We arrived in London to a bleak and wet morning, but after our ritual COSTA coffee at the expansive forecourt of the Virgin Atlantic Terminal and sorting ourselves out in the Hotel at T4 the sky had turned an unfamiliar blue (for London). The whole country here is fixated on Brexit. You can't turn the TV on without watching a gaggle of balking, squawking, talking heads moralising about the effect it will have on everything from paper clip in the public service to rat dropping in the Outer Hebrides.
Whichever way it goes Britain is fucked.
The once bastion of western democracy and common law is now reduced to a Orwellian Nanny State where criminals are treated better than victims. A place were the police dance in the street or entire squads troll the web for thought crimes while victims of real crimes are assaulted or are dying in the streets. A place where the political elite refuse to respect the will of the people. It would qualify as a Banana Republic if not for it latitude.
It is like some twisted reality of the Twilight Zone where the Tories have become
Green. The Greens are now Fascists, Labour now represents the UrbanElites and the Lib/Dems are neither liberal nor democratic. Farage is the future but history tells me the Brits are too fucking dumb to see it. Thank god we are only here for two days and by the time we get back in November it will be all over. Maybe.
We landed and Frankfurt and picked up the Van in Mannheim. Red is the new Black and it's not your usual bland coloured Motorhome. Enzo would be proud of this shade of Ferrari Red. Our first stop after topping up with food was Heidelberg. We were here 42 years ago but the memory is faded. The day in town was cold and wet and to ruin any chance of quietly exploring ancient memories the place was full of river cruise tourist speaking mangled english (US version) and several other latin and slavic dialects. Not happy (insert name here).
We are heading for one of our favourites next, Colmar in Alsace France, then to Basel in Switzerland.
We drove South all morning from Heidelberg in rain. Mostly light but heavy in patches. Sunday is a great day to travel here as everything is closed. Businesses and Retail don't work Sunday all over Europe and Trucks are banned from the Highways in Germany too. BLOODY BRILLIANT! It should be the rule everywhere back home.
We always seem to return to Colmar, we love It. Alsace has many beautiful towns and cities from the historic Strasbourg with its wonderful cathedral and marriage of old and new, to the quaint and picturesque Riquewhir and Eguisheim that dominate postcard space at every souvenir shop. Colmar is our happy medium. We would love to come back for the Christmas Markets sometime in the future and spend the Christmas/New Year in Alsace.
Our first trip back to Switzerland in 4 decades was less than expected. We had never been to Basel before and had high hopes given its reputation. But we were a little underwhelmed. We stayed in a little campground right on the Rhine in Huningue on the French side of the River. It is right next to the 3Pays/3Lands Bridge. You walk across the bridge to Weil am Rhein in Germany and from there you get the tram to Basel in Switzerland. 3 Countries in a day.
Basel is a beautiful city but for us just didn't have the charm or charisma of other places like this we have been. It's a bit bland to be blunt. It also doesn't help when the premier site, Marktplatz is dug up for roadworks, over a dozen red Mechano cranes tower over the city and street art on the many construction site hoardings is by the well know collagist William Posters (he hasn't been prosecuted here yet). It is also incredibly expensive.
That's not to say it doesn't have its high points. There are tree shaded river walkways, spectacular river views from the Basel Munster balcony and many quiet tree covered nooks and parks to sit and just reflect. And it does have a pretty awesome Christmas market in the massive square in front of the Munster cathedral. So don't be put off it just wasn't for us. We head for Lyon and the South of France next.
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