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the shabby part of Basel
Wednesday, November 5 2025
location: Room 14 (a penthouse room), Hotel Krafft, Basel, Switzerland
What with all our traveling and me fretting somewhat about the loss of a terrible job that had me getting up at 6:00am every morning, I realized this morning when talking with Gretchen that I hadn't thought about the horrors of the Trump administration in days. But then we remembered that there had been an election yesterday (one we hadn't even bothered to vote in, as there had been nothing at stake that we could affect). How had that turned out. We went to look at the news sites and it was uniformly good news, at least if you're the sort of person who isn't hoping to replace American democracy with a kleptocratic oligarchy administered by ignorant Youtubers and fascist shitposters. The socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani had won the mayoral race in New York City and non-horrifying Democrats had won the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, defeating wild-eyed trans-obsessed crazies. Such victories occurred up and down ballots all over the country, suggesting Trump's imperial ambitions are not resonating with the sort of people motivated to cast votes. It's looking increasingly like the only option to preserve the oligarchic dystopia will be to interfere with elections, which will almost certainly happen. But if you're on the wrong side of a wave election, that's a pretty hard thing to contain without resorting to truly horrifying methods.
This morning Gretchen and I left our hotel and walked a little ways southeastward up the Rhine to a ferry we'd seen yesterday and boarded it just before it began its crossing. We'd thought maybe the ferry was free but it cost two Swiss francs each, payable by credit card. The ferry itself was a weathered wooden boat connected to a cable spanning the river, and the crossing only took about a minute. There were maybe five or six other travelers on the ferry with us.
On the other side of the Rhine was the Basel Münster Cathedral and, adjacent to it, a temporary fairgound featuring a large ferris wheel and other rides (we'd walked past it yesterday when strolling around between things). It took some step-climbing to get up from the level of the river to the cathedral, though I was feeling somewhat superhuman after drinking some Nespresso and leaving my heavy backpack at the from desk of Hotel Krafft. As for breakfast food, someone at Hotel Kraft had fetched us very nice rolls from the kitchen. Some of the more accessible parts of the cathedral were semi-outdoor courtyards which featured unusually macabre displays of death symbols in bronze. Inside the cathedral proper, we were struck by the diversity of wooden chairs, though eventually we figured out that it was a random mix of a small number of styles.
Then we walked over to the Rathaus (the town hall), which we'd seen at night last night. In the daytime, there is a large open-air farmers' market in front of it, though we didn't have much need for the expensive raw farm goods for sale there.
Later we crossed the Rhine and walked to a vegan fast-casual doner place called Vegitat. Our route took us past a fairground ride that towered over the city and made people scream by plunging them vertically for a few seconds of terror (we'd watched it after dark when it was all lit up last night from the bridge near our hotel). Nearer to Vegitat, we passed through a mildy shabby neighborhood. I wouldn't've even noticed it was shabby had we not strolled past three chubby young women in tight outfits standing around with nothing to do and (unusually, now that I am a grey-haired 57 year old) giving me lingering eye contact. Gretchen and I looked at each other and it was clear we were thinking the same thing.
Closer to the doner place, a crazy grey-haired lady came up to us and starting nattering something at me in German. She even reached out and touched my arm as she did so, but I just ignored her and kept walking and she returned to her spot on the sidewalk. She would later hassle to people dining outside the doner place, but that was as we were having our wraps customized. As for the doner itself, it wasn't as good as it had been that first day in Berlin, but it was pretty good, and it was plenty of food for not too much money (at least by the standards of Switzerland).
After retrieving our backpacks from the hotel, we walked north along the west bank of the Rhine to just short of where our vegan boat was parked and then waited for our friends Kelly and Brian to meet us. Then we boarded the boat and did all the usual first-day-on-the-boat activities. Gretchen had booked us an unusual cabin on the boat. It was cabin #102, accessible from the bottom floor. But unlike nearly all the other cabins on that floor, it featured two levels and a huge window. The upper level featured a small table and two chairs and the window could be opened and closed at the push of a button. One could also control the curtains and even the height of the television by such controls. It looked like I would be doing most of my computer work at that little table on the upper platform.
After an introductory set glass of champagne (of which I ended up drinking three, since Gretchen and some guy from Singapore didn't want theirs), there was the usual safety briefing provided by our captain, who had a good sense of humor. Then Kelly, Brian, Gretchen, and I all sat together for the boat's first dinner.
Usually on these cruises, there is something amiss at the start that needs to be corrected, and the thing this time had to do with water. Our server didn't give us water and instead tried to make us pay for bottled water. When we said we were fine with tap water, she said, "Why don't you want bottled water?" like she was poor-shaming us or something. She then said we cold have tap water, but we'd have to fetch it ourselves, which was very outside normal cruise dining protocol. But if that was the way it was going to be, so be it. Most of the other tables looked to have been shamed into buying bottled water, but there was at least one other table that clearly was doing what we were doing, and there was talk of mutiny if the water policy was to remain this way. [Ultimately the resistance one, and by the next day the policy had gone back to the old one and almost nobody was ordering bottled water.]
As for the food, I ordered the eggplant parmesan with the hopes that it would be battered and fried and maybe served with pasta. When it wasn't either of those things, I didn't have high expectations, but it was surprisingly good.
A view from the ferry this morning. Click to enlarge.
Another view from the ferry. You can see the ferris wheel near the cathedral. Click to enlarge.
This appears to be a recent stonework renovation. Click to enlarge.
This roof of the Basel Münster Cathedral. Click to enlarge.
This towers of the Basel Münster Cathedral. Click to enlarge.
This variety of chairs in the Basel Münster Cathedral. Click to enlarge.
Inside the Basel Münster Cathedral. Click to enlarge.
Outside the Rathaus. Click to enlarge.
Inside the Rathaus. Click to enlarge.
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