Suisse military, LSD, Banking

One pedal at a time!

Basel

So my first stop in Switzerland was Basel.  I arrived quite late into town, after dark, and I hadn’t set up any CouchSurfing connections because my phone drowned, and my adaptor for my laptop broke.  But, it was Friday night, and I thought I’d take my chances.  If all else failed I could go to the train station and hangout till sunrise and then ride on from there.

Switzerland is similar to Spain in that you can drink outdoors in public.  I love this about Europe because it means the people gather and hang out together without having to be in a club or restaurant etc.  Generally speaking, people will grab a few beers and head to a park to meet up with friends, I just like this so much because it really does create a sense of community.

So I did just that and went to a nearby park.  It was full of people and it never takes long for people to see my loaded touring bike and my Canadian flag.  I immediately strike up some conversations with a few people and we’re off and running.  I stayed two nights in Basel, each time just meeting random strangers and ended up sharing some stories from the road.  They offered me their couch to sleep on and I gratefully accepted.  I really like Basel, quaint town, very clean, and has some great green spaces.

I also found this Canadian store!  I went inside and met this very nice older Suisse gentleman.  The story goes that he married a Canadian woman but she had passed away. So he opened this shop and it was more or less a hobby he said.  It had all sorts of crazy things including Kokanee and Moosehead beer, Maple Syrup butter, Canadian flags, Canadian headbands, Canadian candies, and Canadian balloons.  After 10 minutes of chatting about Vancouver and the similarities in environment between our two countries I went to pay for all the items mentioned above.  Close to 28 Suisse Francs in total. He refused to take my money, wished me a great trip, and gave it all to me for free…such a gentleman.  I wished him all the best and scurried away gleefully ready to pimp my ride with more red and white.

I met a few guys the second night and we talked a lot about Suisse culture.  This is exactly what I’m looking for in my travels.  That’s to meet with the locals and hear about what it’s like to live in their country.  We talked about the mandatory Suisse military, why the Suisse are thought to be a little cold or standoffish, about the gentleman who discovered LSD in Basel, why they are so strong in the banking world, it was fantastic.  We drank quite a few beers and they offered me to stay at their house which I gratefully accepted again.  On our way home I took these photos, one of the guys also mentioned the Munster which I had been told numerous times to go see.  Although this time his story was a little different.  Not only did he recommend a visit to this cathedral, he said I should climb to the top like he did!  He is a climber and he let me know that one early morning he free climbed to the top.  Amazing, check out this video.

Anyway, I’m now on my way South, but not before he insisted he call his friend in Lausanne and set up another place for me to stay.  I didn’t find the Suisse to be cold at all, in fact I found the opposite thanks to these very welcoming friends.