I’m in Germany for my summer holiday and enjoyed fireworks last night over the Rhine River in Basel in celebration of Swiss National Day.
Swiss National Day 2023
I was at a dinner party this year on the Fourth of July in Pasadena, CA and totally missed the fireworks right down the road at the Rose Bowl, so when I saw that Switzerland was celebrating the founding of Swiss Confederacy with fireworks, I was elated.
My son Augustine was even more excited.
Swiss National Day has only been a national holiday since 1994, but celebrates the Swiss Confederacy dating back to 1291. As we were walking up the Tüllingen, which overlooks the entire valley with France on the right, Switzerland straight on, and Germany to the left, we gave Augustine a little history on Swiss federalism, specifically that it was not until 1990 that women gained the right to vote on local issues in the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden (in 1971, women gained the right to vote in Swiss federal elections).
The fireworks were beautiful:
However a night of revelry followed for many, with my sleep disturbed at 2:00 am by a group of kids singing beer drinking songs at the top of their lungs as they walked down the street.
In any case, my appreciation for Switzerland and the beautiful system it has cultivated and preserved over the centuries continues to grow.
Having grown up in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, about 90 minutes from Geneva, I always loved the Swiss National Holiday and the way it is celebrated. Such a lovely holiday in a beautiful country.
I’m a fan of Switzerland as well and the feeling is mutual. If not for fate, I would have settled down there.
Did you know that Basel was the site of a UFO sighting in 1566?
The official national holiday part may be fairly recent but many decades ago my dad, whose birthday was August first, commended the Swiss for the huge celebration of his birthday. While dryly amusing that tells me that de facto the country celebrated their national day for a long time back.
Ah, the Basel area…where you can visit three countries in one afternoon. Yeah, it’s not the only part of the world where you can do that, but still fun to do if you can.
Ah yes Basel-Bad, the railway station on the German side. Have changed trains there many times. Because Germany often has a promotion offering a rail ticket from anywhere to anywhere in Germany for, say, 25 euro. Dismount just before the border, pay a few euros for a local ticket to Basel-SBB on the Swiss side and resume your journey with a similar offer in Switzeland. Check bahn.de and sbb.ch
I sent my Sister and Brother-in-Law a “happy National Day “ email. They live in Zug. They decided to have lunch in Zurich to celebrate. Low key but delicious