Stop #2: Basel

On our way home from Colmar we made a stop in Basel, Switzerland. This was for the sake of visiting the final home of Karl Barth who is acknowledged as the most influential theologian of the 20th century. His home is now an archive for his life's work that has a resident archivist living there to oversee the preservation of the archives, proofread manuscripts and host visitors that pass by either to study or visit like we did.

We were able to see the first two floors of the home with rooms that have been left in their original state from the time Barth died in 1968. The kids were fascinated to see letters written to Barth that were censored by the Nazis during WWII that had sections either cut out or blackened.

Grand Father Clock about 200 years old (and still ticking!), garden flowers and the kids completing their final questions for a prize of a whole container of ice cream to themselves when we get home.

Living room

Heading to the upstairs study. Barth was a huge fan of Mozart.

Jonathan was drooling over Barth's collection of 10,000+ books!  

At Barth's desk with a familiar picture hanging above it...hmm, I do believe we saw that crucifixion scene in Colmar.

We learned much and were appreciative of the time Peter gave to us to share about the history, works and life of Barth and his influence particularly in Europe.

After our visit we walked 2 km completely downhill to the train station so we could visit Starbucks and grab some lunch. Jonathan said parking would be to difficult to find, thus the reason we walked. Thankfully it wasn't too hot because that trek back up the hill was a killer. We managed to pick up another city mug for our collection at Starbucks and then headed to McDonald's. Did I mention that Switzerland is expensive?! We ordered 2 value meals, 1 happy meal and 1 extra fry for a horrifying amount of $30! Craziness for sure! We did however happily pay for some boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Golden Grahams at the grocery store for the kids to bring back. 

Basel Train Station

After lunch we made a quick stop at the cemetery which was located near the border intersection of three countries: France, Switzerland and Germany. 

The cemetery grounds were massive so we got in another good walk 

Karl Barth's grave

And finally we began our drive home. We had paid for a return passage through the Mont Blanc tunnel on the Italian/French border but didn't realise until later that our alternate route home would have us paying for a different tunnel pass on the Swiss/Italian border. We decided to loop back around Lake Geneva towards Geneva to return through the Mont Blanc pass.  

We came to this decision in Gruyère (yes, where the cheese is made). At the rest stop the painted cows made us think of Young's Jersey Dairy in Ohio.

With several more hours added to our trip back due to traffic we realised that we probably should have just coughed up the extra money to get home sooner. Oh well, the scenery didn't disappoint so it wasn't a complete waste of our time.

Our time away was brief but it was another memory made as a family and we are thankful for the all the amazing places we are able to visit here in Europe.