Crazy Basel

We've arrived in Basel.  As usual things are down to the wire.  Barely enough time to arrive and we're already on the go.  We arrived in Basel to our temporary accommodations and completed tons of paperwork.  Then we headed to Zürich.

We spent New Years in Zürich with Fred and Vivi.  We had a very nice time eating, catching-up and exploring the city together in the rain.  On New Year's Eve day we explored Zürich and went out for a delicious lunch.  We decided to pick-up some Champagne, wine, cheese and bread for dinner in the hotel room (while putting Alex to sleep) and then went to a hill-top spot (the University) to watch the fireworks at mid-night.  I was a bit stressed about bringing Alex out to a noisy party in the middle of the night and in the cold rain.  And as expected, he did wake up with a fire work burst but then his father held him and hushed him back to sleep.  We were able to watch the whole show and enjoy our Champagne midnight celebrations while Alex continued to sleep.  I guess this is what you do when you don't have baby sitting!!  On the 1st we took Fré and Vivi to the the biggest falls in Europe (volume).  Alex LOVED it!! Yes, he's a real water boy!! I think Fré and Vivi did too!  All in all, it was great to spend time with the two of them here on our side of the "pond".

We returned to Basel.  Since we've arrived it's rained every day at some point or another.  It's been pretty mild, and I don't really mind rain, so it hasn't stopped my explorations.  Today was the ultimate day for rain and stormy weather.

Our building has shutters and at 7am I thought it was a bit odd that I could hear non-stop shutter opening by neighbours. Usually I hear one then another open followed by the regular silence.  So after about 45 minutes later and with and E casually mentioning it was a windy day I connected the two.  Ahh... the penny finally dropped: the wind made the shutters shudder!

So Alex and I spent most of the day indoors while the weather was foul.  I decided to go for a walk with him at about 15:00 this afternoon when the weather seemed to clear.  There was a magnificent rainbow and some amazing and fast moving clouds in the opposite direction.

My pot of gold!

As I walked the weather was still moody and temperamental.  Umbrellas turning inside out everywhere made me give up on mine as I decided it was futile.  That and managing it and the stroller can be a challenge.  It was behaving like a sail more than an umbrella...

I found a nice bakery and got a 3 Kings cake for tomorrow (3 Kings day, or the Orthodox Christmas) aka Alexander's 1st birthday.  There were no cupcakes available and with meagre ingredients in our temporary home as of yet, no baking from Mom.  Anyway, I got the cake and when I came out of the bakery it was p-o-u-r-i-n-g.

I decided to return home.  It was about 16:20 and as I was arriving in our apartment complex.  Just then the sky darkened to night, thunder rumbled and lightning cracked... the wind picked up and the rain started to hurl.  Yes, HURL!!! It hurled everything it could at me and Alex.  Then it turned into HAIL!!  So here's me now holding my mushroom shaped umbrella trying to stay vertical when the stroller starts tipping over!! Yes, tipping over.  I put my body on the leeward side of the stroller to keep it standing while trying to keep upright myself.  I managed a peek at Alex to check if he was okay and he was still sleeping but now with a tightly scrunched-up face.  At this point I was stopped about 6 meters from our apartment entrance and someone yelled out from the daycare to offer shelter from the chaos.  A haven!!  But just at that moment the wind and hail subsided for a mere moment, so I ran to our door yelling out "Nein, DANKE!!!" As I found cover indoors.

Holy smokes.  That hasn't happened before!!

Tomorrow is Alexander's 1st birthday.  We will celebrate with 3 King's cake, put him in a crown and have him (try to) blow out a candle.  We are going to give him a set of building blocks - a lifetime of fun!  I'm hoping the cake won't be soggy, although it probably doesn't matters since Alex eats everything.  There is also a high likelihood he'll eat his blocks too.  Haha!!