Time is creeping up on me. Every weekend I want to explore and last weekend I did just that, armed with a mini army of Geordies to escort me. For those who don't know, 'a Geordie' is an affectionate term for anyone who hails from Newcastle upon Tyne, possibly the greatest place in the world and my university city incidentally (or not...). I digress.
Why do ticket inspectors never check tickets?
Dan, my Geordie friend (and fellow language assistant) and I met up at Nancy Gare at 12pm last Friday morning armed with Lidl cereal bars, crap home-made sandwiches and Orange KitKats. During the course of the weekend we travelled from Nancy- Colmar (2 ¼ hours), Colmar-Basel (40 mins), Basel-Strasbourg (1 ½ hours) without our ticket being checked. Bof!
Bit of geography for you.
Ticket was finally checked 3 minutes before arrival in Nancy (Strasbourg-Nancy 1 ½ hours) the following day.
Ahh the French and their 'I don't give a shit so it's not my problem' attitude continues...
Colmar
The Petite Venise area of Colmar
I admit it, before coming to Nancy I had never even heard of Colmar, a small city halfway between Strasbourg and Basel. However literally EVERYONE at school has been telling me to visit ever since I started in October. Unfortunately, had no time to visit during the Christmas markets, reputed to be some of the most beautiful in the world.
The February afternoon Dan and I spent in Colmar was B-E-A-utiful weather wise, bright sunshine, etc- luck was definitely on our side. It became apparent early on that everywhere in Colmar is beautiful, there's no shabby shite end- even around the station was pretty. If you've ever been to the Petite France area of Strasbourg, you'll know how beautiful it is. Colmar is like this partout. I wonder if the cute twee houses ever get on the inhabitants' nerves, whether they want a bit of grime and dirt à la Brussels.
Food was also a high point of our trip to Colmar. Had a Forêt noire- i.e. a black forest gateau. Heaven. And after meeting up with our assistant friend (and Geordie) Sian who is spending her year abroad in Issenheim, a tiny village close to Colmar, we headed out for pizza. It would have been nice to try some traditional food from Alsace- sauerkraut or something like that but pizza is always a winner.
Granted there is not a great deal to do in Colmar. Walking around 'oohing and aahing' at pretty buildings is the main attraction, although there are a couple of museums and a museum dedicated to Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi- the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty (of course, he was from Colmar). Maybe if the weather had been awful, I would have come away with a different impression. Yes I was lucky, but come rain or shine Colmar is a place not to be missed.
God I sound like I'm presenting 'Holiday' or something. Désolée.
Basel
After realising it would only cost another 10 Euros or so to get to Basel, we figured it made sense to kill two birds with one stone and visit Colmar/Basel in the same weekend.
One of the reasons I wanted to go to Basel was to tick another country off the ever expanding list of ‘Places I have been to’. However I also wanted to play around with Swiss currency (dangerously akin to Monopoly money) and leave the ‘safety’ of the European Union for the first time in nearly 6 years. Not nearly as dangerous as it sounds, Switzerland is about as bad-ass as Tom Cruise. I didn’t quite know what to expect from Basel but was pleasantly surprised.
Went to the Botanical Gardens, attached to the University of Basel, the oldest university in Switzerland, had a 12CHF meal in McDonald’s (about 9 euros, Switzerland is EXPENSIVE), spent a LONG time in a beautiful chocolate shop and saw the (very red) Rathaus, or town hall for those who don’t speak German.
Basel is a city of trams. So much so that ‘death by tram’ is probably the greatest risk to your health. Nearly got mowed down by 3 of them- they’re almost as bad as the street cleaners inNewcastle (incidentally, just why are there so many in the toon?!). Thanks to the tourist office, we found out that Line 16 is the picturesque route, showing tourists all the sights, slowly weaving its way through upmarket neighbourhoods of Basel. Great fun!
After our kitsch little tram ride we headed towards the banks of the river Rhine, desperate to catch some rays. Seems like everyone else in Basel had the same idea- the banks of the river were packed, so much so that there was no room for us! After eventually finding a comfy place to perch, we proceeded to sunbathe for almost an hour. IN FEBRUARY. Extraordinary. Weather hit around 14 degrees Celsius, but felt warmer in the sun. Brilliant atmosphere anyway- lots of students, families, young professionals. Switzerland is effortlessly cool, no wonder Roger Federer bought a pig farm there with his winnings from his first Wimbledon title. Oink.
Just an average February afternoon on the banks of the Rhine
After a quick stop in H+M (we had to use up our Swiss Francs somewhere...) it was time to leave Basel. It had been a brilliant day and a great introduction to Switzerland. Hopefully I'll return soon, sunglasses in tow next time....
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