Daley Ponderings

The morning got off to a slow start, but we did more packing and I believe Mom and Dad came to Richard's so we could all go together to the heart of Basel.  We were originally going to see some sights and then meet Janet and Stephan for lunch, but we ended up just getting there in time for lunch.  We ate at the Stöckli restaurant which is one of Janet's favorites.  A bunch of us ordered these potato things, which will have to wait to be named until a commenter-in-the-know can clue me in. (Röschti) Stephan ordered raclette and let me have some, which I enjoyed much.

Then Dad, Stephan, Kathy, and the Daleys headed for Münster cathedral while Mom and Janet did a bit of shopping.  We had wanted to climb the tower, but it was closed because of ice. So we wandered around the cathedral looking at carvings and tombs and paintings.  Jonathan thought the upper balcony place would be a perfect place for snipers.  We said that churches usually are peaceful places of sanctuary but he was resolute.

Outside the cathedral we looked at more tombs including a Bernoulli, and we saw the iron bars holding earthquake cracked walls together.  Jonathan and Noah tossed snowballs over the cliff and then we walked down the stairs to the bottom of said cliff.  We took the Rhine-powered ferry across the Rhine.  Noah was quite concerned when the ferry moved away from the dock.  I think he really hadn't expected to move, but just to sit in it and then get out again as in the transport museum.  It was pretty chilly and after we were across we stopped in a cafe for some hot chocolate. Noah enjoyed his so much that he had a chocolate goatee by the end of it.  I told him so, and he laughed and said, "No. Tea!" and pointed to Kathy's teacup. After that it was time for Janet to go do some official paperwork, so she and Stephan said goodbye to us and we took a tram back across the Rhine to the city center where we visited the Barefoot Church Museum.

There we learned about the Lällekönig, one of the Basel "mascots" which is a creature that greets you with rolled eyes and a sticking out tongue.  I finally discovered!  Jonathan is a Lällekönig. (:

We also saw gold reliquaries and some swords, pikes, cannons and armor. The museum employee was getting a bit annoyed with us, until we realized that it was only a couple of minutes until closing time and that was what he was concerned about.  Then we headed back to Richard's, tried to finish up the food we had brought to his kitchen, packed up, and took a bus and a tram to our second hosts, the Dutler family.

Sarah is a cheerful, generous, chattery hostess, ready to serve your every need.  Remo is gracious as well but much more quiet.  Their two children are LeiWei, a boy in high school, and MeiWei, a girl "eleven-teen" as her dad says.  We had three beds in the very upstairs, with a bathroom on our floor.  They just finished installing geothermal heating and it's really nice to have warm bathroom tiles to step on.

Since that day was Epiphany, Sarah treated us to the traditional Three Kings Cake, more like a sweet bread than a cake.  Jonathan's piece contained the little king figure so he got to wear the paper crown.