We spent the weekend in Zürich, and happened to have the most spectacular weather I think I’ve ever seen there. It was an unforgettable weekend full of photos, friends, champagne, and a proposal ;)
Posts Tagged ‘Switzerland’
Basel Herbstmesse by night
Over the past few weeks, we have developed an interest in long-exposure photography. This is where you open the shutter for extended periods of time, and gives pretty great results when shooting moving lights. Luckily for us, the perfect event waltzed into town last week (Herbstmesse) full of flashing, spinning, bouncing lights just begging to be photographed… and so we did!
Basel Herbstmesse by day
The Basel Herbstmesse (Autumn festival) is on at the moment, and I love it! This is one of my favourite festivals all year, not because of the rides, but because there is so much happening – there are people everywhere, stalls and rides in all the major squares through Basel, and the overall vibe is really fun. It also means that in less than a month the Christmas Markets will begin :) This is the 540th Herbstmesse in Basel, which means it’s been going since the 15th Century.. a good 300 years before Australia was even colonised. Makes me feel so young and naive haha.
We’ve already been into Basel 3 times this past week, mostly to try out some really funky night-time photography (coming in the next post), but also just to soak up the atmosphere and buy some Mandeln (sugar-coated almonds).. mmm lecker!
Trift
Last weekend we took a drive, a cable car, and then a hike to reach the amazing Trift suspension bridge that overlooks the stunning Trift glacier. Well.. that’s what all the brochures say you’ll see.. our view ended up being a little bit different, but to me, no less beautiful.
It was quite eerie watching the bridge disappear into nothing, and hearing voices but not being able to see anything.. we felt a little bit robbed having killed ourselves hiking there to see a glacier.. but I think seeing the bridge like this was something pretty special too.
Die Schweiz
After France we spent a bit of time in Switzerland, as you can see below :)
A visit from some old friends
Wow, ok… I’m running a bit behind with the blog! Sorry! We’ve had a pretty crazy couple of weeks here.. between 2 lots of friends visiting, work, German lessons, driving lessons and taking a trip to France, we haven’t had much spare time at home. But no excuses! I’m going to make up for all that lost time now..
So, two weekends ago we were lucky enough to have two of my friends from primary school come and visit. I was a little bit nervous going into this weekend, because, while I’ve kept in contact with one of the friends (now living in Paris), I hadn’t seen the other friend for about 14 years. As it turned out, I had no need to be nervous because we all still got along like we did in primary school, and we had a great weekend! We couldn’t help but find it funny that we’d never kept in contact while we were living in the same country, but now that we’d all moved overseas it came more naturally!
Here are some photos of our weekend/mini reunion.. (yes.. more raspberry picking! This time at a proper berry farm though)
City Beach Basel
For us here in Germany, Summer seems to have only just arrived. We’re finally getting some nice warm weather and sunshine, which is lucky because we’ve just found the perfect way to spend these warm evenings!
City Beach (not to be confused with the surf store in Australia) is someone’s brilliant idea to bring the beach to those of us who live no where near one, but wish we did! I guess it would be classified as a bar, but the emphasis isn’t so much on drinking as just relaxing and enjoying the sun while it lasts. Strangely enough, they have installed it on top of a parking garage in Basel.. and have not only included a bar, but also piles of sand, a pool, volley ball courts, and loads of day-beds/cushions to really get into the spirit. Even on Wednesday night it was busy, and we had to be super sneaky in order nab ourselves a Fatboy hammock the second it was vacant :)
Swiss National Holiday
This weekend Switzerland celebrates their National Holiday, and last night it kicked off in Basel with a bunch of festivities (much drinking, boat races, more drinking), and finished with a fireworks display over the Rhine. Dave and I, as well as our two lovely American friends Alex and Ally, decided to brave the crowds in Basel for a beer or two overlooking the Rhine as the sun went down. It really was a beautiful night for it, and considering it’s one of only two nights that the Swiss are legally able to set off their own fireworks (I think – second only to New Years), it was a pretty fun atmosphere.
We decided not to stay in for the fireworks, but instead drove back into Germany and found ourselves a patch of grass on a hill in Lörrach that overlooks Basel. What a great night!
Oh Dahlia…
This is the first summer we’ve spent here in Europe, and so far it’s been fantastic! We moved here just in time for winter last year, so are only just (finally!) starting to experience the outdoor culture that comes with Spring and Summer. At the moment there are ‘Stadtfests’ (town celebrations) happening in all the villages around this area, as well as ‘beach’ parties, outdoor movies, and even a big music festival here in Lörrach called Stimmen in a couple of weeks.
In an attempt to be outdoorsy today, Dave and I headed just across the boarder into Switzerland to get some flowers from a self-service flower field. I’d never seen anything like it before coming here, but think it’s a wonderful idea and should be adopted in Australia too. The field we went to had about 30 different varietites (the biggest I’ve seen so far), payable per flower. If you would like to see more photos, just head to my flickr page!