First Trips - Basel and Frankfurt

Last post I showed some Carnival pics from Basel, but here are a few shots of what the city looks like during the day.

Koko had told me about the fun festivals that happen in Basel when I first got here, and I really wanted to see them. But let's be honest, my real motivation for heading to Basel was to hang out with Roger Federer. I was hoping for giant gold statues of the man and everyone would be wearing his logo and playing tennis in the street. Turns out it's a normal, beautiful European city, that - along with the rest of Europe - only likes to idolize dead guys. Until he dies, Rog just exists on a million advertisements around Basel, on the courts, and in all of our hearts. (Yes, I do know he's happily married). Patrick got me in contact with one of his mission buddies, and they were nice enough to let me invade their home for a weekend. I loved getting to know Curtis, Susan, their gorgeous daughters, and a little bit of their story.

You could actually swim from Bonn to Basel directly, but it's upstream in deadly currents and freezing water - so I opted for the train. I arrived Saturday morning after about a 4 hour train ride that follows right alongside the Rhine, past many castles and small towns in a Unesco World Heritage cite. Curtis and his daughters met me at the tram stop right by their house, and I soon after went off to wander. I found a flea market right away. Europeans love flea markets and they're good at it. Bartering in multiple languages (I counted 5 in my walk around the square), ancient treasures, and useless stuff as well. I was in heaven.

Flea Market

They like them Shutters. I do too.

This gate was part of the original wall around the small Medieval settlement of Basel. There are remnants of the rest of the wall, but this was the city's entrance. Most European cities have very similar things (i.e. the gate I posted from Bonn, same story)

From within the city

From the "Outside"

A sneak peak of the Rathaus while walking around the city

Just a random mural on a narrow alley wall

Basel Munster

Ideal place for a sunset stroll

Basel by day. The Rhine sure is hideous, right?

 Here are my two new BFFs, Ivy and Mia. Mia only refers to her school as "my beloved school." They gave me a fun tour of their routes and walks, and all weekend they made me feel beautiful and welcomed. I love these gals.

Messeplatz

The following pic is for Amandass. This was the outside of a museum, after hours, with an interactive game of "memory" all with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. The two silhouettes you see are people playing the game.

Basel by Night

I went to church here, their ward was so friendly and fun. And their building is beautiful and much bigger than Bonn's.

After church in Switzerland, I WALKED to France, then Germany. Yup. This is a monument marking where the three countries meet.

 I spent a few hours hanging out at this huge and amazing park. It was pretty much the first legitimately warm day, so everyone was outside enjoying the weather. I sat and watched old men play chess on one of those giant chessboards, watched some hippies doing gymnastics/yoga/what my immediate family would call "Professional Body Games," but I didn't dare take pics.

 

Basel was a great trip. I'm lucky to have gotten to see it, and meet the Nordstroms. 

Last weekend, a fun girl from my ward in Bonn invited me to join her in a quick trip to Frankfurt. We left Friday evening to get to Darmstat for a YSA (Young Single Adult) dance, put on by the Mormon church. This was like no YSA dance I'd ever been to. We got to the church around 9, the dance went until 2 AM! And everyone stays the whole time. We drove 2 hours to get there, and we traveled less than most people there. It was for anyone in the German speaking area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), and everybody is friends. It was such a cool thing to see people from all over the country come and hang out, really talk, and actually dance. The dance is casual, but they actually dance - kind of like how Americans swing dance - paired off, there's designated steps and form, lifts and fun moves. Jelena from the ward and her friend Maili had to do a ton of introducing and translating for me, and they were so nice. 

This is actually from just outside of Bonn where I met up with the girls, but I thought it was pretty and part of the trip.

After the dance We stayed with Jelena's Aunt and Uncle, they were delightful and really interesting to talk to. In the morning we went by the temple before heading back home.

This nice man, the temple gardener and friend of Maili, is giving us each a flower from the grounds

Frankfurt Temple

 Another view of the temple. You can see two yellowish buildings that look like apartment buildings. They are actually the "Temple Hostel", part of temple square. Since people have to travel a long way to go to the temple, they often book a room in the hostel, which you can get to from the lobby of the temple itself! We saw some friends from the dance, and while talking to them they saw three or four couples from their ward. This ward, mind you, is about 5 hours away. It's a cool network of Saints here in Germany. I'm really lucky to get to witness them in action.

Two pretty quick weekend trips. For no reason, here's a picture of the two men who occupy most of my life right now, Phineas and Nicolas, at one of the amazing parks right near our home.