplace

 

Aude with dessert
 

Aude presents the dessert

 

Aude’s parents have come to visit us for the holidays. The shopping is finished, the tree is decorated, and we’re all ready for the big day.  After a week of very cold, snowy weather, it seems like Aude’s parents have brought the warmer weather from the South with them.  It’s turned much warmer in the past few days (and is expected to stay this way for the rest of the holiday season), unfortunately with quite a lot of rain.  Still, it gives me a good excuse to stay inside and keep the fire going.

It’s taken me a while to get my camera hooked up to the computer to import these shots, but here are a few shots of downtown Basel I shot in early October.

Basel Mittlere Rheinbrucke

Basel Mittlere Rheinbrucke

Matthew in Basel

Matthew in Basel

Basel Mittlere Rheinbrucke

Basel Mittlere Rheinbrucke

Basel fountain

Basel fountain

No peeing sign

A reminder for our French visitors

Roche headquarters

The competition!

Unser Bier

Unser Bier - the local brew

I’ve put the camera away now, as the weather is turning more grey, but it will come out again when the sun is shining…