Basel
 

Hi! I am doing a project for my French 1 class in which I am planning a ten day trip to Switzerland. One of my destinations is Basel, and I was wondering if anybody had some good suggestions on what all I should plan to do there that is inexpensive/free (I have a limited budget). I would really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thanks!

most people in Basel speak German, not French

Yes, I am aware, but the assignment was for countries that had French as one of its languages. I was given Switzerland. Our teacher did not want multiple students to have the same country.

great museums there.
http://www.museenbasel.ch/en/index.php

Basel is a fascinating city and I am sure you'll love it. I did :-)

Here is the link to my Virtualtourist.com page on Basel where you can find some info:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4166c/a919b/

All the churches are free to visit. Inexpensive is crossing the river on one of the funny little ferries.

Eating in restaurants is relatively expensive in Switzerland in general, so you should buy stuff in groceries like Coop, Migros etc. and have a picnic.

I.

For sure look up the Tinguely Museum-- lots of sculptures that whirl, groan, giggle and mutter. At this museum, you can make them move; in most other places you can only look at them. There are also amusing and colorful works by his long-time amour Nikki de Sainte Phalle.

Hi funkyeghead,

Great project; I think you'll have fun with it. You'll probably make the trip yourself in the future!

More info on the city is found on its web site,

www.basel.com

Look especially under "City Tours" and "Sight Seeing and Excursions."

Have fun!

s

Another Basel fan. One of my favorite cities.
By the way, is this a real trip or an imaginary one?
Even though people in Basel speak German, they often say merci instead of danke.


Anyway, what time of year is your proposed trip? If you can pick any time of year, then of course you must plan your itinerary so it includes the wonderful Fasnacht celebrations.
http://www.fasnachts-comite.ch/english.html
http://fasnacht.ch/?pm_1=21&mid=21
If you youtube "basel fasnacht" you will find several clips.

At any time of year, no trip to Basel is complete without a visit to the Schiesser chocolate shop on the Marktplatz:
http://www.confiserie-schiesser.ch/

Re the museums, in January, there is a special period where the museums are open very late, til midnight or so. There are bonfires and free concerts all over town on those nights. Really wonderful. Also in the winter, the Tinguely fountains look fascinating when they're iced over. (here's a video of them in action unfrozen:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgS1LOMaLCM

Walking the old town is a treat. Trivia: if you walk past some old homes converted into offices, you may notice round holes cut into the windows. Those are the vent holes for portable air conditioning units (portable air conditioners in Europe are VERY different from the portable AC units in the U.S.).

That's a good joke - going to Basel to practice French. Switzerland is basically a German-speaking country: 64% of the population speak German and only 20% French. Most Swiss are not bilingual, French-speaking and German-speaking Swiss often use English to communicate.

However, you may hop across the near border into France to speak some French. Colmar is worth a daytrip from Basel.

Definitely check out the information about Basel's big fasnacht celebration

There are other fasnacht traditions in the Basel area you might want to include in your report. See the description of the procession in Liestal
http://www.basel.ch/en/culture/fasnacht

Thank you all for such helpful responses! I know they will come in handy for this project. Unfortunately it is an imaginary trip, but I do plan to visit it in the future...even if I can't speak any German :) This project has been my first experience with these internet forums, and they seem really useful. I think that the goal of the assignment was to simply learn about another culture, whether it be French or not, and I feel like getting answers from real people is the best way to learn about it. So thanks again for all of your wisdom! And, for those of you who have more advice, it is a summer trip (my "flight" leaves from Dallas on the 19th of this month, and I return on the 28; sorry that I forgot to clarify that earlier.

<i>Most Swiss are not bilingual, French-speaking and German-speaking Swiss often use English to communicate</i>

Actually, most Swiss speak at least Swiss German and High German which are 2 pretty different languages IMO. Many Swiss also speak some Italian or French (or both) and many, many Swiss people speak English as well. I find the Swiss extremely multi-lingual (if that is a word!)

In Basel I really love the small Beyeler Foundation art museum - it's about a 20 minute tram ride outside the city in a beautiful setting.

www.beyeler.com/fondation

The Swiss and learning different languages. It's quite a political issue because each area has its own priorities.

Right now, my son is learning English in the 3rd grade. He'll learn French as of the 5th grade. It's all quite basic though and a lot of German-speaking Swiss forget their French as soon as they leave school.

Personally, I see learning English as a second language the best way for the Swiss to communicate to each other. However, there's a lot of national pride involved and English is not a Swiss language.

So back to politics and traditions.

funkeyegghead--the website with information about Fasnacht also has information about events in Basel during the springtime
http://www.basel.ch/en/events/highli...ear/springtime

and other good tourist information

Schwyzerd&uuml;tsch is not a language of its own but a German dialect (with the same grammar, same words - with a few exceptions -, but different pronounciation). A German understands spoken Schwyzerd&uuml;tsch (with some concentration), but for French- or Italian-speaking Swiss, it is a disaster. In school, they may learn to speak high German fairly well, but even when they are fluent in German, they understand nothing of Schwyzerd&uuml;tsch.

Speaking Schwyzerd&uuml;tsch has increasingly become common, even in &quot;official&quot; situations (e.g. on conferences, in TV etc.). Everybody speaks it, it is not a matter of class or education.

Schuler, I understand you are of American orign. How did you adapt to Schwyzerd&uuml;tsch?