Autumn Festival in Basel

We are having a gorgeous Autumn over here in Switzerland. The leaves turned beautiful colors as they always do. Unfortunately now, most of them have fallen. We are currently having a warm front which we are not complaining about. : ) Our time here has gone so fast! We can't believe it is already mid-November.

There is an annual Autumn festival in Basel. Basel is one of the biggest cities in Switzerland, and it is only about an hour away from us. The festival is a huge ordeal that lasts for three straight weeks. It is spread throughout the city in seven separate "squares." There is a really neat boat that taxis people across the main river. It is powered by the current of the river and wind. We have taken it a few times; it saves a lot of walking!

We decided to go on our Wednesday afternoon off, and we ended up meeting our friend Reto and his girlfriend. We were blessed with beautiful weather and temperate. We were lucky since we were walking all over the city. There were many large rides; some were even comparable to those at Six Flags. There was a giant Ferris wheel, and we took some really good pictures of the city from the top. They also had many stands of crafts, gifts, flea market items, and produce. Everything was set up very elaborately, and there were a lot of people demonstrating their product they were trying to sell. There was everything you could think of from magic tricks to kitchen supplies. They also had a lot of carnival type games. Todd was determined to win a hamburger pillow!

They had sooo many delicious food stands; it was incredible. Naturally we love to eat, so we splurged and sampled MANY of them. : ) They did have some food that was typical of an American festival, such as honey glazed almonds, cotton candy, and pretzels. Basel is the "German part" of Switzerland, so there was a lot of food that was typical of Germany. We sampled many different sausage/bratwursts. We tried the traditional "German fast food" Currywurst. SOO delicious! The bratwursts came with no bun, mustard, and a slice of bread. They had fruit dipped in chocolate. Of course, beer in wine stands were plentiful. They had a roasted nut called a marroni. They roast them right in front of you and then you shell them yourselves. They were also selling corn on the cob for 7 Sfr!!!!! I couldn't believe it; it was really quite humorous : )

We had so much fun, we went back again the next Sunday! It was a rainy day, but we still enjoyed ourselves. One thing that we found so surprising is how CLEAN everything still was after 3 weeks of a crowded festival! The public bathroom was spotless and stocked with toilet paper. (I don't know about you, but I find this is usually not the case in the States!) The ground was free of garbage and the city still held a general feeling of cleanliness. I really applaud the Suisse for this!

PS- Thanks Aunt Marsha!!!

Life in Porrentruy

Sorry it has been a while! This program is frustrating me : ) Things are going well over here in Switzerland. The leaves are changing for fall, and it is absolutely beautiful! The mountains are a vast array of color with a contrast of dark green evergreens. We have been having wonderful weather. The sun has been shining, and it has been in the 60's. The only thing our gorgeous fall is missing is caramel apples.

We have really adjusted well to life in Switzerland. The pace of life here is refreshingly slow, and we have been enjoying it. All of the shops close for at least an hour around lunchtime. The bank in Boncourt is closed from 11:30-2:30! We have been grocery shopping mostly in France because the prices are much cheaper than here in Switzerland. We get to cross the border almost daily. Sometimes they stop us and try to ask if we have anything to "declare". There is only a certain amount of red meat/alcohol you are allowed to bring over the border. They usually see the BCB Basketball sticker on our car, and they're like oh oui!! okay!! haha

There are so many trails in Switzerland. We have spent a lot of time walking around aimlessly. We have recently discovered a really pretty hidden trail that is really close to our apartment. Poor Toddy gets home from practice, and I make him walk to a new trail I've found. : ) I spend a lot of time wandering around while Todd is at practice. I have a secret bench where I often go to read. It is near the castle that is right down the street from our apartment. The castle is awesome; it is so old and majestic.

The flower pots in the street had been stripped of their summer flowers. I was distressed about this, especially since the flowers still looked really pretty! I was very happy when I looked outside one day and they were planting "winter flowers." They also clipped the branches off of a certain type of tree. They chopped them off before the leaves even started to turn colors. It gives them a really strange look!

As we said before, the cheese and chocolate here are ridiculously amazing. They have a certain type of cheese here called Raclette. There is a special grill they use to cook it until its bubbly and gooey. Our friend Reto brought it over last week, and it is so good! It is so fun to have a lifestyle where you can walk somewhere and grab something you need. I've never really experienced that growing up in the country. Many nights, Todd and I will walk to the store for a fresh, warm baguette!