Saturday me and Cindy finally saw each other again (first time after months – one could think we lived in different countries instead of just different cantons) when we did a trip to Gruy?res (known mainly for its cheese) to see the John Howie exhibtion at the castle there.

It was a beautiful day (if you didn’t mind the fact that it’s winter in October), and we discovered once more what a gorgeous country Switzerland is (although also pretty touristy) as we explored the castle and admired the snow-covered mountains surrounding it. Plus, Howe’s LOTR illustrations were awesome. I am such a Rings fanatic – can’t wait for Return of the King in December, so this was practically heaven for me! 🙂

The village and castle of Gruy?res:

Some of my favorite pictures:
It was such a pity that they didn’t sell any postcards, or even a calendar, only a book that was too expensive for me – so this had to do…

And now I have to go to work. Have a good Sunday!

Have started lying out what I need to take with me, just to see if it looks as if I could possibly fit it all.

Well – here’s what I have so far:
– three pants (two for cold, one for hot) – but I really want to take my new pretty summer pants, too. Will have to see if they’ll have room, though.
– about six t-shirts/tops
– two pretty tops for going out
– bikini, sun hat, sun glasses
– beach blanket (doubles as sarong)
– two pullovers
– a long-sleeved shirt
– two blouses
– a skirt
– scarf, gloves, hat
– towel
– socks
– panties
– undershirts
– two pantyhose
– lots and lots of toiletries/meds
– travel utilities (moneybelt, copies of passport etc.,…)
– adapters for mobile phone and digital camera
– some stuff for my research
– lots and lots of gifts

I think that’s most of what I need – we’ll see how (if!) this fits… But now I need to call my friend Märrie for her birthday.

Congrats, Süsse! Have the best day! Love you… *hugs*

Edited to add a picture of my junk… The white teddy bear is a gift, the purple one is mineminemine! 🙂

For those without ties to Switzerland – today is our national holiday, which means that we all started celebrating (loudly, with lots of crackers and fireworks) yesterday.

I was invited to that party, and since I had an appointment at my hairdresser’s anyway, I asked her to make me a cool ‘do. This, paired with a top I bought last year in Notting Hill and hadn’t had the chance to wear yet, made me feel absolutely wonderfully dressed up, without being overdresssed.

And yes, I had my mom take pics – who knows when I’ll look this good again… 🙂

But the best thing was definitely the back view! LOL

The party was pretty fun, several friends I hadn’t seen in a while and some new nice people, plus a good view of the fireworks over the Rhine. But I didn’t bring my camera, so no proof, I’m afraid. Also, the situation I’ve mentioned, and which had me dreading this thing a bit, was ugly, but not as bad as it could have been. And have I mentioned that I love Sibylle? She really is family to me.

I left soon after the fireworks, because this morning at 8am my presence was required at the reception of my old people’s home. I don’t know, but although I did get almost six hours of sleep, I felt like crap this morning. My eyes are still tired in fact, and I’m only grateful that, thanks to a genrous collegue, I don’t have to show up there tomorrow until noon. NOT looking forward to Sunday, when it’ll be 8am again, and that after a farewell going out with Sibylle and Regina… But I’ll live. Hopefully. 🙂

Impossible to share everything I have experienced and seen in those three days – it’s a whirlwind of impressions, music, people, sun, too many to count them or list them here.

There were so many different bands there – I think that’s what will stay with me the most. I got to hear music I’d never have been exposed to otherwise, since Sibylle and I managed to hear almost everyone who performed.

All acts:
Smartship Friday, Patrice*, Asian Dub Foundation*, Die Fantastischen Vier*, Open Season, The Skatalites*, Orishas*, Lovebugs*, Tricky, Saybia, Hell Is For Heroes*, Skin*, Starsailor*, Massive Attack*, Greis & Friends, Saïan Supa Crew*, Adrian Weyermann*, Moloko*, Farin Urlaub Racing Team*, Röyksopp*, Shirley Grimes*, Anouk*, Jimmy Cliff*, Alanis Morissette*, Stress & Band*, Danko Jones*, Absolute Beginner*, Earth, Wind & Fire, Elvis Spectacular*
(*heard)

For most acts we simply sat somewhere in the grass (whenever possible in the shade, because all three days the weather was amazing – and way too hot), relaxed and listened, but for some we went into the crowd and partied.

Those we saw in the crowd (pictures thanks to studiSurf.ch:

Lovebugs – the most famous band from Basel

Skin’s was by far our favorite performance – she totally blew us away! I loved how she wasn’t afraid at all of getting in touch with her fans, and she kept the right balance between joking with us (and flirting outrageously with us girls *g*) and making great music. Have decided to become a fan and get her album! 🙂

I’d been looking forward to Moloko’s performance – but after Skin we were just so exhausted that we left the crowd for a shady spot soon after they started their set.

I wasn’t so sure about Massive Attack at first (“TripHop – what the heck is TripHop?”), but it was a great latenight performance. If only my back hadn’t hurt so bad – but I did make it to the end!

Anouk was someone I’d been looking forward to hearing, because I had a feeling that I’d like it – and I sure did! Sibylle and I both rocked to her sound and I’ll definitely get her CD from the library to hear more.

Alanis’ performance was the last one of the festival and one of the highpoints. She doesn’t interact with the fans much, but her music is so great she doesn’t have to! I think every woman needs to own “Jagged Little Pill” for angry times – and listening to the crowd (including myself, of course) screaming and singing along, I think every woman does… 🙂

Not so great was the sheer mass of people – 45 000 meant that it was simply too crowded, specially when you were looking for a shady spot, and I was very disappointed when The Cardigans couldn’t come due to a car accident in Germany. But by far the worst was that the campsite was booked out, so that our tent was on the side of a hill, surrounded by teenies that were loud, obnoxious and generally made for two horrible nights.

After the first night we were glad to leave the festival grounds and go into Bern for some grocery shopping (we lived off bread and fruits, basically) and wonderful quiet time at the river Aare. But really, it was an amazing experience, and I can easily imagine going again – although then I might look into alternative sleeping arrangements… 🙂

So Cindy is gone now, much too soon — but hopefully we’ll manage to meet up again soon. Here some pics taken in the last few days, for you to enjoy:

Cindy in my room — my fouton couch turns in to a (very comfortable, I’ve been told) bed.

As always when I have visitors, it makes me appreciate the beauty of Basel so much more — it’s almost like seeing it for the first time, and it makes me realize again how much I love living here.

The town hall, build from the red sandstone that is found in a lot of old buildings here.

The “Mittlere Brücke” (Middle Bridge), connecting Grossbasel and Kleinbasel (Bigger and Lesser Basel). Sitting at the Rhine is one of my favorite pastimes in summer.

Basel has a very picturesque old town, like this cute stair up from the market square towards university.

A funny sign — the owner of this plant is on vacation and asks passer-bys to “please water the flower from time to time”…

The building of the Economics department of the university — isn’t that figure balancing up there cool? That’s probably what you end up wanting to do if you study Economics… *g*

This last picture was not taken in Basel but in the Zurich zoo, where we went for my brother’s 21st birthday yesterday. They have a brand-new rainforest building, which is gorgeous!

I apologize if the pics mess up the page layout — I will change it one of these days, but that’s a lot of work and will take time, since I’m such a html amateur… But they’re pretty anyway, aren’t they? 🙂