Baden, Baden!

This weekend was time for a relax after the bustling paragliding adventure in Interlaken last week. On Friday, after work I headed off into Barfusserplatz, which is the most happening square in Basel, and grabbed a Movenpick ice cream, which was hazelnut flavoured, and tasted amazing. When I got back I had some supper and played at bit of pool, and generally chillaxed.

The next morning I made my first trip to the local train station, as surprisingly, the tram that usually runs very efficiently and conveniently past my accommodation, was being suspended for work (sounded like being back in London). The train from Muttenz to Basel central station took 5mins, and I was early for my train to Baden, so grabbed a coffee and a croissant for breakie. There was the usual bustle of Military service personnel heading home for the weekend, and hikers heading to the Alps. As an aside, I found out on Friday, all Swiss houses have nuclear bunkers underneath them, and that until recently, there were no gun laws. Sometimes for a "neutral" country, Switzerland seems a bit quite paranoid. I jumped on the train to Baden (not the German Baden Baden), which took an hour travelling through some beautiful countryside. When I arrived I headed from the train station to the Altstadt, to have a wander and explore a little bit. I visited the Historical Museum, which is situated in the old Landvogteischscloss, by the Holzbrucke, shown in the photo above, where the governors of Baden used to live. I seemed to be the only visitor there, and one of the wardens had to turn on the lights for me in some of the exhibition rooms. As I walked around the tower of the castle, which had rooms decked out from different eras, I thought about how much my mum and sis would have loved it, "living history" and stuff. After that I walked up to the ruins of an old castle at the top of the hill, which had beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. I sat there and had my packed lunch, and read a bit of my book, I seem to be doing a lot of reading now I don't have a TV, which is a bonus, though I might be running out of reading material at this rate.

Baden is set on a curve in the Limmat river, and has for many centuries been a center for thermal spas, the Romans being the first to use the waters. So after lunch I walked along the bank of the river to the spa area. There are lots of hotels now, which have private pools, but I headed to the public baths. It was around 25francs to use the baths and the sauna, which is pretty good going (£10-15). I had a swim in the inside pool (both were 32C), which was a little more chilled and peaceful, and then headed to the outside pool, which was incredible. I had a bit of a sunbathe on a lounger and then got back in the pool, where the heat of the water hit me again. My time the time my hands and feet had got all wrinkly and I'd done a couple of lengths of the pools, I went back in the inside pool for 10-15mins and then went and had a shower and used the sauna. Usually I'm not very good at doing nothing, I usually need some background noise or something like that, but I adapted to the quiet and peace of the sauna pretty well, and definitely want to go back there. After that I left the baths and sat by the Limmat for a while taking in the view while having an ice cream. I then wanted to visit Maria Himmelfahrt church just for a look, so headed in that direction. As I arrived I heard the bells calling people to mass, and walked in just in time to join, which was a slightly odd experience. Baden was a Catholic canton, and during the Reformation had to fight Zurich and Bern, the Protestant cantons. Eventually, they lost, but it means that Baden retains a beautiful church, all the ones I've seen so far in Switzerland are very sparse protestant churches, or modern catholic ones. Maria Himmelfahrt has Baroque, Neoclassical features as well as its Gothic outline. Dinner was grabbed quickly before I got on the train back to Basel, and at 9o'clock was heading back to Muttenz, while everyone else was heading for a night out in the city.

I spent Sunday catching up on the British news, seeing what horrors Gordon has in store when I get back, listening to Any Questions, which sometimes really riles one, and reading the BBC news pages, I miss my Dad's daily offering of 2 newspapers, but am quite enjoy Nick Robinsons blog. I caught myself listening to the Archers last week, as my parents always have it on.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome,

Take care, till next time

Swizzy......