Friday morning after our last breakfast on the River Queen, we transferred to the Les Trois Rois Hotel in Basel for our two day extension in Basel. Les Trois Rois or The Three Kings hotel is a venerable hostelry on the bank of the Rhine. More about the hotel later… Before we checked into our rooms, we had an orientation briefing in the hotel Library. The Ramblers were not the only cruisers who had opted for the extension but most of our cruise friends did not. Thus we met a mostly new group of people who were taking the River Queen from Basel back to Amsterdam, as well a a few folks we knew from our cruise.

At the briefing, we met our guide for the extension, Bernie Jakob a very personable and likable guy. Bernie turned out to be an excellent guide who really knew his stuff; my only complaint was that he walked too fast. There was no gentle walkers group on the extension,We were all combined into one, as our numbers were fairly small. We soon learned that our tour would start almost immediately at 10:30 and it was now nearly 10 AM. The senior Rambler was not excited about this and he decided to stay at the hotel. After the tour ended, we would have all afternoon to explore Basel on our own. I would meet him at the hotel when I got back around noon. This turned out to be a good thing, as Bernie led us at a fairly quick pace past some very intriguing buildings.

One thing that surprised me about Basel was the large number of buildings which had frescoes on their facades, many of them in bright colors. Although their style was from ages past it was obvious they were either fairly recent or had been restored not too long ago. Had always thought of the Swiss as conservative but they certainly embrace a very different style of building decoration. Of course we saw striking modern buildings as well even in the historic district.

Also in the historic downtown, you could visit a shop displaying a variety of weapons including a semi-automatic rifle in its window. This you probably won’t see anywhere else in Europe. The Swiss still have mandatory military service, and officers are required to keep their guns at home. However, since a mass shooting at the Swiss parliament, they are not allowed ammunition at home, so the guns are useless for home defense. Yet the shooting sports are still a popular family activity in Switzerland. However, there is much greater emphasis on training and regulation for gun owners and users, and most Swiss still enjoy shooting. Nevertheless, as Switzerland is a member of the Schengen Area, tho not a member of the EU, they may have to change their laws to comply with EU regulations, to retain their membership in Schengen. We were in Basel in 2017, and a referendum to comply with the EU just passed in 2019, so perhaps that window display has changed.

Almost before our group could catch its breath, Bernie led us to the central marketplace. There we made our first stop at the Rathaus which had been built in the 16th century. It is a beautiful and unusual building multilayered like an onion. The red stone exterior is decorated with trompe de l’oil from the art Deco period but once you step into its courtyard you see frescoes that date from a much earlier period. The two towers that book-end the building were added later on. The provincial legislature still meets here, and I’m thinking it would be a wonderful place to work.We didn’t have much time to spend there but since the Rathaus was not far from our hotel, the Ramblers could visit it later on.

One of Bernie’s objectives was to show us how to use the tram system so we followed him onto the nearest tram stop. Electric trams and busses have routes all over Basel. Using a tram was quite simple and we got a fare card to use during our stay. Following our leader again, we got off the tram after riding only a few blocks, close to the imposing Munster church. We then walked through its cloister up to the cliff overlooking the Rhine.

On the way to the Munster, we stopped to enjoy the most amusing fountain I had ever seen. I almost never deliberately take videos with my iPhone, tho I sometime do accidentally. The fountain, a creation of the Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely, was a melange of kinetic futuristic creations that sprayed water at each other in constant motion. I had never heard of Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) but evidently he is well known in Switzerland. There is a museum devoted to his work in Basel. The fountain was a lot of fun to watch as his mechanical creations got to work spraying water. . Have since learned that there are over 300 fountains scattered around Basel, and it is not a huge city. I wager none is as much fun as this one.

When we strolled by the marketplace on our way to the Rathaus, we all admired the products displayed in its stands. Bernie did mention that the products in the stands were quite high priced however we wouldn’t be able to check it out until we headed back to our hotel.

There was so much to see, the time flew by and before we knew it, the tour was over. We had walked in somewhat of a circle and the Trois Rois was not that far away. On the River Queen, food was available whenever we desired it, but during the extension we were on our own for all meals except breakfast. As we again passed the market, some friends from the cruise decide to pick up a few snacks, they did look very appealing, from one of the stands. I recalled Bernie’s comment, and also the time that I bought a very expensive package of raspberries at the Nuremberg market, so I passed on the experience. They later told me that the little bit of cheese(about 1/4 lb.) they bought cost them 80 Swiss francs which is more that 80 US dollars. Expensive indeed. Hope it was at least tasty.

The senior Rambler and I headed out to find a place for lunch after I met him in our room. Bernie had also mentioned that the best place to buy Swiss chocolate if you wanted to bring some home, was at the COOP department store off the market place. I did want to get chocolate for family and friends so we headed there, thinking to find a place for lunch on the way. Bernie, as usual was right, COOP has an amazing chocolate display and the prices are reasonable. They also had a little cafe that served lunch. We decided to eat there and enjoyed a simple, tasty meal. We enjoyed it so much we planned to go back on Sunday our last day in Basel. I later learned that this cafe was one that Rick Steves, ever on the look-our for bargains had recommended.

As it turned out, we didn’t sample any of the nearby restaurants for dinner. We had bought some snacks to go at COOP and munched on them while enjoying a leisurely evening at the hotel. The next morning we were scheduled to visit Lake Lucerne, have a boat ride on its beautiful lake and then take the optional excursion to Mount Pilatus. This included a cogwheel train ride up the mountain and a gondola ride down. The Rambler was a little nervous about a train that would travel up the mountain at a fairly steep angle but the senior Rambler was game for it, and so we signed up. As it turned out, it would be a very enjoyable experience.