Oh my goodness, was Switzerland good for the soul. I spent much of my time in Basel healing. I knew going into it, that my time would be spent resting, relaxing, and getting back to me. My friends welcomed me with open arms, an air mattress, and all the laughter and warmth I needed. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. I spent my first few days in Switzerland sleeping, lounging, and sheltering in. I barely saw the sunlight. It didn’t help that it was cold and rainy. I just didn’t want/wasn’t ready to move. My friends were gracious & understanding, and just let me be. I promised them (and myself) that come Monday, I’d be ready to go out and explore. When the weekend ended and Monday arrived, I was ready.

First things first though, I had to get my missing bag! Ah yes, remember how my luggage was lost by dumb RyanAir? Well, they refused to deliver it my address in Switzerland, so we took the tram to the Basel airport to retrieve it ourselves. We first called to confirm it was there and cheers were had when we got confirmation. Let the journey begin! We hopped on the tram line and made our way to the airports lost and found. When we arrived, they led me into a room and I gave them my name and baggage number. They quickly looked and declared that the bag wasn’t there while gesturing towards the exit. I had had enough by that point and firmly explained that we had called earlier in the day and received confirmation that the bag was there and to please look again. With a sigh, she looked again and stated it wasn’t there. I showed her a picture of the bag on my phone. She asked to take the phone with her while she went back and looked. A few moments later she returned with a smile… and my bag!!! Reunited and it feels so good!!

My friend took me for a walk-about to help me get the lay of the land. After all, I would be living here for the next few weeks so I needed to get my bearings. Spoiler alert: by the time I left Basel, I was able to navigate without the use of a GPS! Proud moment! My first day exploring on my own, I visited the Cartoon museum. While I wasn’t familiar with the artists represented, I still enjoyed and appreciated the art. Afterwards, I purchased a bretzel butter (pretzel with butter) and sat by the Rhine River. *Record scratch* Did I just say a pretzel with butter? Yes! Try it! It’s incredible. Most of my days were spent this way. Sleeping in, wandering about, sitting at the river with a pretzel. It was everything.

I did venture out, into the world, on two solo excursions. The first was a bucket list place of mine: Strasbourg, France. The second were places I had visited once before but hadn’t had the opportunity to properly explore: Lauterbrunnen and Spiez, Switzerland.

Strasbourg

I took the train by myself to Strasbourg for the day. Snicks, let me tell you, Strasbourg is like a fairytale land. It literally looks like the places you hear about in storybooks of far off lands with king and queens, and beasts, and ogres. I wandered down colorful streets and cobblestone paths, breathing in the floral scents and fresh baked bread. I don’t understand French, but I feel like I understand France. The wine with lunch, the relaxing nature, the bread and butter, by god, the butter! I get it.

As I made my way toward the Strasbourg Cathedral, I spotted one of those white touristy mini trains. I inquired about it and discovered that it would take me all over the city and included an audio guide. Yes! Your girl loves a guided tour!

I struck up a conversation with a woman seated beside me and was excited to learn that she was traveling solo throughout Europe for a month. Awesome! Loves to see it. She suggested I climb to the top of the Cathedral’s tower to check out the amazing views of the city. I agreed and vowed to do it upon the tours finish. Things took a turn here, dear reader. Now, in the past, I have visited numerous towers and climbed countless stairs and aside from being sweaty and out of breath when I reached the top, I have been successful at it. Something changed for me in 2018 though. I tried to climb a tower in Vienna and about 3/4 of the way up, got too scared and couldn’t finish. Two summers ago, I had successfully descended and ascended from the catacombs in Paris so thought I had overcome this fear. When I purchased my pass, I asked how many steps there were to get to the top. I was aghast to learn that there were over 300! Still determined, I started to climb the stone, spiral staircase. Internally, I counted the number of stairs as I took each step. I was nearly a third of the way there when all of a sudden I froze. I felt the world closing in on me and I burst into tears. I was frozen in indecision. I had over 200 steps ahead of me and about 70 back down the one-way staircase. The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed to get out, and quickly or I was worried I would pass out and topple down the height of the stairs. I started to run down the stairs, seconds away from screaming, “Don’t come up! I’m coming down!” I made it safely to the base of the staircase and emerged petrified and shaken. “Non, merci,” I stammered to the baffled staff as I walked out.

Needing a pick me up, I decided to stop for a bite to eat and was sure to get a glass of local wine too. Since I had pretty much only been eating carbs, I wanted to be somewhat healthy and order a salad. I scanned the menu and spotted a salad where I knew basically all the words listed in French. There was one mystery word but I thought, “how bad could it be?” When my plate came out, I just stared at it for a minute. My thoughts immediately went to that iconic 90210 moment where Donna and Brenda order brains in Paris. Confident is wasn’t brains, but not entirely sure what it actually was, I took a deep breath and took a bite. When in Rome, erm, France! As I cautiously bit into the mystery meat, I was confused to discover it was a hotdog. Hotdog salad. So weird. So much for my healthy salad.

Lauterbrunnen and Spiez

My second solo excursion from Switzerland was to Lauterbrunnen. I had researched easy hikes in the Alps and landed on one in Lauterbrunnen. I wanted to be sure that there were little to no (with the emphasis on no) hills, so this trail was perfect. I couldn’t believe my luck with the weather. It had been rainy, cold, and gray in Basel so when my train got closer and the Alps came into view, it was blue skies, sunny, and warm. I was ecstatic! When I disembarked the train, I was a little discombobulated and unsure of where to pick up the trail. I had a picture of a map and my gps but both were a little glitchy, both probably due to user error too. I got a little turned around in the beginning and ventured down the wrong path, but once I picked up the trail, I was in heaven.

With the peaks of the Swiss Alps as my North Star, I happily followed the path. Throughout the trek, every time I looked up and glimpsed the majestic sight ahead of me, I teared up, overcome with emotion. I laughed and cried. As I paused to take it all in, I knew that in that moment, there had been no mistakes in my life. Every choice I made, every step I took, led me to this very moment. The sheer importance of the trip hit me. I did this. I hoped. I dreamed. I planned. I cried. I thought about quitting. I overcame. I lasted. I survived. It all led to that moment. It was incredible.

I made it to the trails end where I would catch a bus back into the town. I couldn’t believe my surprise when the bus stop was the exact place I had visited two years prior when I did the James Bond experience. Too funny. Before catching the train to my next stop, I grabbed a bite to eat at Base Cafe, a picturesque place with incredible views of the Alps.

With a full belly, I was off to the town of Spiez. I had visited once before but didn’t get to really explore the nooks and crannies. I remember thinking that this was one of the most beautiful places I’d ever visited before, and ya know what, I was right. It’s freaking beautiful. I sipped a gin spritz as I viewed the sweeping vistas of Lake Thun and the Alps. I thought to myself, “Today was perfect. I’m so proud of me and the woman I’ve become.”

One of my favorite Swiss moments came during the week of Eurovision. For my readers in the States, who think Eurovision is just a Will Ferrell movie, you could not be more wrong. Eurovision is like American Idol-International Version but on steroids. Split over two nights, 36 countries compete to make it to the Semifinals. Each country has one song and one chance to perform it before a vote. At the end of Night 1, the 10 countries (out of 15) with the most votes, go on to the Grand Final. The same thing happens on Night 2. On Night 3, we have the Grand Final. Each contestant, plus representatives from the Big Five (The five countries that donate the most $$$$$$ to the competition: France, Germany, UK, Spain, and Italy) and the winner from the previous year (Ukraine) compete one final time. This year, viewers from outside of Europe were allowed to vote. There is the popular vote (the peoples vote) and the equivalent of the electoral college (jury vote.) The people overwhelmingly voted for Käärija from Finland with “Cha cha cha” (my vote) but most of the jury vote went to Loreen from Sweden with “Tattoo.” While it was a catchy song and Loreen is a staple in Eurovision for having won before, it did seem interesting that Sweden got the win, setting them up to host on the 50th anniversary of Eurovision’s greatest talent, ABBA, winning the prize. Hmmm. Y’all, I’m telling you, Eurovision was so much fun. The costumes, the songs, the performers. OMG, it was great. Watching it with others and creating our own top 10 lists made it even better. I highly recommend watching it next year. Heck, even watch this years! It’s on Peacock!

Tips, Links, and Locations

Cartoonmuseum Basel Cartoon Museum St Alban-Vorstadt 28, 4052 Basel, Switzerland

Pretzel with butter Brezelkönig Tally Weijl Marktpl. 5 4001 Basel, Switzerland

Climb to the top Strasbourg Cathedral Pl. de le Cathédral, 67000 Strasbourg, France

Hotdog Salad Restaurant La Taverne Du Quai 5 Quai de la Bruche 67000 Strasbourg, France

Easy hike in the Alps Trail start: Pfrundmatte 419, 3822 Lauterbrunnen

Food with a view Base Cafe Fuhren 460B, 3822, Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland