Two Last Markets, and One More Dinner

After the nose and throat swab, we chilled back at the apartment for a brief time before heading to the other Christmas market in Basel, the Munsterplatz, at the square by the Minster.  

Thought for the day -- why isn't it called the Minsterplatz?  Or the MunsterMinsterplatz?

I'm back with you.  

A difference between the French and the Swiss is that when we had to show our vaccine passport to get into the markets in Strasbourg, everyone was masked.  In Basel, even the security guy checking our vaccine passport wasn't masked.  Neither were many of the people in the market.

Anyhow, it was a nice market, but, like the other one, not very large, especially compared to Strasbourg, or to Vienna and Munich (is hearkening back to 2019 telling "tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago?").

It's hard to see, but they're sending

mixed messages here.  The people

on the top two levels are

representative of the birth of

Jesus, and the big glowing sign

on the bottom level advertises

"Gluhwein."

So after we buzzed through that market, we decided to go back to Barfusserplatz, especially since it was between us and our dinner reservations.  We each bought something at the different markets.  I bought a gnome that I liked, and wondered aloud if you are in habit of naming your gnomes, is that gnomenclature?  I liked it enough that I tweeted it, but didn't get much reaction on Twitter.  Sigh.

Not exactly Abe Froman, but

it is the sausage king of Basel.

After that, we headed to the restaurant for dinner, but we had plenty of time to kill.  So we popped into Mr. Pickwick's, a random British-styled pub on Steinervorstadt near the Barfusserplatz.  We enjoyed talking to our Glaswegian publican, especially when he trashed Swiss beers in that typically British direct style of sarcasm.

With dinner at 7:30, we left the pub in time to get on time, as the walk was uphill.  The restaurant served the best food of the trip, and had the most expensive cheque as well!  Named "Oliv," it is an Asian-Mediterranean menu and quite tasty.  It is another Michelin Guide restaurant, so we finished the trip with two straight Michelin-rated (not starred!) restaurants.  

After that, it was back to the apartment to get ready for the trip back to the US of A.