True to form we rested on Thursday. Wanda and the girls went uptown for a walk and some groceries but otherwise we hung around the house. I was committed to getting caught up on these blogs. We also did laundry, what a blessing to have a house and a place to relax and wash clothes. We are grateful for the hospitality of Bob & Miriam.
Thursday evening Miriam and Wanda drove our carry on luggage to the train station in Almere while the girls and I walked (5-10 minutes) in the glorious summer weather of Holland (sunny but cool). Miriam helped get us pointed in the right direction, we boarded the train and said good bye for now and headed to Amsterdam. We found the right track and waited for the ICE (Inter-City Express) that would take us to Basel.
The sleeper car was also a bicycle rack car as well. We managed to get our luggage on in the crowd (in spite of some German man impatiently telling my girls, come on, get on, with their big carry on pieces, not helping but full of bark) and find our compartment. Tiny in size, 6 beds just with the length of the beds being no more than 5'11” in length. Since we were a family of 5 we wondered if someone was joining us. Not in Amsterdam. When the conductor came through he told me to keep the lower bunk bed open for someone joining at the Frankfurt airport stop.
The excitement of travelling on a sleeper car soon wore off for me but the family managed to sleep once it turned twilight. At 2:10 a.m. We stopped in Frankfurt and sure enough a woman joined us. We had locked the sliding door with a chain and sliding lock that is common in hotels. But this also had a plastic pincer at the top that needed to be squeezed properly in order to release the round bolt. I couldn't do it. With the woman and the conductor waiting on the other side I tried again and again to squeeze that plastic piece, to no avail. A rare failure in German engineering. Finally I squeezed just right (what did I do differently this time?) and it came out. I opened the door. The woman came in with a huge suitcase. With no place to put it (too big to go under the bed) it stayed on what little floor space there was making it almost impossible to get past it if one needed to go out to the bathroom. But she was quiet and managed to get her bedding ready in the semi-darkness. I couldn't sleep well after that. Should have paid for that 6th spot in our compartment.
Nevertheless we arrived in Basel SBB right on time. We were given the wake up call a half an hour before by a conductor (wish I had known that, I also couldn't sleep because I didn't want to wake up and miss our stop and end up in Zurich). We pulled all our belongings from the compartment and headed out into the narrrow passageway to the bike area. We pulled all our stuff off and looked around to see what to do next. Got to find the main entrance, someone will be waiting there for sure.
But that someone came to meet us at the train. I realized that a young woman pushing a baby stroller was coming toward us who looked familiar, it was Manuela Kohler Martin. What a nice gesture! So we met Jonathan, her 3 month old son. After greetings all around we made our way to the main hall where Manuela purchased public transportation tickets for us, two adults, the girls ride free with us. We managed to get our luggage (and the baby stroller) on the trams and headed for the Sagesser house.
We were warmly welcomed by Heidi (and later Bruno and family) to her house and a typical Swiss breakfast of hearty bread, butter, jam and honey. Of course coffee was on the table as well. I remember such breakfasts well, I ate a lot of bread as a trainee 25 years ago! We were shown to our rooms on the 3rd floor and then talked plans for the weekend and week. We hung out in the morning around the house, catching a cat nap to feel more ready for the day. After a lunch Wanda and Amani and I headed for the tram and into the city. Abby and Sophia didn't want to go but just stay around the house and ride on the razor scooters the Sagessers had.
We took the tram back to the train station and got some money (Swiss Francs). I got out the transportation map and we hopped a tram further into the city. We walked the city streets, ended up at the large church cathedral, the Munster, and saw the beautiful vista of a city on a hill (the church too). Eventually we found our way back to the train station, stopped for some ice cream at McDonald's (I know not kosher for American/ Canadian tourists but it is cheaper and clean and the food is good) before heading back to the Hofmatt stop where the Sagessers live near.
That night we enjoyed a supper at Andy and Manuela's home, traditional Swiss fare again, Rosti. With salad of course and other goodies. It was fun to ride the rails to find their home and even more fun to be in their home with them after having planned this for months. It was a very nice time together. Hard to believe we were in Basel! We planned the logistics for Saturday before heading back to the Sagessers (actually Andy and Manuela had done all of the planning, we were just asked to affirm the details). Saturday would be fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment