While we did not do much in Germany during our recent holiday, we did quite a lot of museum hopping in Basel in just two afternoons…
Museum Hopping In Basel
Most museums in Basel offer free entry on the first Sunday of the month. We decided to head over in the afternoon to check out a few museums because Augustine has been deeply interested in everything Egypt for many months now (and yes, I will take him to Egypt one of these days).
Our visit happened to coincide with the Basler Herbstmesse (autumn fair) that has been an annual fixture since 1471 (you have to love Western Europe…). These days there are all sorts of rides and food available.
But our visit was aimed at museums and our first stop was the Natural History Museum, which included a nice collection of artifacts ranging from dinosaur bones to a collection of indigenous snakes to the region. The museum was appropriately located on Augustinergasse 2.
Next, we headed over to the Kunstmuseum (art museum), which had a special open house aimed at children. The kids had a lot of fun creating their own art:
But we made a deadly mistake (at least according to Augustine). He had his heart intent on visiting the Antikenmuseum (antiquity museum), which houses a permanent collection of Egyptian artwork and artifacts. It closed at 4:00 pm (we thought we had another hour) and Augustine was absolutely devastated.
We promised we would take him on Tuesday .
It was All Saints Day and I took Augustine to church–the Anglican Church meets in a chapel in the Basler Münster.
We then went home.
But on Tuesday (since the museum closed even earlier on Monday) we returned to Basel to visit the antiquities museum. It was good we allowed the extra time because we spent a couple hours there…with Augustine acting as a docent explaining everything to us. I’m frankly amazed at his knowledge of ancient Egypt.
The museum had Persian and Greek artifacts as well.
CONCLUSION
Basel is a great city–a wealthy and clean city–and I appreciated my time here. This would be another great city to live in, though I love that just 10 minutes away over the German or French borders you can live a nice life with a much cheaper cost of living.
I see your daughter likes hanging out in boxes. She clearly has a future as a crazy cat lady. (I say this with affection as a crazy cat guy myself.)
I have a very fond memory of the square pictured in your first two photos — when I visited Basel many years ago, there was a farmers’ market. I had just gotten off the plane and was starving, so I walked up to a farmer, who sold me a massive hunk of local cheese for about 3 CHF. An odd snack, but it was one of the most delicious pieces of cheese I have ever eaten.
Cool story. Swiss cheese (especially Gruyère) is some of my favorite.
The natural history museum reminds me of the one in Vienna. It’s such a fun thing to see because these are the things we don’t do at home after a certain age. I wonder how seeing the history and architecture up close will influence their future interests and career interests, although, the smartest thing is to probably continue the family business if trav b is still a thing.
They’re adorable! If you’re visiting Egypt and your little one is such a fan of antiques, I’d recommend waiting for the Grand Egyptian Museum to open fully in late spring (they currently operate a few sections, but you’ll have a better experience once everything is available including the kids section). It’s a really impressive collection and building.
Tangentially related, I just spent the last two nights in Cairo. You should go now. Visitor numbers are down because of the conflict in Israel and Palestine, but there’s obviously no risk in Cairo. The exchange rate makes everything dirt cheap, and there’s apparently even a black market starting to form where a USD fetches 50 EGP. The brand new Waldorf Astoria is a great deal on Amex FHR.
Just left Basel, we’re bopping around Europe for a few months with our 5 yr old. Yes, a great, beautiful, clean safe city. Immediately, “why can’t we have this at home?” Comes to mind. Then you go out to eat, anywhere, and you realize the underlying cost.
As you mentioned: one of the best things about Basel is location: you can pop into Colmar or Strassbourg for Christmas Markets, over to the Black Forest, or down to Lucerne and other parts of Switzerland.