3 Countries in 1 Day

The last leg of our journey had us leaving the beautiful little village of Gimmelwald. We made our way to the valley floor and the tourism hub Lauterbrunnen. A cable car, then a tram, then a cable car and we were there!

We decided to do a little walk through town to visit Staubach falls.

You can see the waterfall from anywhere in Lauterbrunnen, but you can get pretty close to them if you're willing to do some walking (and waiting) uphill. Our legs were sore, but it was just the downhill muscles, so we were ready to head up! Back down was...uncomfortable.

The path leads through a sort of tunnel right near the waterfall, but not quite behind it. But there is a little bit of dripping so it's almost like hiking behind a waterfall.

We enjoyed listening to the Sunday service church bells ringing!

I've never seen a sun dial quite like this one:

Before leaving, we decided to get lunch and try a few traditional Swiss dishes. We were told we had to try raclette. It is an amazing dish, consisting of a puddle of melted cheese, served with pickles and potatoes. Absolutely delicious, would recommend.

We also tried a "shepherds mac n' cheese." So much cheese, with pasta and potatoes, and topped with apple sauce. It might be the perfect food.

After lunch we caught an afternoon train and said good-bye to Lauterbrunnen. A little nod to Bern as we passed through:

And we made our way back to Basel! This Swiss city sits right on the border with both Germany and France. It's not the cutest or most sophisticated city in Switzerland, but I think it would probably be an excellent place to live. The public transit is better than anywhere I have ever been. Period. And the main train station is really beautiful as well! Getting to our hotel was easy as pie, and set out to explore the city. Our first stop was the excellent Tinguely Fountain aka the "kinetic fountain."

We walked by and saw the beautiful red sandstone munster. Arriving on a Sunday evening means that basically all the sites and museums were already closed, but we could still see the exterior and the cloister.

I absolutely adore the multicolor tile roof thing in this part of the world. We need to stop treating our shingles as a purely practical afterthought. We could make beautiful mosaics on our roof instead!

We did a little walk along the Rhine river. It looks like people swim in the Rhine in Basel like people do the Aare in Bern, but the river is much larger and deeper with significant boat traffic, so swimmers have to stay away from the shipping lanes. We did not opt to jump in ourselves, but it was a nice walk.

Basel had a few beautiful fountains, similar to Bern's,

The city hall in Basel is an absolutely amazing building. We just visited the courtyard, and it was gorgeous. It's so colorful, unique from any other civic building I've ever seen.

There are murals all over the walls. I have no idea which histories and myths these are based on, but this horse riding fella sure looks like Prince Adam of Eternia:

Being able to interpret this motto on the wall made me feel smart:

"work is more than silver and gold."

With a little peek at Basel, we went back to our hotel to re-pack and rest up for the final day of our vacation. The day when we'd step food in 3 countries in 1 day. We tried to get an early start, but it was kind of wasted. The rainy weather delayed some trains, we ended up getting stranded in the little town of St. Louis for a couple hours, but at least we'd made it to France!

We did eventually make it to Colmar, our primary destination of the day. This part of France/Switzerland/Germany is the Alsace region. It is known for it's cute towns, vineyards, and rolling hills. Colmar is one of the most popular spots in the whole region.

When we arrived it was still a bit rainy, so we stepped into the Unterlinder Museum. This monastery turned art museum was an excellent place to keep dry. The highlight for me was an altarpiece that was created for this monastery. Completed in 1516, the altarpiece is both carved statuettes and painted panels. It is surreal and strange and beautiful. 

The monks there treated patients suffering from St. Anthony's Fire (a fungal infection contracted from contaminated grain). The altarpiece features the disease prominently, including Christ on the cross looking to be suffering from the St. Anthony's Fire. Imagine how it might feel to be one of those in the monastery hospital, seeing those paintings, followed by a depiction of a resurrected and fully healed Jesus?

My favorite was actually all the demons and hellish creatures. They look straight out of Jim Henson's workshop. I wouldn't be surprised to find out this was part of the design inspiration for the movie Labyrinth.

There is more at the Unterlinder than just amazing medieval and renaissance art. There are metal work, ceramics, and old wine presses.

They had a whole collection of Bronze age and Roman artifacts.

Plus they had some more modern masterpieces. I found a Monet and two Picassos. 

This painting was actually one of my favorites that we found at the Unterlinder: The Chariot of Death by Theophile Schuler.

While I really liked the museum, the real reason people come to Colmar is because it's just so darn cute. We were there on a sunny Monday afternoon, and it was wall to wall tourists come to see all the cuteness.

Seeing all this might make you think of a a little town, a quiet village, where everyday is like the one before; little town, full of little people...that is not a coincidence! The design for Disney's Beauty in the Beast is based on Alsace towns, Colmar in particular.

For those of culture and taste, Howl's Moving Castle also drew some design inspiration from Colmar and the Alsace region.

The little canal has been nicknamed "Le Petit Venice." Very petite indeed, but beautiful.

We just spent the afternoon wandering the streets, enjoying the all the colorful half timbered houses. Fun Colmar fact: The guy who designed the Statue of Liberty is from Colmar!

The cathedral in Colmar is--forgive me--not exciting. I love cathedrals, this one is just fine.

My favorite part was actually the clock. I know that clocks are a traditional memento mori, but I've never seen one just straight up labeled as one.

Again, the interior isn't super exciting. There was one nice mural though!

We took the train back to Basel for dinner time and then took one final walk along the Rhine.

We were walking along a bit of an industrial area that I didn't think would end up being very picturesque, but never doubt the power of golden hour! Add in a gliding swan, and you've got something special.

We made it to our final destination: The border triangle! Right in the middle of the Rhine where three borders meet, you can walk a little circle to be in Germany, France, and Switzerland.

And there's the bridge! On your left, France; on your right, Germany.

And that's it! We packed up and got ourselves onto our early morning flight thanks to Basel's most excellent airport express bus. I can't wait to go back to Switzerland someday, and I think I'll be dreaming of the chocolate until I do.