The morning was for the shopping spree. Apparently the girls have grown out of their clothes and we can't wait to buy in NA, some things had to be bought here. So off they went on the tram to the MParc stop and went clothes shopping. That gave me some time to catch up on the internet and other things. I went up later to bring Sophia back by tram as she insisted that she stay only as long as needed to try on clothes (she is not a born shopper like her sisters, good for her!).
We had lunch at the Sagessers, Heidi made us another typical Swiss meal consisting of Birchermuesli and bread. Then we headed out to meet up with Mary Friesen Amstutz and her daughter Anna. The girls and Anna went out for the afternoon; swimming, eating, going around. Turns out that they went swimming only for a short time, they thought the water was not warm enough. So they went on to a music museum, to McDonald's and other places, all on the public transportation. It was a great education for them, getting around town.
Wanda & I, in the meantime, had an afternoon to ourselves. After going back and getting the camera we headed out to see if we wanted to go to the Basel Kunstmuseum. But when we got there and saw the price of admission I wanted to have an idea what kind of art I was going to see. What better place to go than the book store where they sell postcards and posters of the art in the museum? Yes, they had many great artists' paintings displayed but not necessarily their well known works. So we saved ourselves the money and time, we'll go to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and walked back out.
We wandered somewhat aimlessly now, relaxed in the knowledge that we didn't have to do something or be somewhere in the moment. We needed to keep track of time to go to the Amstutz' for supper but otherwise we could roam. We wandered into what we discovered was the shopping district of Basel. Beautiful shops, outdoor cafes, little boutiques. I bought a pretzel bun that was sliced in half and filled with butter, I could have eaten several of those! Wanda & I sat down at a cafe for a drink and a snack and watched the square as people of all walks of life paraded past. We then continued on down back streets into another square, where the 'Spalentur' stood. What was its history? Don't know, have to look it up. But the dates on the tower were from the 1500's.
Thanks to our handy dandy Basel transport map we looked for and found the no. 14 tram to take all the way down to Muttenz where Aschli & Mary Amstutz live. We were to meet up with the girls there. Mary gave us good directions, we got off the tram and walked with no problem to their home. Aschli was there to greet us and we took a look around in their house and back yard. They had green space in their back yard along with an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables. Potted blueberry, raspberry and tomato plants all becoming ripe. That's what we'll do if we are in a city, plant small fruit trees and berry plants in pots.
Aschli had ordered a pizza cross town at the club where the girls swam (it belongs to Mary's business) but they don't have a car. No, rather he has 1,400 vehicles at his disposal! The Amstutz' are part of a vehicle sharing plan in Switzerland. In Muttenz are 8 cars which they can sign up for and use, sometimes on a moment's notice. All red cars and all stationed in one place. We took bicycles there, he used his special card to swipe the sticker on the car and voila! it opened. Great system. 3 Swiss Francs per hour and .40 pfennig/ km. All the insurance is paid for when you buy in. I have heard of such a system in some cities in the U.S. but not in Canada. We'll have to see if we can do that, maybe when we return in the beginning.
Once again we had a great supper of pizza and salad and ice cream for dessert. Time went by so fast that suddenly it was 9:15, once again the light in the evening sky through me off. So we had to bit adieu to our new friends Mary & Aschli and Anna. We piled into the Amstutz' (shared) vehicle and Aschli drove us back to the Sagessers. In the twilight of the early evening we said a farewell to our hosts of one week. Heidi and Bruno, Mattias, Lukas and Hannah were wonderful hosts. They tried their English out on us which was their greatest gift of all. We said good night very late (11:30 p.m. is late for us) anticipating and, in some sense, dreading the morrow . . .
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