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!!!