Another Great Hike - Aesch to Aesch June 23, 2007

View from the hike...still reminds us of California...
In the valley...farms are everywhere, as are the cows, goats, sheep, and crops...

Switzerland is lush...

Vineyards...they are everywhere! Which means plently of good, local wine!

Old ruins...these too are everywhere.

Amazing that these ruines are still standing...

Another great hike...this time we took the tram from Aesch and hiked uphill to see the old ruins. It still amazes us that old castles are everywhere. The are springled all over Basel Land! This hike took about 3 hours and was a great way to spend a morning.

Frank, we know, we have got to get on the trails with the bike next time!

Hike - Fluh - Ettigen June 17, 2007

Sunday Hike:

Fluh is a village just 20 minutes by tram outside of Basel. We hiked uphill for the first part of the hike...hence the beautiful views! It still amazes us that with a few miles by tram you can leave the city an be in the beautiful country side. Another wonderful bonus...it is cherry season in Switzerland, so for 5 francs you can get a nice basket of fresh, locally grown cherries!

Robert and Melinda on the hike.

View from the top. If you look to the right, you will see an old castle on top of the hill.

Awesome tree

Vineyards

Little village.

Hike in Dornach - June 3rd

Goetheanum Building

Inside Goetheanum

Buildings near Goetheanum...



Ruines Above Dornach

Field with Happy Cows...

More Ruines

Overlook

WWII Anti-Tank Barriers...

Dornach To Dornach Hike

Each Sunday we hike into new areas, exploring the surrounding villages around Basel. This weekend we went into the town of Dornach to hike uphill for about three hours. We stumbled across the town of Dornach, which one can easily determine as architecturally interesting. Much of the town has adopted a similar replication of Goetheanum, by creating homes that contain no right angles.

The primary structure in the center of the town is called Goetheanum, which was built in 1912, with people coming from 20 nations to assist in its’ development. The original building was made solely of wood and was a two – domed structure. All of this building took place while Europe fell into the abyss of a World War. On the evening of New Year’s Eve, 1922/23 a fire burnt Goetheanum to the ground.

A new structure comprised completely of concrete was rebuilt in its’ place and for the time was a revolutionary development. Goetheanum is a massive structure that is the headquarters of the General Anthroposophical Society, and the School of Spiritual Science, which was founded by Rudolf Steiner. Let me reiterate that again, we simply stumbled across Goetheanum and had no idea what this massive structure represented. Robert and I have not converted to the Anthroposophical Society, though we can respect and appreciate their position.

Above Dornach we found big open fields with happy cows, a ruined castle, and reminates of WWII. At the turn-around point, there was a nice overlook of the valley, and a huge tower that we didn't climb up.