When we found out we were moving to Italy, Hubby and I started a list of places we wanted to visit while we were here. My list includes places with personal connections (e.g., Berlin to see my cousin) and touristy places that I haven’t seen yet (e.g., Rome). Hubby’s list primarily revolves around soccer (e.g., Milan). Our trip last weekend crossed a city off of Hubby’s list, and we headed to Basel, Switzerland.
Let me explain our vacations, for anyone who is not really familiar with how we vacation. Hubby has always had to travel for work, and I tagged along whenever possible. The places he traveled were not always as fun and exciting as Italy, however. I’ve been to such exotic locations as Dayton, Ohio and La Crosse, Wisconsin on Hubby’s work trips. The location never really mattered – we always found something “local” to do. Often, we figured out what professional or college sports teams were nearby, and would take in a game of whatever was in season. Through talking to other fans at the game, we’d find recommendations for great restaurants or museums to see, and we’d end up having a very fun weekend. (By the way, Dayton Flyers basketball games are very entertaining!)
When we lived in Michigan, Hubby became a national trainer for his employer, and he was sent all over the country to teach less experienced staff how to be as awesome as he is. And again, I tagged along whenever possible. We had the opportunity to go to some fun places like Orlando, where my youngest sister and I spent five days at Disney World while Hubby spent five days in a hotel conference center training interns. We also went to not-always-exciting places like Arlington, Virginia. However, it was in these not-always-exciting places that we were able to embark on our tour of every Major League Baseball stadium. Arlington, Virginia was stretched into a trip to Baltimore where we ate crab cakes and saw Camden Yards (beautiful stadium). A one-day business trip to Dallas stretched into a long weekend including a trip to the Ballpark at Arlington. We started planning weekend trips to cities we never thought about visiting (e.g., Atlanta) so that we could check another stadium off of the list. It is an entertaining way to explore the country, and we have a blast doing it – 18 stadiums down, 12 to go.
Somewhere in this journey, my youngest sister and her husband decided they were going to see all of the Major League Soccer stadiums and Hubby thought, we should do that too! So for the last three years, the four of us have spent Memorial Day weekend going to a city that has both a Major League Soccer team and a Major League Baseball team so that we can check the stadium off of the list. Even though I jokingly refer to these trips as the “Annual Stadium Tour,” we make a point to do other things while we’re in these new cities (like going to Disneyland!) so that we get a sense of the city itself.
Taking into account that this is how Hubby and I travel in the US, imagine dropping soccer-obsessed Hubby onto a continent where soccer is King. The result – we’ve watched a lot of European soccer. I used to joke that we couldn’t go on vacation in Europe without watching at least two soccer games, but then I realized that it wasn’t a joke – we’ve seen at least two soccer games on every single trip. It’s not always on purpose either. For example, when we arrived in Belgium for a trip, we realized that the US was playing Belgium in an international friendly in Brussels the next day so of course we had to go to the game.
Back to Basel. Given that we’ve already seen a lot of his favorite teams play, I asked Hubby if there were any teams he still wanted to see, and FC Basel was at the top of his list. We’ve had friends and family travel to Switzerland and he’s asked for an FC Basel jersey from them, but nobody has ever been able to find one for him. Plus, it’s Switzerland and I have always wanted to go to Switzerland, so I was happy to indulge Hubby’s request.
Aside from the game, I wanted to explore Basel. Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland in terms of population (approximately 200,000 people), but it is only 24 square kilometers! It’s very walkable, but they also have great public transportation that made getting from the hotel to the city center to the stadium very easy. As a bonus, if you book a hotel in Basel, you are given a Mobility Ticket which allows for free use of public transportation during your stay. Awesome!
We went on a walking city tour of Basel while we were there (no need for a reservation, just show up and pay before 2:15 and you can go on the 2:30 tour). The Autumn Fair also kicked off at noon on Saturday while we were there, so we saw carnival rides, smelled delicious food, and heard music as we wandered through the city.
In addition to the city tour, we also did some exploration on our own. I wanted to try Basler Läckerli (a type of gingerbread that is unique to Basel), eat authentic Swiss chocolate, and buy a Christmas ornament, which is what Hubby and I typically purchase as a souvenir when we travel. Lucky for us, we were able to easily find all three. In fact, Basel is home to Johann Wanner, the largest manufacturer and distributor of mouth-blown glass Christmas ornaments. We found a beautiful red glass Basel ornament with three edelweiss flowers on it. The edelweiss is the flower of Basel, and in Swiss lore, giving this flower to someone is a symbol of love and devotion. Can’t wait to hang it on our tree (and hope it makes it back to the US safely)!
After exploring the city, it was game time for FC Basel v FC Sion! We took the tram to St. Jakob Park and took in all of the atmosphere of the game.
The fans were amazing! They were loud and cheered and sang the entire game. They also had an amazing display of fireworks and streamers as a goal celebration! The final score was 1-1. The fans were not happy, but it was still a very fun game.
It was a very quick trip to Basel, and as always, there is definitely more I want to see and do! Switzerland is absolutely beautiful and worthy of its reputation as a gorgeous and expensive country. I would love to explore more of Switzerland, especially in winter, and maybe without the soccer next time.
