It’s a long time since I posted any pictures, and I know not all y’all are into the minutiae of scientifictional politics. Plus, I now have visitors in town, and have therefore actually been going places and seeing things worth taking pictures of.

Figure 1. Preparation for guests: living room, empty, but livable.

Figure 1. Sunday morning: living room, being lived in.

More pictures after the cut.

Brandon and Augie got into Zurich Saturday evening; I brought them back to Basel, they cleaned up a bit, and since I wanted to make sure they got the proper Swiss experience, we went out for rösti. The next morning we all slept in, had breakfast, and then headed for the SBB station to catch a train to Kaiseraugst and the local Roman ruins.

Figure 1. On the way I spotted this angry monkey.

Figure 1. Augie aboard the S-bahn to Kaiseraugst.

There’s a pretty decent little museum next to the ruins, with a small but interesting collection of artifacts and a nice set of reconstructed rooms where you can open the cabinets, climb the ladders, lift up the mattresses to see the IKEA tags, and even sit on the furniture.

Figure 1. Sitting on the furniture.

Figure 1. Climbing the ladders.

Across from the museum is what’s left of the outdoor theater. Quite a lot of it’s gone, but what’s left has been reconstructed to give you a decent idea what it must have been like.

Figure 1. Or else the Roman dating system was a lot weirder than I’ve been led to believe.

Figure 1. Even smaller than the Globe, but on the other hand it has a better view.

On the other side of the road is what’s left of the forum — not a whole lot. But what’s left is still fairly impressive.

Figure 1. Winged Victory, holding unidentified round thing.

Figure 1. Underneath City Hall.

We also saw some nice reconstructed mosaics in an underground chamber, plus what was left of the bathhouse district, including a subterranean well that was very nice on a hot day but didn’t photograph worth a damn, so you’ll have to check it out yourself.

Figure 1. And on the way back to town: another monkey.

We caught a boat back to town — the S.S. Christoph Merian, I believe — but I was stupid and didn’t get any pictures of it. (I did try to get a picture of some graffiti we saw in a shelter at one of the stops along the way downriver that read “Anti-Feminism,” but by the time the boat had come about and I could get an angle, it was too far away to read. Personally I blame the Patriarchy.)

We’d seen the Rathaus from the outside Saturday evening, and Brandon and Augie wanted to see it from the inside.

Figure 1. It’s shiny.

Figure 1. Looking down from the balcony.

Figure 1. Standing guard.

Figure 1. The fountain is very unhappy.

The next day I went into work in the morning while Brandon and Augie slept in; we met up for lunch (kebabs at Sofra — more of the authentic Basel experience) and then took the #6 tram out to Riehen Dorf and the Fondation Beyeler modern art museum — quite a bit smaller than, say, SF MOMA, but it does have some neat pieces. The special exhibition was a collection of erotic sketches and sculptures by Rodin and Picasso that, well, let’s just say it’s true what you hear about Europe not being nearly so uptight about these things. Pictures were, naturally, verboten, but I did snap one of Brandon and a friend while the guards weren’t looking.

Figure 1. So what is it with displaying third-world pieces next to modernist abstract art, anyway?

Then of course it was time for beer.

Figure 1. Although Augie had tea.

Figure 1. Brandon had beer, though.

Figure 1. And so did I.

We took walked around the grounds — took a closer look at the Calder mobile, saw various other metallic slabs, and had a nice view of what I’m guessing was Germany from the gazebo.

Figure 1. The gazebo. It didn’t eat us.

Today we had sausages and went up to the Tinguely Museum and did all sorts of other exciting things, but I didn’t bring my camera so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Anyway, to really let you appreciate the Tinguely museum I’d have to have shot an hour or two of video.

Tomorrow: off to Geneva! And probably Lausanne. I’ll try to remember the camera this time.