Hello everyone. I am doing a blog for my trip to Switzerland. On February 4th I am leaving from Newark NJ airport to Zurich on a direct flight which is about 9.5 hours long (including trip to the airport total travel time is about 12 hours). For my first day will start me off in Zurich, where I will meet a friend of mine and get a quick tour of the city, before my friends from my next destination meet me. From Zurich I go to stay for about 5 or 6 days with a family who I know very well. Most of my trip is happening because of connections I made being in drum corps and previous trips to Switzerland. I will be staying my first part of the trip in a village named Schafishiem, which is in the Canton of Argau. In this visit I have many great things planned with the family, including a visit to a local farm house style restaurant called the Rosti Farm. From this visit I will go to my favorite city in the entire world, Basel Stadt. Basel is a unique city in that it borders France and Germany. Both countries are easily accessable by tram. For part of the trip I will take part in a carnival called Fasnacht, which is a three day long festival that starts the Monday after Ash Wednesday The festival is the 2nd largest festival in the world, second only to the Carnival in Brazil. Hundreds of Thousands of people come to watch as music groups called Cliques and Gugge Bands march around for 3 days straight wearing themed costumes with elaboretely sculpted masks. I will be with two groups ,mainly, Marktplatz Cliuqe, and a drummers only clique, called d'Affe. For the carnival it starts at 4am in the morning. The city bells ring and every light i n the city goes out except for Clique Lanterns.
The cliques then play a tune called Morgestreich, and that is the start of the carnival. Basel is well known for their art and culture. There are dozens of museums and art galleries to explore while on the trip. I should also state that this is my third trip to Basel, and each time it gets better. I find something new and exciting about the place. I am telling you about all this, because in all my many times of traveling, I think it is important to know about the places you go to, especially when going to another country. I think you should know about the culture and traditions of any place you go to and learn as much as you can while there. On this trip, my longest trip to the city of Basel, I hope to really experience the food aspect of the city. The second part of the trip I will be working in one of the restaurants as a part of my schooling.
The cliques then play a tune called Morgestreich, and that is the start of the carnival. Basel is well known for their art and culture. There are dozens of museums and art galleries to explore while on the trip. I should also state that this is my third trip to Basel, and each time it gets better. I find something new and exciting about the place. I am telling you about all this, because in all my many times of traveling, I think it is important to know about the places you go to, especially when going to another country. I think you should know about the culture and traditions of any place you go to and learn as much as you can while there. On this trip, my longest trip to the city of Basel, I hope to really experience the food aspect of the city. The second part of the trip I will be working in one of the restaurants as a part of my schooling.
This is is my first long term destination! I will be staying with close friends from fife and drum corps! Marcel and Angela Giger and their family! It isn't too far from Basel! From what the Giger's have told my it is more of a village environment then a city, like Basel is a city. On Thursday I wil arrive after about an almost 8 hours direct flight to Zurich, where I will spend the day exploring Zurich! My next post will be from the airport in Newark (if they have wifi) if not you will see posts from Zurich!