Thinking

We didn't turn the TV on until late last night, so it came as a shock to hear of the terrorist activity in Mumbai.  Having stayed in the Taj hotel so recently, the accounts of events gave both of us shivers as we pictured the bustling foyer, the lively bars and restaurants, the bright and well stocked shops which attracted tourists and locals alike.  We recalled a wonderful afternoon, spent drinking tea in the afternoon heat but in the shade of a cool verandah in a quiet garden, imagining it to be anything but quiet today.

Most of my thoughts turned to the delightful people.  I wonder how the charming young reception clerks are, what's happened to the three amazing concierges who somehow remembered not only everyone's name but even knew which was our luggage in the melee that is so typically Indian.

I pictured the scene in the ground floor restaurant, where we enjoyed a delicious "Bombay Tiffin"one evening.  The dark furnishings and subdued lighting created a wonderful atmosphere and we received first class service from the many young waiters who were anxious to ensure everything was to our liking.

I wonder what's happened to the Joy shoe shop on the ground floor at the front of the hotel, with the funny little details and the dozen or so young men who brought out almost every twinkly shoe in their store so willingly for picky women like me.

But most of all, I thought of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Mumbai residents, passing through the station, along the street or in the cinema, going about their ordinary, everyday business and caught up in such terrible events.

Where is the man who runs the tiny office supplies store on the road by the station, who fulfilled my wish for glue sticks and paper punch (How many holes, madam?  What size hole, Madam?) Hard to imagine that a one-man operated cupboard of a shop could offer more of a selection of goods than the large, flashy store here. Incomparable service, too.

Mumbai is such an amazing city, full of life and colour.  There must be so many people like us, with fond memories and family links to the city who are watching the events unfold with sadness this morning.  Packing a suitcase to go off on another trip, we question whether it would be preferable to stay at home.  Any doubts are soon dismissed when experiences such as being in Mumbai for a couple of days are recalled, though.

It's such a privilege to travel, to see and experience far away places but most of all, to meet people and learn a little about their lives.  I find my thoughts keep returning to the people in Mumbai this morning.

Confession time

Opening my suitcase revealed a nice little "pie" of knitting yarn, because Switzerland is a great place to find sock yarn - nothing out of the ordinary but simple, good quality wool at good prices.
 
I was also pleased to find some silly coloured cotton for a couple of dishcloths, all in the Coop in Basel Marktplatz.

They all fitted nicely into this fun "soft" cake mould - spotted in a really comprehensive kitchen shop just off the Marktplatz and perfect for making a cake in portions to suit all-comers!

Then of course, there was the airport shopping. I don't think we could possibly leave Zürich without leaving a few CHF in Sprüngli in return for a Zuger Kirschtorte and some Luxemburgerli! Putting a carrier bag like this through the X-ray machine always raises a smile from the security people, who often threaten to make it disappear before it comes through the other end of the machine.

Yes, Swiss Airport Security people even have a sense of humour!

On the menu tonight with a couple of friends will be Zürcher Geschnetzeltes with Rösti, followed by Kirschtorte and maybe a Luxemburgerli or two. The Baseler Läckerli will keep for tomorrow!

The reason for our visit

Not exactly a concert, rather more than a rehearsal - we were here to listen to the two Piano Quartets by Raff, played by Il Trittico, who played the Piano Quintet on a memorable Sunday afternoon in Rapperswil three years ago. The performance in the Kleiner Saal at the Basel Hochschule für Musik was great - for a more comprehensive review, keep an eye open here.

Basel Münster

High above the river, in a site well suited for overseeing all the comings and goings, is the Minster, or Münster. Walking towards it through the small streets and alleys, we found it hard to imagine that we were in the city. The blue skies and sunshine made it a pleasure to linger in the tree covered courtyard and do a bit of people watching!

Unbelievably, we had driven this route on Sunday afternoon, when we were being challenged by the one-way system of the old town - and yes, we drove through streets which we really shouldn't have done!

Inside the minster, the solid architecture is plain and simple. Here and there is a tomb or memorial - one of the tombs is that of Erasmus, and though there are three lovely stained glass windows, my eyes fell on the wonderful chairs which had such a great assortment of patterns carved into the backs.
 
Yes, we spotted some pairs but not many, and what a distraction peering at them would prove during a boring sermon!

Outside, into the cloister, where we enjoyed walking around looking through the openings for different views and glimpses through other windows. The many memorials on the walls were fascinating too.

In the corner of the smaller cloister, we came across this great bronze market stall.

There were some pretty realistic fruit, veg and flowers there and the cool, dark, shiny surfaces were so pleasing to the eye and to the touch.

Only on wandering over to the other side, to see another, similar stall, did we note the more sinister side of the artist's concept, for here the stall was empty and a human skull was there on top of a silent drum. The surface of the table was imprinted with a lengthy poem, the language too dense and difficult for me to understand, sadly.

So, out onto the Pfalz, where instead of the usual figures there are elephants carved into the stone. Well, we think they are elephants as imagined by someone who has never actually seen an elephant!

Then, as we headed back into town in search of tea, we spotted this on the church notice board.

It seemed to sum up everything we love about Switzerland, this somewhat conventional country of tradition and good sense, which nevertheless embraces the modern technology with style and functionality. "Mit Pfiff", as they say!

Bright pink, hot yellow, orange and RED!

Once we'd enjoyed our little trip across the river, we headed for our main destination today - the Vitra Design Museum, just over the border in Germany. Staying at a Basel city centre hotel meant that we were given free travelcards, valid on the buses and trams, so we haven't used the car once in the last couple of days. What an enlightened approach!

The building itself is by Frank Gehry, clearly before the metal cladding took hold. The design resulted in an interesting layout inside, though the place was smaller than we imagined from the hype.

Though there were large groups of students gathering at half hourly intervals, we managed to time our visit to avoid them all and had the place more or less to ourselves. The subject of the special exhibition, "Living under a Crescent moon" was more than apt for us, however, and we enjoyed seeing exhibits of places familiar to us from our recent trip.

No photographs inside, sadly, but the bright colours of the exhibit were fantastic - those hot pinks, yellows and oranges just lifted the spirit from the rather grey day outside.

By the time we came outside and walked back to the bus stop, the whole place looked more cheerful - indeed, almost storybook-like!

We headed back into the Old Town then, to explore the small streets and the Münster but on the way, we were diverted into the Ethnographic Museum by another special exhibit - Red

For obvious reasons, there's always a lot of red about in Switzerland, but there's more than ever right now, because football is high on the agenda with the European Cup starting here next month.

We stepped inside the museum, up the red carpet and totally ignoring the red stop sign, through an entrance built as a huge beating heart.

This was an amazing exhibit, the only problem being that the atmosphere inside the museum was so oppressive on the warm afternoon, we found it hard to keep going! But the exhibits were remarkable and beautifully displayed in great light.

 

 

In particular I loved the small breverl or talisman, something I've not come across before and must find out more about. I also found the textile exhibit fascinating - hardly surprising, that - not only for the red dyes, garments and cloths, but also for the more permanent display of textile constructions. I made sure I noted the title of an interesting book on the subject which I will track down sometimes soon.

 

 

Again, no photos, but the website images are better than any I could have taken!

 

I think the Münster is worthy of another blog post all of its own!