Yesterday was a great day. We took an hour-long train ride to visit Sara in her home city of Basel. I had seen her a few years ago when I visited Switzerland with my sister Jessica and my brother Paul, but this was the first time the kids had seen her since she left our home in 2004. At the time of her departure from our family, Adam was not yet three years old, Dan was four, and Hannah was six.
Although Hannah knows who Sara is through chats on Skype and birthday cards, she does not have a memory of her when she was with us. Neither, of course, does Adam. However, Dan claims to remember Sara, but I'm not certain of how vivid those memories are. In any event, the kids were a bit shy at first but soon became more at ease as we spent more time together.
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| Adam and Iggy -- his class "pet" -- on the train to Basel. |
Basel is separated by the Rhine River, and there is a small passenger boat that carries people from one side of the river to the other. The boat is tethered to a line that connects one bank to the other. This line keeps the boat on coarse since the current is quite strong.
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| Daniel, Hannah and Sara on the boat crossing the Rhine River. |
The first stop on our walking tour of Basel was one of the city's oldest cathedrals -- Munster Cathedral, built 800 or 900 years ago. It was quite impressive, but they boys weren't at all interested. They didn't seem to grasp just how old the building was -- plus, they are still suffering from jet lag and were dragging.
Rather than continue with an historical tour, we decided to grab a bite to eat. I also thought a bottle of Coke for each of them would do the trick and wake them up just a bit. We found a small take-out panini shop on a pedestrian street in the old town of Basel and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. I'm not sure if it was the Cokes or the Game Stop store (!) the boys discovered, but whatever it was, they perked up quickly!
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| The boys enjoying shopping for souvenirs! |
After a few hours of enjoying the old town and visiting a few souvenir shops, we took the tram to Allschwil, the small town outside of Basel where Sara's parents live (and where she grew up). Again, I had been to Allschwil before, but it was a pleasure to see it again. We went to Sara's home for coffee and cake with her parents and then took a short walking tour through the small cobblestone streets lined with wood-beamed Tudor style homes. Sara's home -- and I suspect many others in the town -- is about 250 years old. Just amazing. Even the kids were impressed!
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| The kids and me with Sara and her parents in front of her home. |
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| A beautiful garden in Allschwil. |
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| Sara, Hannah and Terry walking through Allschwil. |
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| The wood-beamed homes in the town are about 250 years old. |
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| Adam at a watering trough. |
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| A quaint restaurant in the town. |
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| Waiting for our train back to Luzern. |
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| The kids and Nonna after a wonderful day. |
4 comments:
keep posting! I love reading the blog. xoxoxo
Sounds wonderful. I really appreciate the pics; really nice of Nonna and Hannah at the end. Re an 800 year old church and 250 yr old houses, I had no idea how distorted my sense of time was, and how fascinating history is, until I travelled Europe.
I wish you all much fun and a swift end to jet lag
Abi
The photos of the old houses, flowers and cobblestone streets really have me longing for England and other parts of Europe. You are one lucky gal, Pammy!! Have fun and eat some Swiss chocolate for me! xo
Thanks for all the comments!
We're having a great time...we visited St. Gallen (near Lake Constance) yesterday. Today we visited an old Medieval town on the Rhine River and saw a bit of Zurich before heading back to Luzern. I'll post something tomorrow with some more pics.
Rhonda....yes, don't worry, I've been eating my fair share of chocolate...and drinking lots of wine!
xxxooo
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