basel was the first stop of this rather architectural winter trip because i was traveling with two guys who were (are!) like breathing architecture in and out their lungs. not that i'm complaining, not at all, although mostly my collection of photos are of materials and zoomed pictures of details and joints, and things like that. and i am never good at taking photos like architects usually do, of geometrical things, etc.
so basel is the home of one of the most celebrated swiss architects, herzog and de meuron. and we got to see and visited some of their buildings, the museum der kulturen (first picture), the messe basel (fifth picture), and the st. jacob-park, home to fc basel (last and second last pictures). the first one reminds me much of the caixaforum in madrid, tho i still think the one in madrid is more impressive. didn't really like the second one material wise, never been a fan of metal facade. the last one was quite fun with the materials and color scheme but too bad we couldn't enter inside to feel more of the space.
when we arrived it was coincidentally the museum night, so we got to go around the city to visit exhibitions with the shuttle bus provided, also visited some of mario botta's and renzo piano's, the two that i can remember. it was an exhausting night but fun because first, seeing rothko and mondrian in person was always a calming joy. second, we got to be in 3 different countries in the same day, switzerland, france, and germany, cause basel is practically in the border of these three and we took the wrong bus route in the middle of the night going to the exhibition in germany which we actually planned to take the next day.
as a city, basel was very much enjoyable. i like the human scale of the neighborhood, the pretty shopfronts, and of course the free daily transportation ticket that was provided by the place you stay! one night we went out randomly to a small local bar, and it surprised me seeing how the crowd was mixed between the young people and the much older ones. it might not always be something enjoyable for young people but to me that night it was a pleasant ambiance seeing how generations mixed and laughed together, some soothing feeling that i don't usually get out of such circumstances.
