Happy Birthday Switzerland!

Feels like this week is rushing by, so it's time for the regular recap of the last weekends activities.
The build up to this weekend was epic, because Saturday 1st August is Swiss National Day, when the Swiss celebrate the founding of the Confederacy, the hero William Tell (who famously shot on arrow through an apple on his son's head), the defeat of the Hapsburg Empire, and the beginning of a united Switzerland. Feeling slightly cheated that the 1st August fell on a Saturday I was planning to celebrate in style, and the Swiss were madly preparing. Basel was decorated from the beginning of the week, with Swiss flags flying from bridges, houses, shops, everywhere really, with shops selling loads of souvenirs. It felt quite sad when I had to explain to all my Swiss and German colleagues, that we don't have a National Day in England, partly due to a group of nutters using the St. George's flag as a racist symbol. They thought it was crazy when I said we celebrate St.Patrick's Day more than our own saint's day.
Anyway back to the celebrations. Leaving work on Friday at about five-ish, I got a punt across the Rhein, it is carried across by the current, and was also adorned with Swiss flags. In all the main squares and streets off them, there were food stalls, selling traditional pretzels; which of course I tried-very different from pretzels back home as they taste more doughy, bratwurst, pizza, ice cream and then the more recent imports of Chinese and Indian food. There were tonnes of street bars selling beer and cocktails. It was lovely to stroll along the streets, having a couple of beers, and everyone was enjoying the laid back atmosphere and beautifully sunny weather. We could have that in London, although the weather wouldn't be guaranteed. There was a band playing on a platform in the river too. I grabbed a patch of grass by the Rhein ready to watch the fireworks that were launched from the river at 11.30pm. They lasted half an hour, and were amazing, and the view was great all the way along the river. I jumped on a tram home, which of course were still running amazingly efficiently, and got home at 2am. I was knackered, as I'd been up since 6.30am.

The next day, I woke and had brunch before popping back into town. I went to the Historical Museum, which is in an old church in Barfusserplatz. It was full of beautifully painted altarpieces and ornate religious sculptures, which have somehow managed to survive the Reformation. The church itself is very striking, and I'm sure my Dad would love to visit it! I then popped down to the Rhein, which showed no sign of the day before; everything had already been tidied up, and sat with a Starbucks iced coffee, reading my book and enjoying the sunshine. That evening I went to another student's house, an expat whose family lives in Switzerland, to see some more fireworks. The paella and BBQ was great, as was chatting to many Brits, had not been in a group of more than 3 Brits for a month! All the villages around Basel were celebrating with their own firework displays, and it was incredible to see them all set against the hills.

At the beginning of this week, I had traditional cheese fondue, which was very nice, can really taste the wine, and then watched The Proposal, which was pretty funny, and tried to follow the German subtitles as well as listening to the English being spoken. I've also just finished reading the Ugly American, which is about the American Foreign policy towards South East Asia in the 50's. It really struck me, and the parallels with the past few years were uncanny. I was also disappointed we're only 1-0 up in the ashes!

Happy Birthday to my Dad for tomorrow! And love as always,

Swizzy x