SWITZERLAND – MITTELLAND (Zurich, Basel)

SWITZERLAND

Money: 1US$ = .8CHF, 1Eur = .93CHF, 1 CA$ = .57CHF

The Swiss Museum Pass
https://www.museumspass.ch/en/swiss-museum-pass/ (needs to go to a Swiss Address), so buy at the post office. It is also possible to purchase the Swiss Museum Pass at many partner museums and at the Swiss Post counter.
Free access to over 500 museums throughout Switzerland for one month to one year. The pass is valid for one person from a freely selectable start date.
Buy a museum pass
Swiss Travel Pass. Unlimited travel by train, bus and boat in Switzerland for 3, 4, 6, 8 or 15 consecutive days. Free museum admission and discounted mountain railway tickets. US$997 for 15 days.
WISE APP – radar

Experiences
Experience Almabtrieb, A traditional annual cattle drive in the Alps where farmers guide their herds down from high mountain pastures to valley stables before winter.
Play/hear alphorn
Swiss folk music performance outdoors
Wear Tracht/Dirndl. Lederhosen for men, Dirndl for women. 

Tue Sept 1
Home > Walk 50 minutes (with luggage) to Island Link @08:20 > Nanaimo BC Ferries Departure Bay > Horseshoe Bay > Bus 257 Express > Canada Line > YVR. Cost about $7 for the 257 bus and the Canada Line (ferries are free Mon – Thur if over 65 in BC).
That was the plan. The ferry was cancelled (mechanical reasons); the next ferry wasn’t until 13:30, and I would have missed my flight. Taxi ($21) to Hullo Ferry (all economy seats ($49) were sold out, and premium seats ($76) were still available). About 15 minutes drive south through downtown Nanaimo, it is a fast, passenger-only ferry that goes directly to downtown Vancouver and the Canada Line to the airport. As the flight was delayed 45 minutes, I would have made it. The ferry was very busy.

Flight: Vancouver to Zurich. British Airways X26Q4O. I had window seats for both flights and had no problem with my carry-ons.
YVR BA086 @17:50 – Heathrow LHR 11:10+1 day 9’20”. Layover 2’50”. Delayed 45″ but same arrival time!! (must have been a big headwind coming and a big tailwind returning.
Wed Sept 2 
LHR  BA738 @14:00 – Zurich ZRH 17:00 2′SWITZERLAND – MITTELLAND (Zürich, Basel, St. Gallen)

ZURICH
I arrived on time and took #10 tram for about 30 minutes to near my host’s place. I eventually settled in.
ON Couch Surfing host. 

Thur Sept 3
A long walk about day in Zurich.
Urban Legends
Bahnhofstrasse
China Garden
Lindenhof Hill
Airports
Basel/Mulhouse (BSL), Zurich (ZRH)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Car
Zurich Hbf
Zurich Tram
Zurich: Polybahn
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels
Bridge – Lake Zurich: Seedamm
Bridge – Hardbrücke
Gubrist Tunnel
History, Culture, National and City Museums
Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich
Kulturama
North American Native Museum
Swiss National Museum
Art Museums
Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection
Haus Konstruktiv
Kunsthalle
Kunsthaus
Migros Museum of Contemporary Art
Rietberg Museum
House and Biographical Museums
Haus zum Rech
Leninwohnung
Architectural Delights
Ballet Mechanique
Cocoon
Le Corbusier House
TWIST Studentisches Wohnen
Zürich Opera House
Religious Temples: Fraumünster Church
Military, War and Police Museums:  Civil Defense Museum
Natural History and Earth Museums: Focus Terra
World of Nature: Zürich Wilderness Park
Botanical Gardens
Old Botanical Garden
Sukkulenten-Sammlung
Zurich Botanical Garden
Zoos: Zürich Zoologischer Garten
Hospitality Legends:
Café Bar Odeon
Haus Hiltl Restaurant
Oepfelchammer
Restaurant Kronenhalle
The Dolder Grand Hotel
Zeughauskeller Restaurant
Markets: Rosenhofmarkt
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges
Letten-Viadukt
Munster bridge (Münsterbrücke)
Zürich: Zürich Love Lock Bridge
Museums – Various
Money Museum
Swiss Finance Museum
Museums – Decorative Arts, Design, Fashion: Museum of Design
Sports Museums: FIFA World Football Museum
Railway Museums: Tram Museum
Culinary Delights: Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Zurich)

Sunday Sept 6
BASEL
Table Tennis Basel
Basel Table Tennis Club
Schwarzwaldallee 107 4058 Basel info@ttcbasel.ch
Jonas Müller jonas.mueller@ttcbasel.ch +41 79 665 62 17. 8-10 pm weeknights.

Urban Legends: Basel: Marktplatz
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Basel Hbf, Basel Tram
History, Culture, National and City Museums
Basel: Basel Museum of Cultures
Basel: Historical Museum
Basel: Historisches Museum Basel – Haus zum Kirschgarten
Art Museums
Basel: Beyeler Foundation
Basel: Gagosian Gallery
Basel: Kunsthalle
Basel: Kunstmuseum Basel
Basel: Museum of Contemporary Art
Basel: Museum Tinguely
Architectural Delights: Basel: MOH Meret Oppenheim High-rise
Boat journeys: Basel: Münsterfähre
Natural History and Earth Museums: Basel: Museum of Natural History
Religious and Sacred Art Museums (including Islamic and Jewish Museums): Basel: Jewish Museum of Switzerland
Monuments: Basel: Dreiländereck FR/CH/DE
Botanical Gardens: Basel: University of Basel Botanical Garden
Zoos
Basel: Basel Zoo
Basel: Tierpark Lange Erlen
Theme Parks, ‘Fun’ Museums and Miniatures: Basel: Toy Worlds Museum
Hospitality Legends:
Basel: Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois
Basel: Hotel Kraft Basel
Markets: Basel: Markthalle
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges: Basel: Middle Bridge
Museums – Various
Basel: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
Basel: Basel Paper Mill (Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing)
Basel: Cartoon Museum
Basel: Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel
Basel: Swiss Architecture Museum
Music, Film and Photography Museums: Basel: Basel Historical Museum – Musikmuseum
Railway Museums: Basel: Tram-Museum Basel
Bizzarium: Basel: Pocket Museum
Culinary Delights
Aargauer Rüeblitorte (Aargau)
Basler Läckerli (Basel-Stadt)
ON Couchsurfing host Basel. 

Day 7 Tue Sept 8
Rent car Sixt for 3 weeks. It was much cheaper to rent from the Basil train station branch than from the airport. VW Passat Estate (a station wagon with lots of sleeping room).

World Heritage Sites
Abbey of St Gall. Seen in 2019.
PREHISTORIC PILE DWELLINGS AROUND THE ALPS WHS
111 out of the 937 known small individual stilt houses were built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of alpine and sub-alpine lakes, rivers or wetlands in six countries. Excavations show early agrarian societies during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in alpine Europe. Fifty-six are in Switzerland.
The exceptional conservation conditions for organic materials provided by the waterlogged sites, archaeobotanical and archaeozoology provides precise information on their agriculture, animal husbandry, and development of metallurgy, over more than four millennia during the dawn of modern societies.
Understand entire prehistoric villages and their detailed construction techniques and spatial development, and the trade routes for flint, shells, gold, amber, and pottery across the Alps. Dugout canoes and wooden wheels, some axles for two-wheeled carts dating from around 3,400BC, some of the earliest preserved in the world, and the oldest textiles in Europe dating to 3,000 BC. Thirty different cultural groups
Only at very few of the 111 locations can original remains be seen; at the others, you will be staring “intently at the water trying to spot the merest hint of some buried rotten wood”. Molina di Ledro and Fiave in Italy are your best bets.
1. Unteruhldingen, Lake Constance. The Pfahlbauten open-air museum displays archaeological finds and reconstructions of Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings. The buildings are idealized reconstructions from between 1922 and 1941. These are exact replicas with interconnected clusters of huts using elevated walkways. A protective wall on the water creates a small protected harbour. Exhibitions, displays and reconstructions illustrate the life of the original inhabitants. Are now marked only by their underwater foundations.
The museum is not part of the WHS, but there is probably no other place where the mysterious, prehistoric world of pile dwellers is so graphically illustrated. And there is an actual WH location near the town’s port, maybe a 5-minute walk from the museum. You can only see the plaque on the shore, as the pile dwellings are underwater and also covered by a canvas to protect them from damage caused by weather or boats. Still, it is good enough to tick off the site. Unteruhldingen is next to the famous flower island of Mainau, and can be easily reached by ferry from Meersburg.
Zurich: the 2 sites on Lake Zurich in the city centre, but couldn’t find any sign. Rapperswil on the southern end of the lake and tried to find the sites there, but only found general signage, not specific pointers (but the area seemed perfect for pile dwellings, especially along the footbridge connecting the town with the island of Hurden).
Italy
Fiavè is a town half an hour south of Lake Molveno in a valley. Pile Dwelling Museum in the town center. Focuses on around Fiavè and how the people lived etc. Baskets and hats woven out of reed.
1 or 2 km outside of town, just across the road from the Hotel La Pineta. Park at the hotel, as the entrance road to the piles is limited to visitors of a nearby trout farm. A small sign. The remains of the pile dwelling lie in a peat bog, and there’s a boardwalk around it with some explanations. 100 or so stumps stick out above the water level. A reconstruction of how the village looked like, with some stilt houses on the shore and others in the lake, can be seen in the museum.
Molina di Ledro and Fiave. These sites are two of the rare places where original remains of the pile dwellings can be seen. In Molina di Ledro, at the shore of Lake Ledro, is a small museum and the reconstruction of a pile dwelling. From a footbridge you can see some piles in a small area near the shoreline. In Fiave, 35 km north of the Lake Ledro, is a small wetland with about 80-100 piles (photo). The site is one kilometre before Fiave on the left (coming from Lake Ledro). There is only a small signpost that can easily be overlooked. Both sites are located in a beautiful mountain landscape, but the remains themselves are not very impressive and do not tell much about what this WHS represents.
Lake Neuchatel. All are hidden below water or sand. Laténium museum is a grand archeological museum with reconstructions of pile dwellings – they look like wooden houses on stilts. Doesn’t count as a visited site.

SWISS TECTONIC ARENA SARDONA WHS 
In north-eastern Switzerland is 32,850 ha with seven peaks over 3,000 m. It demonstrates mountain building using a geologic process called a thrust fault, where older, deeper rocks are carried onto younger, shallower rocks. The Glarus Alps are glaciated mountains with narrow river valleys and are the site of the largest post-glacial landslide in the Central Alpine region. There is clear three-dimensional exposure of the Glarus Overthrust and the rocks below and above.

APPENZELL
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Appenzell: Museum Appenzell
Art Museums: Appenzell: Kunstmuseum Appenzell
Culinary Delights: Appenzeller Biber (Appenzell Innerrhoden)

BADEN
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Baden: Museum Langmatt
Theme Parks, ‘Fun’ Museums and Miniatures: Baden: Swiss Children’s Museum

RAPPERSWIL
History, Culture, National and City Museums
Rapperswil-Jona: Polish Museum
Rapperswil-Jona: Stadtmuseum Rapperswil-Jona
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Rapperswil-Jona: Rapperswil Castle
Religious Temples: Rapperswil-Jona: Capuchin Monastery
Zoos: Rapperswil: Kinderzoo
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges: Rapperswill-Jona: Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden
Open-Air Museums: Rapperswil-Jona: Enea Baummuseum

SOLOTHURN
DARE Solothurn – Kleinlützel and exclaves of Thierstein and Dorneck
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Solothurn: Blumenstein Castle
Art Museums: Solothurn: Kunstmuseum
House and Biographical Museums: Solothurn: Museum Kosciuszko
Natural History and Earth Museums: Solothurn: Naturmuseum Solothurn
Science, Technology and all Industry and Mining Museums: Solothurn: Das ENTER-Museum
Hospitality Legends: Solothurn: Hotel Krone
STEIN AM RHEIN
DARE Schaffhausen – Stein am Rhein, Ramsen (exclave)
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Stein am Rhein: Hohenklingen Castle

OLTEN/ZOFINGEN
Art Museums: Olten: Kunstmuseum Olten
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Olten: Haus der Museen Olten
Music, Film and Photography Museums: Olten: IPFO House of Photography

SCHAFFHAUSEN
DARE
Schaffhausen – Stein am Rhein, Ramsen (exclave)
Schaffhausen – Rüdlingen-Buchberg (exclave)
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Schaffhausen: Museum zu Allerheiligen
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Schaffhausen: Munot Fortress
Natural History and Earth Museums: Schaffhausen: Stemmler Collection
Botanical Gardens: Schaffhausen: Munot Rose Garden
Museums – Various: Schaffhausen: IWC Schaffhausen Museum

ST. GALLEN
History, Culture, National and City Museums: St. Gallen: Historical and Folklore Museum
Art Museums
St. Gallen: Museum in the Warehouse
St. Gallen: St. Gallen Museum of Art
Religious Temples
St. Gallen: Abbey of Saint Gall (including library)
St. Gallen: St. Lawrence Church
Natural History and Earth Museums: St. Gallen: Natural History Museum
Science, Technology and all Industry and Mining Museums: St. Gallen: Textile Museum
Botanical Gardens: St. Gallen: Botanical Garden
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges: St Gallen: Haggenbrücke
Culinary Delights: St. Galler Bratwurst (St. Gallen)

WINTERHUR
Winterthur Station
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Winterthur: Hegi Castle
Art Museums
Winterthur: Kunst Museum Winterthur
Winterthur: Kunsthalle Winterthur
Natural History and Earth Museums: Winterthur: Naturmuseum Winterthur
Science, Technology and all Industry and Mining Museums: Winterthur: Swiss Science Center Technorama
Zoos: Winterthur: Wildpark Bruderhaus
Museums – Various: Winterthur: Uhrenmuseum Winterthu

Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Adliswil-Felsenegg Cable Car
Glacier Express (Zermatt-St. Moritz)
Golden Pass Line
Kronberg Luftseilbahn
Luftseilbahn Schwägalp-Säntis
Switzerland Intercity Railway Experience
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels
Tunnel – Aargau Canton: Bözberg Road Tunnel
Tunnel – Baden: Baregg Tunnel
Tunnel – Basel Canton: Belchen Tunnel
Tunnel – Gotthard Road Tunnel (Uri-Ticino)
History, Culture, National and City Museums
Aarau: City Museum
Arbon: Historisches Museum Arbon
Frauenfeld: Historic Museum Thurgau
Herisau: Schwänberg – altes Rathaus – Museum
Liestal: Kantonsmuseum Baselland
Stein: Appenzell Folklore Museum
Urnäsch: Appenzell museum of popular traditions
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Aarburg: Aarburg Castle
Altenburg: Altenburg Castle
Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus: Waldegg Castle
Habsburg: Habsburg Castle
Hagenwil bei Amriswil: Water Castle Hagenwil
Kyburg: Kyburg Castle
Lenzburg: Lenzburg Castle
Pfäffikon: Kastell Irgenhausen
Seengen: Hallwyl Castle
Tägerwilen: Castell Castle
Vestiges of the Past
Augusta Raurica
Dornach: Dorneck Castle
Vindonissa
Art Museums
Aarau: Aargauer Kunsthaus
Münchenstein: Schaulager
Rorschach: Forum Würth
Warth: Ittinger Museum and Art Museum Thurgau
House and Biographical Museums
Heiden: Henry Dunant Museum
Hirzel: Johanna-Spyri-Museum
Küsnacht: C.G. Jung House Museum
Wildhaus: Zwinglihaus
Architectural Delights
Hinwil: Bachtelturm
Wäldi: Napoleonturm Wäldi
Wohlen: Cantonal High School
Religious Temples
Bad Zurzach: Verena Minster
Rheinau: Monastery Church
Windisch: Koningsfelden Monastery
Military, War and Police Museums: Full-Reuenthal: Swiss Military Museum
Natural History and Earth Museums: Aathal: Aathal Dinosaur Museum
Monuments: Küsnacht: Forchdenkmal
World of Nature
Aargau Jura Park
Thal Nature Park
Zürich Wilderness Park
Botanical Gardens: Rifferswil: Park Seleger Moor
Waterfalls: Rhine Falls, Eisenbach Falls
Mountains: Eiger, Säntis, Uetliberg
Lakes: Lake Constance, Lake Walen, Lake Zurich, Untersee
Rivers: Rhine River
Trails 2 – Hikes
Äscher Wanderweg
Saxer Lücke Hike
Speer Mountain Hike
Festivals
Art Basel
Liestal Chienbäsen & Basel Morgestraich
Räbechilbi Turnip Festival, Richterswil
Rapperswil-Jona: Eis-zwei-Geissebei
Sechseleuten, Zurich
Street Parade, Zurich
Unspunnenfest
Zürich Openair
Zürich: Openair Literatur Festival Zürich
Zoos
Langnau am Albis: Wildnispark Zürich Langenberg
Zofingen: Wildpark Heitern
Planetariums: Kreuzlingen: Bodensee Planetarium und Sternwarte
Theme Parks, ‘Fun’ Museums and Miniatures
Aeugst am Albis: Pegasus Small World Toy Museum
Lichtensteig: Erlebniswelt Toggenburg
Neuhausen am Rheinfall: Smilestones AG – Miniaturwelt am Rheinfall
Hospitality Legends: Wettingen: Gasthof Sternen Kloster
Malls/Department Stores: Spreitenbach: Shoppi Tivoli Spreitenbach
Well-being
Distilleries – MoMö – Schweizer Mosterei- und Brennereimuseum (cider and distillery museum)
Factories: Käserei Appenzeller
Factories: Lindt Home of Chocolate
Factory: Maestrani Chocolate Fabric
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges
Bad Säckingen/Stein Wooden Bridge
Bischofszell: Alte Thurbrücke
Diessenhofen: Rheinbrücke Diessenhofen–Gailingen
Sevelen: Alte Rheinbrücke
Music, Film and Photography Museums: Seewen: Museum of Music Automations
Vehicle Museums
Arbon: Saurer Museum
Muttenz: Museum Pantheon Basel
Romanshorn: Autobau Erlebniswelt
Safenwil: Emil Frey AG Classics
Aviation Museums
Altenrhein: Museum of Flying
Dübendorf: Swiss Air Force Museum
Railway Museums: Romanshorn: Locorama
Museums – Various: Niederbuchsiten: Jura World of Coffee
The Dark Side
Äuli (ghost town)
St. Margrethen: Fort Heldsberg
Bizzarium: Dietikon: Bruno Weber Park
Culinary Delights: Aargauer Rüeblitorte (Aargau)

DARE
Appenzell Innerrhoden – Oberegg District (exclaves)
Schaffhausen – Rüdlingen-Buchberg (exclave)
Villages and Small Towns
BULACH
LENZBURG
RHEINFELDEN
SCHWELLBRUNN
WIL