On the Rhine

It was very pleasant to wander through the streets of Basel on this quiet Sunday morning. The shops were all closed, but most restaurants and the museums were open. We had heard that there is a ninety minute boat trip on the Rhine, so we strolled along the banks of the river to find its departure point. Needless to say we set off in the wrong direction but luckily some kindly ladies pointed us the right way and we spotted the boat as it docked. What a pleasant trip we had! I don’t think that it quite counted as a “Rhine Cruise” (we saw several very smart cruise ships which travel far up the river) but it was a lovely taster. We set off downstream to the place where the three countries, Switzerland, France and Germany, all meet. I though that was very exciting. Then the boat turned and we made our way upriver against the current much more slowly, past the centre of Basel and onwards to a dam about twenty minutes upstream before wheeching back downstream to the town again. We sat outside on the upper deck in the sunshine, and we drank coffee and ate croissants while enjoying the scenery.
We walked up the Rhine walkway for a while and crossed the river on one of the wee tiny ferries on a rope before going to the Basel Paper Museum. James was more interested in visiting it than I was, but it turned out to be fascinating. We got the chance to make our own paper and, even better, to try paper marbling! Years ago, Heather and Ewan gave me a beautiful book when we were on holiday in Tuscany with a marbled cover and I have always treasured it. I loved marbling and would like to try it again.
Later on we went to the Kunstmuseum which is Basel’s main art gallery. It has lots of Holbeins including one of Erasmus who lived here and is buried in the Münster. It also has lots of Renaissance art, some of which to me looked strangely modern, in that the faces in the portraits seemed very lifelike. There were also plenty of famous 17th and 18th century artists such as Rubens and Rembrandt, and 19th century impressionists like Manet, Monet and Cézanne. There were even a few Van Goghs. It was well worth a visit and had a delightful courtyard café where I had a refreshing herbal tea and James had a beer, before dinner at the excellent Coccodrille restaurant.