2025 Switzerland/Germany: A Brief Bit Of Iceland

 Coming home, the most reasonable flight (per company policy) was transiting through Iceland, which was rather a shock to me.

Iceland Air's Saga class:

Icelandic beer brewed for Icelandair.  It was pretty good.

Lunch?  Dinner? Meal names lose meaning in time zones.

Ah, macaroons.  The cookie I never remember to ask for but love when I have them.

View of Iceland from the air.  I realized that it has been 7 years since we came here in 2018.

Literally had enough time to get off the plane, go through immigration, and transit to the boarding gate.  Which made me a bit sad; I would like to go back again.

2025 Switzerland/Germany: Wasser Und Wein

 Sign in the hotel in Germany by the bar:

2025 Switzerland/Germany: German Countryside

Being as we were in the next town over, we did have to make about a 6 km/4 mile drive to the site.

It has been years since I have been to this part of the world.  I forgot how breathtakingly beautiful it is.

2025 Switzerland/Germany: Hotel And Meals

 Eventually, of course, the visit to Switzerland ended - and we were off to Germany.

(I find clouds from airplanes endlessly fascinating.  I have no idea why.)

Welcome to Germany!  We are now about 1.5 hours south of Munich in Bavaria.

The hotel that folks usually stay in when visiting this plant was full, so we got a very nice one in the next town down.

Welcome chocolate bar!

My one and only "good" dinner on the trip.

Schnitzel and fried potatoes, maybe some of the best I have had.

This was chocolate torte, I believe.

And breakfast.  German breakfast bars are the best - and yes, pretzels for breakfast!

2025 Switzerland/Germany: Crossing The Rhine

 The Old City of Basel is on the Southern side of the Rhine.  There are several bridges that cross it, as we have seen previous pictures.

A Bridge has stood in this location on since A.D. 1206. Known as the Mittlere Brücke (Middle Bridge), was replaced in A.D. 1905 to allow the weight of trams.

A copy of the original shrine of Käppelijoch, where criminals were condemned to death:

Pretzel on the other side of the bridge.  It was delicious.

Ricola cough drops in Switzerland.  If you are old enough, you know.

A Vespa store.  This was the most European thing ever to me.

2025 Swizterland/Germany: The Spalentor Gate

 Like many Ancient and Medieval cities, Basel at one time was surrounded by a city wall - or rather a series of city walls.  There were a total of three walls built, one started in A.D. 1080, one starred in A.D. 1230, and one started in A.D. 1362 and finished in A.D. 1398.  The latter two were built to accommodate the growing city.

In A.D. 1859, the city fathers made the decision to pull down most of the walls.  Three gates and a short section of wall were kept; one of these was the Spalentor Gate.

Included as part of the Last and outer wall build, it stood from A.D. 1392 to the present.