July 16, 2022

The breakfast we had at the hotel these days was excellent, and today was no exception. After breakfast, we said goodbye to the beautiful town of Bacharach, dragged our suitcases over the cobblestone street, and headed to the train station nearby. We expected a full train like yesterday; fortunately, the regional train was not crowded at all.

On the way to return to Zurich from Germany, we made a side trip to Basel, Switzerland. It was not very convenient to get there from Bacharach, where we stayed, and we had to change trains twice. However, the journey to Basel was very smooth. We arrived at Basel, put away our luggages and headed straight to the old city center just in time to see Basel Tattoo Parade. At first, we had no clue what was going on. We asked the locals about it. It was an annual military tattoo marching band parade performed by international military bands, exhibition teams, and tattoo groups, including teams from the United States, Canada, and other European countries. It is the second-largest marching band festival in the world. The crowds filled up the streets, and after done with the parades, the people filled up the bars and restaurants in the area. It was an energetic and beautiful atmosphere.

When the parade was over, we looked for a place to eat. All restaurants in the area were crowded. When we passed the city hall square, we saw a long line in front of a sausage stand. We joined the queue and patiently waited for our two sausages with bread and mustard sauce. The lunch was simple and good, but we wished we could find a place to sit and rest. As we strolled along the Rhine, we found a café by the river and got a table after waiting for a few minutes. We had our coffee break and watched the young people floating along the river. It was a needed break. When it was time to pay the bill, we realized we were again back to €5 a cup of coffee.

Basel has a unique geographical location, bordering France and Germany, at the junction of three countries. We first went to the Tri-Nations Junction Memorial Tower, walked over a small bridge from Switzerland to Germany, and then crossed the Tri-Nations Crossing Bridge over the Rhine River from Germany to France. At the beginning of the European tour, one of us didn't take a ferry to a beautiful town in France when we visited Geneva; today, he had made up for it. Interestingly, there were no French restaurants in the square of the French town, only two Italian restaurants and a small Turkish shop. We picked one of the Italian restaurants and had an Italian pizza.

Today was a record day with three meals in three countries. We had breakfast in Germany, lunch in Switzerland, and supper in France. The day was not specially planned but ended with many unexpected and joyful activities. From Basel, we took the train to the hotel next to Zurich Airport.

欧洲游第五十七天：今天从德国回到瑞士苏黎世，顺便在瑞士的巴塞尔(Basel)下车看一下。从我们住的小镇去那里不是很方便，要转车二次。这几天都在旅馆里吃的早餐，东西非常丰富，今天也不例外。吃完早餐，拖着行李箱还以为又要像昨天那样挤火车了，没想到今天去巴塞尔的火车并不拥挤，一路非常顺利。来到巴塞尔直接往老城中心去, 正好碰上Basel Tattoo 游行，人山人海。问了一下当地人，说这周是当地的军乐队周，参加游行的有来自美国加拿大和欧洲其他国家的表演者，据说这是世界上第二大军乐队节。看完游行后看到有个小摊排长队，我们也凑热闹买了二根香肠，面包蘸着芥末酱当午饭，典型的当地小吃。然后慢慢地走到莱茵河边，坐下喝上一杯咖啡，远望年青人在河上顺水漂游，轻松休息一会儿。结账时认识到我们又再次回到5€一杯清咖啡的地方了。

巴塞尔城市地理位置特殊，与法国和德国为邻，处在三国交界点。我们先去了三国交界点纪念塔，然后从瑞士走过一小桥来到德国，再走过莱茵河上的三国步行桥从德国来到法国。欧洲游初期当时在日内瓦那天我没和他们一起坐船去法国美丽小镇，今天弥补一下算是这次我也到过法国了。奇怪的是在法国小镇广场上没有法国餐厅，只有二家意大利餐厅和一家土尔其小店。我们晚餐在小镇吃了顿意大利披萨。

今天这一天算是创纪录，一日三餐在三个国家吃，早餐在德国，中午在瑞士，晚饭在法国。三国行后坐火车来到苏黎世机场边的旅馆，原本没有什么特别安排的一天却变得那样丰富多彩。