Tue, 29 May 2012
| Index | Last | Var.(%) |
|---|---|---|
| BEL 20 | 2117.66 | -0.08 |
| DAX | 6323.19 | -0.26 |
| IBEX 30 | 6401.2 | -2.17 |
| CAC 40 | 3042.97 | -0.16 |
| FTSE 100 | 5356.34 | 0.09 |
| AEX | 292.76 | 0.00 |
| DJIA | 12454.83 | -0.60 |
| Nasdaq | 2837.53 | -0.07 |
| FTSE MIB | 13057.26 | -0.74 |
| TSX Composite | 11566.15 | -0.09 |
| ASX | 4148.5 | 0.69 |
| Hang seng | 18836.89 | 0.19 |
| Straits Times | 2792.92 | 0.20 |
| ISEQ 20 | 501.76 | 0.16 |
Text size
InterRail ticket in hand, editor Paul Morris decided to visit all six Expatica countries in the summer of '08.I could have been lying spread-eagled on a golden beach, inhaling pina coladas through twisty straws and watching the sun go down over some exotically entitled bay. Instead (I am sure I was dropped on my head as a child, perhaps more than once) I elected to take to the rails for (on and off) four weeks and have a peep at all six countries in which expatica has sites: Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Spain.
My first stop was the Swiss town of Basel (Bâle in French, Basilea in Italian and in Romansh). So good they named it thrice...
First impressions bode well: at the reception I was a handed a free transport ticket for the duration of my stay and the town has excellent tram and bus links.
I headed directly for the river - the temperature was in the high 30s - and found that Basel folks make great use of the Rhine ((Rhein, Rhin, Reno, Rain). Paddling my feet, I could see that it was amazingly clean, probably because Europe's longest river starts close to here, in the Swiss Alps. Locals take to the waters...
morning...
I think he was saying to her, "Did you know that the Rhine discharges on average more than 2,000 cubic meters per second? Not many people know that..."
In fact every night young people cling to these banks, knocking back strong liquor till the wee small hours. I wondered how many revellers were lost to these night-time waters every year, some lucky survivors no doubt showing up, dazed and confused, in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta in the Netherlands over 1,000 kms away.
Skullduggery
This skull car was my favourite among many hilarious sculptures, including one you can climb into and be part of the moving structure..
But some of his works have to be witnessed on video so I used my Nikon Coolpix as a movie camera to capture (despite the low quality of the image) the man's whacky essence. 
There's a lot more obviously to Basel but I'll leave you with an image from a pasta restaurant's gents toilet. Clearly the Euro 2008 tournament is not yet a distant memory.
Next Off The rails: suckling pigs in Germany...
For more information on InterRail passes click here.
text and photos copyright Paul Morris 2008
A guide to telephone, internet and television along with utility services water, electricity and gas in the Netherlands.
Lost in the Dutch immigration system? Look no further than this guide compiled for our Survival Guide 2012.
Expatica offers a whistle-stop tour of life in the modern Netherlands.
The challenges and benefits of the maternity system in the Netherlands and how it differs to other countries.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Google+
0
