Next up in our adventures, we went to Basel, which is located in northwest Switzerland on the Rhine River (and also where the Swiss, German and French borders all meet!). Basel is part of the canton of Basel-Stadt (City of Basel), which is actually a half-canton. The other half is Basel-Landschaft (Land of Basel). The separation occurred due to concern over the rights of people in the agricultural areas. These concerns led to the separation of Basel-Landschalt from the city of Basel on August 26th, 1833.
To get to Basel from Thalwil, we took our dependable Inter-Regio to Zurich HB, and then transferred to another completely new type of European train: the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV)!
The TGV can go faster than 200 mph (320 km/h) when on the correct tracks!
This train goes all the way to Paris! Definitely another place we have on our checklist.
While the train may look empty, many of these seats were reserved from Basel to Paris, which is certainly a popular destination.
A very modern cafe inside the TGV.
We arrived in a speedy 53 minutes, covering about a mile an hour to reach Basel. Three more hours and we could've been in Paris! (The train can run at faster speeds once it crosses into France.)
Very open and grand station.
Certainly felt like one of the larger stations we've visited.
We made our way to the Basel Münster, a cathedral situated right next to the Rhine with Romanesque and Gothic lines. The building is made of red sandstone with colored roof tiles, and listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
The Münster towers over every other structure.
Very grand interior with an organ at the end.
As noted in earlier posts, I am always stunned and awed by the stained glass windows.
Feeling hungry, we took to Altstadt, the medieval Old Town in the heart of Basel. At Marktplatz (marketplace), a bustling farmer's market was filled with delicious and fresh local foods, which we took full advantage of!
Tens of farmers and other producers filling the entire market square with their goods!
We could not resist the delicious looking and smelling bread!
Homemade bread filled with cheese and roasted peppers.
Green and black olive bread, filled with cheese and zucchini!
As we ate our bread, we made our way to the Rathaus (City Hall), the seat of government for the Basel-City canton. It definitely stood out with its brilliant red facade, built with Gothic and Renaissance elements. Here, we also saw an amazing street musician perform on his accordion!
Stunning Rathaus stands out at Marktplatz.
Interior is ornately decorated and just as vibrantly colored.
Can you name the piece he is playing? One correct comment will be randomly chosen to receive a prize!
We continued to explore Altstadt, visiting the Spalentor city gate, (about 400 meters west of Marktplatz) one of the three gates to survive the wall's demolition. Unfortunately, it was under renovation when we visited, so we'll have to come again when it's finished. It was also very pleasant to stroll down the many narrow lanes to gaze on the centuries-old houses in Basel.
A gentle stroll on the historic streets between Marktplatz and Spalentor.
I think our bagpiping readers would appreciate this. Happy Father's Day!
Since I like eating and am constantly hungry, we decided to linger at one of the many cafes in Basel for lunch.
Very happy (Ms: or creepy!) with her Latte Macchiato (typically a three layer drink, with milk on the bottom, a shot of espresso in the middle and milk foam on top).
Me with my Cafe Lungo (Italian for long). Similar to an espresso, but twice as much water is used to make the drink, resulting in a stretched espresso, or lungo.
Spicy salami panini oozing with mozzarella cheese, grilled to a golden brown.
Fortified with (more) food, we made our way to the Kunstmuseum (art museum) in Basel to see the Picasso exhibit! We could not take any pictures in the exhibit, but it was definitely worth the trip and made me appreciate the diverse talents of this artist. We also got admission to the rest of the museum, so we were able to look at other wonderful works of art by Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Renoir, and many many more.
Very much worth the visit!
After a very busy day, we decided to go back home, but not after getting some of the famous Basler Läckerli, a traditional hard spice biscuit (recipe over 700 years old!) created by local spice merchants and made with honey, hazelnuts, candied citrus peel and Kirsch (a fruity brandy, made from distilling cherries).
Packages of this stuff go quickly!
They even have different flavors. Extra candied lemon peels are used in this one.
Basler Läckerli!
More adventures coming up (and quicker updates too!)
-Herr Cervelat
Sorry for the delay in posts. Typically, we're good about it, but the Swiss Ms has left for the United States, leaving me all alone in Zurich. Instead of travelling, I've been spending most of my time in lab for the sake of science. However, despite not travelling, we have quite a backlog of expeditions that I need to post for our faithful readers! In early May, we realized that we had not taken advantage of the large amounts of cheese in the area. Sure, we've bought some cheese at the grocery store, but we wanted to taste the cheese from its source! We decided to go to Appenzellerland and visit the Appenzell Cheese Factory, located in a remote region in Northeast Switzerland. Appenzellerland is actually divided into two half-cantons (Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden), and is usually referred to as die beiden Appenzell (the two Appenzells). The reason for this division was religious, with Ausserrhoden being Protestant and Innerrhoden remaining Catholic.
The coat of arms for Appenzellerland. (Children should avert their eyes...)
Unlike the other regions we have visited, there were no direct forms of transportation to Appenzellerland. In fact, a one-way trip took us nearly two hours!
A one-way trip planned by the good people at the Thalwil train station. They even gave us a print-out to help us out! So courteous!
We first went south from Thalwil along Lake Zurich to Pfaffikon on the S2. There, we transferred onto a totally new type of train: the Voralpen Express!
There it is!!! A new train!
It feels like I'm riding in a chalet with big windows and real wood paneling. The train also made melodious sounds to inform passengers when it was about to arrive at a new stop.
The red line indicates the route of the Voralpen express. It goes from Lucerne to Romanshorn (without going through Zurich HB), passing St. Gallen on the way!
Despite the Voralpen journey taking about an hour and a half, it was very scenic and pleasant, so the time seemed to fly by!
Beautiful rolling hills.
Cows cows cows.
We arrived at Herisau, a small town in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, where we needed to transfer to a bus line that is run by Die Post (The Swiss Postal Service) to the Appenzell Cheese Factory. The Appenzellerland region is not serviced by the the SBB, so Die Post came in to run the public transportation for the area. I think it has to do with the fact that the area has many hills and is very rural.
Thank goodness for Die Post! Without it, we would have some trouble getting to the factory!
We had to take a bus from Herisau to Stein AR, Post, another 16 minute journey to get to our destination. After nearly two hours of travel, this cheese factory had better be open.
We're finallyhere. S2 => Voralpen Express => Post Bus
The long journey has made her hungry!
It was open! We walked inside, and immediately we were assaulted by the smell of cheese fermenting. Very intense. As we wandered around, a nice employee approached us. The conversation went something like this. Appenzeller Factory Employee: What would you like to do here? Me: Eat. (Silence.) Swiss Ms: Um...I think he wants to go to the restaurant. Appenzeller Factory Employee: Restaurant is right this way. I think the Swiss Ms was less than impressed with my monosyllabic answer and attempted to make it more meaningful (Swiss Ms: More like polite). I was hungry. Fortunately, the restaurant was open.
The restaurant features cheese made right in the factory.
Cozy interior feels like I'm inside a mountain chalet.
And then, the food!
A delightful plate of Appenzeller cheese! Starting from the upper left, we have the: (1) Classic, (2) Bio (Organic), (3) Surchoix (very good), (4) Extra (very very good), (5) some fig/fruit thing and (6) quarter Fett Rass (awful).
The Original Appenzeller Toast: ham and pears on toasted bread, topped with melted Raclette (another Swiss cheese) and Appenzeller cheese (I think it was the Surchoix).
Fully fed, we moved onto the factory tour and we saw the cheese being made!
Where the cheese making magic happens!
So. Much. Milk.
Preparing to make the cheese.
So. Much. Cheese.
We learned that the cheese is seasoned with a brine of secret alpine herbs that gives it a spicy flavor. (The Swiss say spicy, but I think we might call it sharp.) If I'm not mistaken, each one of the wheels of cheese is still individually rubbed with the seasoning. The cows graze on the rolling green meadows to give them the highest quality milk. Such care! No wonder it tastes so good (except the Fett Rass...this is the aged reduced fat cheese). We made our way to the neighboring museum to witness how cheese making was done before it was all industrialized!
The cheesmaker started with 65 liters of full cream raw milk (from happy cows!). They added 5 - 6 liters of warm water with dry bacteria cultures. It was heated to 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit), then simmered for 1 hour. Rennet (Curdled milk from the stomach of an unweaned calf) was added to curdle the milk. The resulting mixture was cut up with a cheese harp to make small identical pieces of curd. Finally, about 10 liters of whey (liquid remaining after milk had curdled) was replaced with warm water, "washing the curd" to dilute the lactose.
The man uses cheese cloth to pick up the curd (two hands and his mouth make a triangular net) to pick it up!
Look at all that curd!
Close up of the curd! No gloves.
The curd is lightly pressed to remove excess whey.
The curd is sectioned off to nine pieces and placed into a mold. The cheese is pressed and turned over several times a day. The following day, the cheese is put in a salt bath for conservation. Then, it is stored in a cheese cellar and brushed with seasoning until ripened to perfection!
Before we left, we decided to take some of Appenzellerland with us!
Yum! Our favorite cheese from our lunch cheese platter.
More Bitz- Restaurant Edition
Eating out in Switzerland is a pricey endeavor. This stems from two hallmarks of the Swiss lifestyle that are related to each other. 1) Food is sourced locally whenever possible. While listing the origin of a restaurant's meat and vegetables is a relatively recent trend in the US, it's simply expected in Switzerland. The Swiss like keeping their money close, so they buy from local producers, even when limited supply means very high prices. 2) All professions are paid livable wages. Swiss farmers and ranchers are paid enough to make a living as are restaurant employees including waitstaff. In a country where everything is expensive (and just across the boarder in places like Germany and France, prices are significantly cheaper), the Swiss know the importance of paying their citizens well to keep them (and their money) within national boarders.
Cows, cows, cows.
1) Tipping Did I mention the waitstaff don't even get tips and they still make a decent salary? Apparently, tipping in Switzerland will typically result in embarrassing your server and is only done in the most extraordinary situations. While going out to eat at restaurants may seem really expensive it's not too different from the States.
I made this pizza with garlic mascarpone, spinach, and egg. We already shared all of our restaurant pizza pictures, so just pretend we actually ordered this one in a restaurant...
Switz Bitz Arithmetic Blitz:
Swiss Example: 23 CHF for a small pizza with fancy toppings at a nice restaurant. The price already includes tax (and as you now know, no tipping required) so the amount you see listed on the menu is the total price you pay.
US Example: Let's work backwards and find out what the price of that pizza would have been in the States. (I'll stay in CHF for simplicity.) Assume you are a lovely and generous person (Herr Cervelat), and tip 25%. (25% of your total bill is $5.75, meaning your pizza plus tax was CHF 17.25.) Now, assume the nice restaurant is located in Philadelphia where the sales tax is 8% and there is no additional meal tax. (8% of CHF 17.25 is CHF 1.38, meaning your pizza (without tax and gratiuity) was CHF 15.87. The lowest denomination of Swiss Franc is 5 rappen, so let's call it a day at CHF 15.90 for a small pizza. Granted, CHF are valued higher than USD, but this reasoning makes that Swiss pizza with fancy toppings look a little more reasonable.
2) Seat Yourself
Mission accomplished!
See a free spot at that cafe? It's yours! No free spot? This calls for vulturing the outdoor tables to get that nice two-top in the sun. Vulturing (noun)- Lying in wait near a desired object until a fellow trophic level consumer abandons the desired object. (Example desired objects include: that cafe table, last shirt in your size on the rack, hands-on exhibit at the science museum monopolized by a single child for the past 20 minutes, cookies).
3) A Side of Chocolate
Why doesn't anyone else do this? Nothing makes all that vulturing worth it more than a piece of chocolate next to your steamy beverage. They are perfect partners. The Swiss have this figured out. Nine times out of ten your coffee or tea will come with some tasty bite on the side.
That chocolate says, "Come stay awhile. Relax and enjoy". Don't mind if I do, chocolate.
