| Page Views: 413 Last Visit to Basel: June, 2008 | Cycling and recycling in Basel by Nemorino - last update: Mar 24, 2009 |
Before the old Basel Theater was torn down in 1975, parts of the old stage machinery were salvaged and given to the artist Jean Tinguely, who spent two years recycling this old machinery and making it into an elaborate and very entertaining fountain, the Fasnachtbrunnen or Carnival Fountain, on the site of the old theater and right in front of the new one.
The ten machine sculptures in this fountain are kinetic sculptures, meaning that they have moving parts. Amazingly, these are still in good working order after more than thirty years of operation, so somebody must be responsible for keeping them in good repair. (Thanks, whoever you are.) The machines also squirt water, by the way. |
| My rental bike across from the Tinguely Museum |
For those who want to see more of Tinguely's work, there is an entire museum devoted to his machine sculptures and other artistic creations. The museum is on the other side of the Rhine River, a ways upstream -- not centrally located, but easy to reach by bicycle.
On my most recent visit to Basel I rented a bicycle at the railroad station and spent the afternoon riding around the city and along both sides of the river. It was a beautiful summer day, and lots of other people were out cycling as well. |
There are bicycle routes along the Rhine River -- often on both sides -- for the entire distance of 1300 to 1400 kilometers from the source of the Rhine in the Swiss Alps all the way down to the place where it flows into the sea in the Netherlands, near Rotterdam.
Once when I was living in Bern (this was in 1962) I took a seven-week bicycle trip that went partly (but not entirely) along the Rhine, stopping among other places in Basel, Breisach, Kehl, Speyer, Oppenheim, Wiesbaden, Limburg, Siegen, Hagen, Lünen, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, den Haag, Chaam, Antwerpen, Brussels, Namur, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Basel again and then back to Bern.
I remember that on the return stretch from Strasbourg to Basel I had a strong tailwind, so I covered the distance in about half the time I had expected. |
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 Comments for Nemorino about Basel | | | | |
Redang Sun Nov 1, 2009 15:49 UTC
Another lovely city! | german_eagle Sat Oct 3, 2009 19:42 UTC
What can I say? Your pages are wonderful! I *love* what you write, shopping tip, the quote from the "Sabrina" film etc. Basel is one of my favourite cities and you portrayed it perfectly. | Trekki Thu Aug 20, 2009 06:51 UTC
Oh, thanks very much for mentioning my paper museum visits!! The carnival fountain is fascinating!! You inspired me to make a new Europe album about fountains :-)) Haha, funny shopping tip! And I'd love to cycle along Rhein river! | mircaskirca Fri May 15, 2009 09:30 UTC
I spent one Christmas in Basel visiting my friend. A lot of things were closed but Museum Tinguely not. Very much enjoyed it, as well the Carnival Fountain. I came across the exhibition of Niki de Saint Phalle a couple of years ago in Nice and loved it! |
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