What to do, now that we are back in Switzerland? Let's visit another museum! This time it was the Skulpturehalle Basel, which probably would have been more interesting if we'd seen it before going to the Louvre. It is an extensive collection of copies of famous sculptures, including the Parthenon frieze…and many we had seen as originals less than a week before. Even those were of some interest, however, as we could get a lot closer to the copy of the Winged Victory of Samothrace than to the real thing. But mostly this museum seemed to be designed for educational presentations, another great homeschooling field trip. Do you sense a recurring theme here?
As an unexpected bonus, the Skupturehalle turned out to be very near Janet's church, so we were able to see at least the meeting place of the people who mean so much to her.Okay, now what? I know, let's go to another country…or two! And let's walk there! So walk we did, through a beautiful park…
…right into Germany! (The structure in the third picture could be a Tinguely sculpture, but it isn't.)
Then over the bridge…
…to France!
On the way we treated ourselves to Italian ice cream that was as good as Janet remembers gelato in Italy. I had to have a double cone, strawberry and lemon, because that's what my former college roommate always raved about from when she lived in Italy. She was right, it's wonderful. But the lemon was the wonderfulest of all.
Germany is where the Swiss go shopping, because it's so much cheaper there. So we shopped. At a small health food store, and also at the store. How to describe the latter? The building is not a mall, exactly, but that's the closest word I can find to describe it. Imagine a shopping mall in which one of the biggest stores is a grocery store, though not exactly a grocery store because it sells a lot more than just groceries. Maybe a department store with food. Maybe the next generation of Super Targets….
Whatever you call it, we loaded ourselves up with supplies, from laundry detergent to food for the next day's picnic lunch to Swiss chocolate (it, too, is cheaper in Germany). Thus laden, we decided to take the bus home instead of returning through the park. But first we had to get through border control. Not for us—no one cared to see our passports at all. For Janet, who needed to get some paperwork stamped. If you buy stuff in Germany, and "export" it to Switzerland, if you fill out one set of papers at the store, and another at the border, and return to the store on your next trip, you can get back the tax you paid on your items. Since the tax is something like 18%, it can be worth the effort.
