Archive for September, 2009

« Previous Entries

Hotel Wettstein

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

hotel Wettstein

The three-star Hotel Wettstein in Klein Basel is as crisp and calming as the Hotel Basilisk is dull and dingy - and for the same reasonable price (single: 190 CHF).

Yes, the exterior and lobby’s grey marble tile with brass accents is a bit 1980s bourgeois, but it is glisteningly clean. The rooms continue this clean theme, with simple, clean-lined furniture in whites, greys and black and fluffy white down comforters that beckon the weary traveler. The bathroom was the one exception to this cool design rule, featuring slightly dated pale ecru tile on the shower surround.

The Hotel Wettstein won’t win any design awards, but for the reasonable price, friendly service, and the excellent central Klein Basel location (just steps away from Enothek a stylish little wine bar/shop on Grenzacherstrasse and two blocks from Wettsteinplatz) this is a great value.

As if things couldn’t get any better, a bountiful breakfast buffet (including meats, cheeses, cereals, fruits, yogurts and yummy pastries - plus gluten-free and dairy-free options upon request) is included in the room rate!  But wait, there’s more: Internet (WiFi) and bottled water (still and sparkling) are free, too!

Lest the Hotel Wettstein seem too good to be true to you cynics out there, don’t worry - there is a downside: it’s currently fully booked.

Hotel Wettstein
Grenzacherstrasse 8
CH-4058 Basel
Tel: +41 61 690 69 69
Fax +41 61 691 05 45 
mail@hotel-wettstein.ch

Posted in Bâlehoo | No Comments »

Basilisk Beware

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Hotel Basilisk Beware

The kitschy room key at the Hotel Basilisk may well be the best thing about this drab and dreary Klein Basel establishment. From its outdated, beat-up furnishings and chipped wood paneling to its ratty carpets and mildewed balcony (with a view of an industrial-not-so-chic apartment complex, complete with giant orange construction crane and laundry lines filled with the neighbors’ knickers) this hotel looks like the moldy basement “rec room” we Gen X-ers have spent a lifetime of therapy trying to forget.

Add to that the odd and insistent whining noise that greats you when you open the door to your dingy digs and it is enough to send a girl running for the door. In fact, if it weren’t for a local congress that has blocked up all of Basel’s limited hotel space, I would be doing just that.  So, when it comes to this so-called three-star Hotel Basilisk, here’s the real key: avoid it.

Searching for a nice place to rest your weary head? Try nearby Hotel Wettstein instead.

Hotel Basilisk
Klingentalstrasse 1
CH-4005 Basel
Tel. +41 (0)61 686 96 66 

Posted in Bâlehoo | No Comments »

Week in a Sackli - September 13, 2009

Friday, September 11th, 2009
Basel Septemer
Tori Amos - Sunday, September 13th 2009

Tori Amos will be performing at the Messe arena, here in Basel on Sunday September 13th.  Click here for more information and tickets.

Date: Sunday, 13 September 2009
Time: 20:00 - 23:00
Location: Festsall Congress Center, Basel

Teenage Book Discussion Group - September 16

Bergli Books will host a Teenage book discussion group on September 16 at 7pm. The topic will be “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.  The event is for teenagers only. It is recommended that participants read the book in advance. For more information go to www.bergli.ch

Performance Artists Open Mic Night - September 16
Grab the stack of poems shoved in your desk drawer and head over to Restaurant Parterre. They’re hosting an open mic night on September 16 at 8:30pm for poets, comedians, singers, songwriters and other performance artists. Each performer has only 15 minutes of performance time and there is a limit of 2 people per performance. Interested? You MUST register in advance by email. Visit the website for more information and contact details: www.parterre.net.

UEFA CUP:FC Basel vs AS Roma - Thursday, 17 September 2009Watch FC Basel take on AS Roma in the first round of the 2009-2010 UEFA Cup. The game starts at 8pm on Thursday, September 17 at St.Jakobs.  For more information and tickets please go to the FC Basel homepage: www.fcb.ch.

Twist and Shout - from September 17-26
Upstart Entertainment is performing an original musical play written by Bianca Mueller, Nicolaia Marston, Andrew Fernandes and Frédéric Anklin.

Mixing serious drama with humor, Twist & Shout tells the story of three girls becoming women in the 1960s and the challenges and choices they face at the dawn of women’s emancipation. According to the site, this show “will have you twisting on your seat, dancing in the aisles and shouting all the way home.” Visit the site for more information and tickets.

Remaining show dates are: September 17 , 18 , 20 , 25 , 26 2009.
Location: Cellar Theatre, Nadelberg 6, Basel

PWG presents: Starzdust - A Bollywood Dance Evening - September 23

Professional Women’s Group Basel will host Starzdust – A Bollywood Dance Evening on September 23. The mixer and social begins at 7pm and the class starts at 7:15pm sharp at Centrepoint in Basel. Shalini Trefzer will lead this instruction where the participants will warm up, learn a few minutes of choreography and then dance the segment together at the end of class. No dancing experience (or coordination) is required! All you will need is an open mind and you will find out why Bollywood music and dance are so popular. Go to www.pwg-basel.ch for more information.

PWG Presents: Starzdust - A Bollywood Dance Evening
September 23, 7pm
CentrePoint
Im Lohnhof 8, Basel
www.pwg-basel.ch

Van Gogh Exhibit- Through September 27

You’re going to want to cut your own ear off if you miss this one, so hop on the Tram and head over to the Kunstmuseum before September 27 to view this exciting exhibition of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh entitled “Between Earth and Heaven - The Landscapes.” According to the site, the exhibition “represents a rare opportunity to see such a broad cross-section of paintings by Van Gogh in one place.”  Examples from Van Gogh’s contemporaries Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Cézanne and Gauguin provide valuable context.

Kunstmuseum Basel
St. Alban-Graben 16
www.vangogh.ch

Posted in Bâlehoo | No Comments »

Coffee Madness

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Coffe in Basel

Aside from the cheese (yeah, yeah) there are a few other things I miss from my days in Basel. The people, the culture, the easy access to Paris, Rome, London, and Istanbul. But chief among those things that make me weep silently in the American night, is the coffee.  For the coffee aficianados among you, I think you’ll understand that I am not overstating it when I say I feel like Out of Africa’s author, Karen Bixen, when I write “I had a coffee maker in Switzerland.”

Ah, yes. The coffee maker. I bought it second-hand from some good friends who moved back to the states. It was a Francis! Francis! espresso maker with a foaming attachment for cappuccino should you desire. I did not. Nothing, in my view, should get in the way of the pure unadulterated joy of a great Americano (espresso with extra hot water added to make what the Swiss call kaffee kreme).

Any-who. I left it (and the world’s cutest cat) with my ex here in Switzerland, confident these treasures would be in very capable and appreciative hands.  But that didn’t stop me from dreaming. Or drinking. On a brief visit in November, I drank a mortgage’s worth of coffee from my friends’ incredible Nespresso machine. In Portland, a self-professed coffee town, I have supped the best and brightest that city has to offer.  And of course, a coffee-lover has not truly lived until he/she has partaken of the java-nectar from Rome’s Sant’Eustachio (near the Pantheon). Trust me. Do NOT miss it.
Back in Basel recently for a visit, I was reminded that it is not just my dear Francis! Francis! that makes a fine cup of Joe. In fact, Basel is loaded with caffeinated excellence: Cafe des Artisistes, Mercedes Caffe Spot (see the liquid gold in the photo above), Café zum Roten Engel, Rosario’s (which is also my fave wine bar), and Chez Jeannot at the Tinguely Museum, just to name a few.

Next week, I’ll be back in Basel for a good long while (hooray!) and you’ll find me sucking down espressos at all of the above. I’m sure there are many great new places that have opened in the two years I’ve been gone, so email me at karena.meehan@balehoo.com and let me know where your favorite coffee places are!

Posted in Bâlehoo | No Comments »

« Previous Entries