Basel is the best

The girls and I decided on Sunday afternoon that it might be fun to go out. E wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home with the littles reading books, drawing pictures, playing legos, and watching Curious George. The rest of us went to Basel where we saw the best market yet.

We started at the teddy bear and doll museum. It had thousands of bears from all over the world. Each one was numbered so you could check the catalog to see how old it was and where it came from. They were all displayed in very elaborate scenes such as a racetrack using child size antique toy cars (R noticed that one looked just like Gatsby's car!) and a hospital scene with antique hospital cribs, baby scales, and iv poles.  It was really incredible and imaginative. Most of the rest opf the museum was devoted to dolls. Really though it was dollhouses. Entire doll towns were shown. Bakeries, pharmacies, tailors, butchers, hospitals, post offices, circus tents, dress shops, they were all there surrounded by doll mansions and served by dozens of doll schools. One doll school had a chemistry classroom with tiny jars of labeled chemicals, test tubes, and beakers. There was a room devoted to kitchens - all supplied to professional standards. Some even had little copper pan sets. We were also impressed by some huge working amusement park toys with lights and music. They must have been about eighty years old? The roller coaster looked about the size of a large desk. No pictures allowed at the museum.

After that we went over to the Christmas market. First stop: candle making. That seems to be a tradition here, so the girls each made a beautiful beeswax candle. They had to wait a minute or two for the candle to cool between each dip, so it took quite a while. They sped the process a little by leaning out the hut window and dangling their candles in the cold air. They passed the time by making friends with a girl who makes candles there every year. She was making a huge candle - she had spent a few hours of each of the past three days dipping.

By the time they were finished it was dark. We quickly went through the Barfusserplatz section of the market (where we found a perfect gift for L) and went up to Munsterplatz. That's where the market was best. It was beautifully decorated, the church gave great atmosphere, it was less crowded, and there was a sort of activity area. The area had a candle dipping tent for little kids complete with smocks, a working blacksmith, a miniature train, and - the girls' favorite - a fire pit where you could cook your own bread. A stand nearby sold dough which they wrapped around the end of a huge stick and cooked over the fire. Sadly, the stand only had bacon (ham, really) flavor dough left, so R cooked but didn't eat. There was also another hut with a wood stove where people could relax and warm up with their mulled wine.

The decorations were very pretty. There big snowflakes, or stars, or whatever were hanging everywhere. And there was a huge tree in front of the church. 

The tree with the church in the background and with the market in the background

Blurry, but the best picture I could get showing how pretty the market was.

There were little Christmas trees lining the streets.

On our way home we got to see the museum all lit up!

Since I have shown decorations in the Zurich and Bern hbfs, here is the Basel station.

3 SHOCKERS: guess how much a candy cane cost at the market? 2.50 each (1). But S wanted one very very badly. I think she is missing some of the familiar Christmas things. So I bought her one. (2) She unwrapped it immediately - and it was strawberry flavor! (3) Poor S was pretty disappointed, so I am now on the lookout for the real thing.