Trivia
In getting to know my new surroundings, it helps to google, along with getting lost and falling into various pubs and cafes ...
Todd recently found a great article detailing all that's cool about Basel, and it excited me to share. Now I'll have more to look out for myself, plus, this makes me more knowledgable for when you come to visit:
- The great tennis star, Roger Federer, was born and raised here. Which explains why his picture is in every retail window and bus advertisement, like, everywhere.
- Compared to (the now over-populated) San Francisco, Basel's population is only 170,000 people ! This must be why it's so damn clean.
- One of the great charms of the city is its numerous public fountains, more than 170 of them.
- The Mittlere Rheinbrücke (Middle Rhine Bridge) was the city’s first one across the Rhine. (There are now six.) The original was built in 1225. The current one dates from 1905. It’s one of the few bridges in the world with a chapel at its center.
- Switzerland’s oldest university was founded in Basel in 1460. Luminaries like the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the Basel-born Swiss theologian Karl Barth taught there. Nietzsche lived in Basel from 1869 to 1879.
- Basel boasts Switzerland’s oldest and largest zoo, founded in 1874. Nels, Todd and I became members last week ...
- With more than two dozen museums, Basel is a cultural hot spot (hello, Art Basel). One of the best private collections of contemporary art in the world is on display in the Beyeler Foundation.
- When Andy Warhol attended the city’s famous Art Basel exhibition, his favorite hangout was Chez Donati, one of the city’s best-known restaurants.
- Three countries meet at Basel: Switzerland, Germany and France. Switzerland marks the exact meeting point with a missile-like object called “Dreilanderpfahl” (literally “three country post”). Walk around it and you set foot in three countries in 6 seconds.
- Beethoven’s flute is in Basel, one of 650 musical instruments spanning five centuries displayed in the Music Museum, part of the Basel History Museum.
- Three notable collections of timepieces, more than 600 sundials, mechanical clocks and watches are on display in the city’s Kirschgarten Museum. (Todd's favorite fact)