Our First Snowy Hike

Last weekend, we went took the intercity train out to the town of Laufen and then hopped on a PostAuto bus to the tiny village of Grindel.  We were nervous about having only a four-minute gap between the train's arrival and the bus's departure, but then we remembered that we are in Switzerland, where people only get nervous if the connection time is a few seconds.

This is the trail head in the quaint village of Grindel.

As you can see, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  We love having true seasons!

Go, Aussie, go!  We are now on the Wanderweg out of town.

Austin is having a great time in the snow, as you can see.  He was so excited to get out in the snow that he was running around and barking.  We were a little concerned about the snow getting packed into his paw pads, but he seemed okay with it.  We will have to get him some doggie snow booties for longer hikes though because he did stop once to lick his front paw.

This neat little farm was to our left as we were on the trail.  Swiss country buildings look so cool covered in snow (no pun intended).

Some lovely scenery.

We stumbled across a pistol club out in the countryside. No one was there, but there was a target range in the back.  We heard through the grapevine that, next to the United States, there are more handguns in Switzerland than anywhere else.  Gun-related violence, however, is very low.    

After the gun club, we headed out into a nature preserve that was truly breath-taking.

This was a frozen and snow-covered pond out in the nature preserve.  It was so tranquil out there.

Veronica and Austin on the tiny bridge across the creek.

The snow on the trees and bushes was quite beautiful.  Right behind this bush was a small waterfall that had mostly frozen over into a fantastic ice sculpture.

We ate some snow from the branches and it was pure...and cold.

The patterns on the untrodden snow field were awe-inspiring.

Some more Swiss buildings covered in snow.  We are not sure what this building is for, it kinda looks like a village inn.  Perhaps one can be served grog by a beer wench...the world may never know.

At one point, the trail disappeared completely because no one had used it since the heavy snowfall.  Luckily, we had some deer tracks to follow, and the yellow diamonds painted on the tree trunks also denoted the trail. 

Walkin' in a winter wonderland!

This amazing natural icicle formation could be seen across the valley.

In addition to there no longer being a trail, things got a bit treacherous.  The weather had felled some trees and we had to do some improvised scrambling to get by.  Good times.

We made it!  So proud.

This is almost at the end of the trail.  We ended up at a little village where there was a heavy metal band practicing in a barn.  Our bus back to the Laufen Bahnhof was an unacceptable 5 minutes late!  That's like 3 days in Swiss standards.

Die Herbstmesse

On October 23, 2010 began the 540th Herbstmesse here in Basel.  Every major square throughout town featured carnival rides, amusements, tasty treats and locally-produced goods.  This wonderful festival has the spirit that places like Disneyland try so hard to emulate.  The festival runs every day for about 16 days, even on Sundays!  Indeed, one of the highlights is a Sunday afternoon in which many shops around town are open for business!

This is the oldest part of the festival, which has been running for 540 years and is 5 minutes from our apartment.  It has a really crazy name that we can't spell correctly.  In the middle of the hundreds of booths offering sausages, candies, cheese, and handicrafts is the most beautiful carousel.

Roasted chestnuts!  These are featured in every Swiss town and are so wholesome and delicious.  They are especially satisfying after a nice, long hike.

A little piece of home, Vegas style. This has nothing to do with the festival, but we found it very amusing.  So far, we have seen this Hummer and another yellow one here in Basel.  Everyone else drives sedans or mopeds.

The festival officially begins every year here in this square.  The mayor comes out and gives some kind of speech.  Then somebody comes out and plays some flute-like instrument.  We couldn't see anything, but that's what it sounded like.  Then the church bells start ringing, signaling the official beginning of the festival.  They continue ringing for about 45 minutes.

This is the oldest house we have seen yet.  It is in the square where the festival begins and has been around since 1270.  That's right 1270.  840 years.  That's a dang old house.

This is the church in which the bell tolls.  For many, many minutes.  On a side note, many of the churches here ring their bells like crazy every Saturday at sunset.  Helps us remember that it is time for a cocktail.

The throngs of people leaving the church yard to go enjoy the festival.  Surprisingly, no one pushes over little old ladies or anything.

This is the ginormous Ferris wheel located in the square adjacent to the Munster.  It affords wonderful views of the city.  We rode it at night but never got around to taking a day trip as well.  Oh well, there's always next year!

The super swing!  This one was also super fun!

This was not the magnificent carousal near our house, but we didn't photograph that one, so this will have to suffice as the representative for the festival.  And no, we didn't ride this.

Here is some more action on the Klein Basel side.

The free-fall!  V made Jon ride this and it was tons of fun.  Gives a good adrenaline rush for sure.

I pity the fool who don't punch my bag!

Veronica always listens to Mr. T.  And yes, she is a rebel and played it backwards.  Austin was not pleased with this activity and displayed his distaste by jumping and barking at her while she was playing it.

This large Corn Man welcomes you to the Herbstmesse.  "And while you are here, please purchase some delicious snacks from my abdomen."

Wieners, and sausages, and hot dogs, oh my!!  These are so stinkin' good.  There are two options for buns.  In one version, they stab a big piece of bread with a metal pole and then squirt condiments in there followed by the hot beef.  In the other version you get to pick a hunk of bread to accompany your giant sausage.

Many, many people come to Basel to enjoy the festival!  V managed to give some visitors directions to the festival without using German , Swiss German, or English.  Go gesticulations! In the background you can see the Meier, the scariest ride we went on.  It is a humongous pole which has seats for 16 at the base.  It swings like a pendulum while the seats rotate 360 degrees.  We had to use a tree to support ourselves after this one was over.

Every European event has a discotheque.

Dear God.  Jon hates this trash can with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.  Jon feels that this is not even worthy of his garbage.  Just look at it!  Don't trust it!  Go away stupid clown trash bin.

Please ignore what we said above, this is the beautiful 2-story carousal in the middle of the market. 

Jon enjoying an amazing treat of hollowed out bread, filled with fondue.  So good and we got it for free because it was the last one!

Veronica enjoying a tasty treat from the festival.  Is it fondue?  Is it candy?  Rahmtäfli?  We'll never know because she ate it so fast it evaded detection.

No festival is complete without ponies!

The majestic Ferris wheel at night.

Veronica really wanted to go on this "scary" ride to see if there were any major cultural differences.  Jon made it especially enjoyable for her by screaming like a little girl at every object. Yep, just like the ones at home.

Boney McBonerson.  There was also a bouncy spider on a string that was positioned to hit passersby on the head.  Shenanigans!  It made for some good people watching.

The cute, reusable tickets you get on the rides.

An old relic from the festival that was on display.  Not sure what it is/was for.  He looks like 18th century Elvis.

And no festival is complete without Snoop smoking a blunt on the ticket booth!

Spiderman watching over us like usual!

The super swing at night, the best time to ride it.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

OMG!!! The chocolate-covered fruits were unbelievable.  Somehow they manage to coat the fruit in Swiss chocolate and nuts without freezing or ruining the perfectly ripe fruit.  It made V a believer in the great possibilities of combing fruit and chocolate, leave it to the Swiss to accomplish this flawlessly. Bananas, strawberries and pineapple were the most common options.

We went to the festival multiple times this year and we are already looking forward to next year's festival. Bis nächsten mal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To view more photos on Flickr, follow this link:  More Herbstmesse pictures