Paris to Swiss Alps: Basel II (4/3/2017)

Monday, April 3, 2017 (continued)
Climbing up on the other side of the Marktplatz/Market Square.

Martinsgässlein/St Martin's Alley with steps
(that's a Jim Beam bottle four steps up!) (KSS)

Martinskirche/Church of St Martin (sections
dating to 1287 and 14C, renovated 1851)
is an evangelical-reformed church

Sevogel-Brunnen, another medieval fountain
thought to depict a military leader of 1444,
Henman Sevogel

View of the Mittlere Brücke/Middle Bridge (1905)
and Kleinbasel across the Rhine River

Weisses Haus/White Mansion (1762-1768,
designed by Samuel Werenfels)

Blaues Haus/Blue Mansion (1762-1768)

The White and Blue Mansions were built for silk merchant brothers Lukas and Jakob Sarasin, whose guests included Emperors Joseph II of Austria and Francis of Austria, Czar Alexander of Russia, and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

Augustiner Brunnen/Augustinian Fountain (1846) (KSS)

A basilisk and angel faces
on the Augustinian Fountain (KSS)

Huge Münsterplatz/Cathedral Square (KSS)

Door of Zur Mücke/To the Mosquito (1769,
redesigned by Johann Jakob Fechter in Baroque style),
where the Conclave of the Council of Basel elected
the last Catholic antipope, Felix V, in 1439 (KSS)

Statue of Isaak Iselin, city scribe, who lived here
in Cathedral Square, and in 1777 founded the
Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige/
Society for the Good and the Community

Door of the Gymnasium am Münsterplatz/
High School on Cathedral Square
(established in 11C, building in 16C)

Door of Mentelin Hof/Mentelin Court,
meeting place for the Guild of the Wine Industry

The western façade of the Münster/Cathedral (1019-1500), with...

St George slaying a rather small dragon
with an impossibly long lance (KSS)

St Martin cutting his cloak in half
to share with a beggar (KSS)

The St George and St Martin statues stand below the towers that bear their names.

Choir stalls in the cathedral (KSS)

A shared tomb

Effigy of a knight on a tomb (KSS)

The Tomb of Erasmus (died 1536 in Basel) (KSS)

Tombstone

Apse and choir (KSS)

Baptismal font

Pulpit

The New Testament in many languages (KSS)

The cathedral crypt was closed today.

One court of the double cloister

The other court of the double cloister

A Carnival-themed sculpture

Market sculpture in the double cloister

Detail of stonework on the cathedral (KSS)

The Basel Cathedral for the blind

Time to go to lunch. (When there is a land portion of a Viking Tour, only breakfast is included.)

Kent rings the bell to call
the Münsterfähre/Cathedral ferry

Mallard ducks wait along with us

Here comes the ferry, which is hooked to a cable strung
across the river; using the current and a rudder, the boat
is guided back and forth across the Rhine River (KSS)

Looking back at the cathedral on top of that high wall

Our ferryman was barefoot...

Wisteria on a house on Oberer Rheinweg/
Upper Rhine Path

Die Heilsarmee/The Salvation Army

Brauerei/Brewery Fischerstube, a Ueli Bier micro-brewery,
the smallest brewery in Basel, where we had lunch

Dark bread and light (in color) beer,
note the logo is Carnival-themed (KSS)

The house specialty: Basler Geschnetzelte Kalbsleber mit Rösti/
Sliced calf liver with "hash browns" (KSS)

Wurst mit Senf, und Kartoffelsalat/
Sausage with mustard, and potato salad

Art in the Brauerei Fischerstube (KSS)

Cigarette machine in the Brauerei Fischerstube

Folks enjoying their lunches along the
Rheinpromenade

Heading back on the ferry, this lever switches sides
depending on the direction traveled

Dreizack-Brunnen/Trident Fountain (13C)

We returned to the Läckerli Huus to purchase some of the spice biscuits.

Läckerli in the shape of a rooster head?

Nice tins with the Basel emblem of a Bishop's crozier

Hauptpostamt/Main Post Office (built 1376-1378 as
a department store, converted to a post office in 1853)

A tram-jam in Barfüsserplatz

Time to meet the motor coaches for the ride to Zürich.

Next: Arrival in Zürich.