April 24th

Pretty Spots Around Basel in April

These lovely fountains can be found all over Basel. Each one boasts a different character such as the mascot for the old Basel Weavers' Guild, the Gryphon, sometimes called the Basel-gryph.

We love the beautiful color combinations used on the older buildings around town. The Swiss take such care with how everything looks.

Even the Heil's Armee (Salvation Army) thrift shop has some lovely items. We found some beautiful pewter work as well as these lovely teapots.

Basel Antiquities Museum

Mr. Hinrichs and a very large late amphora. Notice the many colors used in the figures.

The Basel Antiquities Museum's displays are more beautiful than any that I saw in Greece. Of course, there are far more artifacts in Greece, but no where are they displayed as nicely as in Basel.

Deer-cup. If given as an anniversary gift, they are called dear-cups.

Ajax impaling himself on his sword after losing the argument with Odysseus over who would receive Achilles' armor. The great warrior was no match for the eloquent man of guiles in verbal debate.

Here you can see the Acanthus leaf pattern that is on Mr. and Mrs. Hinrichs new china.

These clay figures were placed at the end of row of tiles to keep birds from putting nests under the tiles.

These dishes are specially suited to their use.

Hercules and Hera

The expressiveness of this old man's face would almost suit it to a modern comic strip.

This charm bracelet shows how many elements of ancient life were very similar to our own. Make sure you try to identify each of the charms.

The art contained in each of these pieces has a simple, but very immediate appeal.

This display of ancient Greek and Roman armor was better than any I saw in Greece. Notice there is even armor for horses. Sorry about the glass reflections.

I could not even guess for whom these helmets were made.

Bronze pitchers.

Geometric period vase

Clay fruit and oil burners.

Cycladic period art (3200-2000 BC) - the earliest known period of Greek art. Inspired Pablo Picasso and other modern artists with the simplicity of its lines.

This large vessels were used to store grain. Their bottom third was buried in sand and if you look closely you can see the thread from the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Large vase from the geometric period.

Siren

Look at the beauty of this design! It has an elegant simplicity.

Scene from the Iliad?

Achilles and Ajax playing a board game.

Aeneas flees Troy with his father Anchises on his back.

Roman coffins

Philosopher- Socrates

Germanicus- Uncle of Livia, Nephew and Adopted son of Tiberius.

Nero

Europa and the Bull

Romance on the Rhine!

After a long walk on a sunny day, we enjoyed this view of the river. Note Mr. H's sprouting facial hair is rapidly progressing towards definition as a beard.

A less cultivated garden contains this wonderful wisteria, which seems to be the unofficial flower of Basel.

If anyone wants to know what Mr. H's dream car is, just look at this fabulous mini-track-dump. Ideal for tooling around town distinctively while paving new mini-roads.

We aren't sure what this street sign says, but it illustrates the amazing propensity of the German language towards incredibly long words.

Rowing is a big hobby on the Rhine. One can observe men such as this one rowing or punting up and down the river on any sunny day.

Lunch in France

Amazingly, France is about a five minute drive from our pastor's house. Here we are at a restaurant in France enjoying Easter lunch, courtesy of the Potters. Our waiter was a very friendly man, the food was wonderful, and the creme brulee was worth a much longer drive! Really!

Home in our Basel Apartment

Mrs. H's view of her husband for two to four hours a day during ETS classes.

Mrs. H's first attempt at using a floral "frog" for a centerpiece. She picked these flowers in an untended field in nearby Riehen. A sign at the field's exit merely asked those who picked flowers to leave money in a box on the way out. Honesty is considered a very important virtue among the Swiss.

Housesitting at our Pastor's Home

Tanuki the Siamese cat (now a Swiss citizen) is very technologically inclined, but she also likes to give "kitty hugs." Despite her intimidating stare, she is the most affectionate cat we have ever seen, honest!