the only way to travel "if you stay true to yourself, you will always remain on track, even if that track takes you off the beaten path, to places you could not possibly imagine." ~ Debra Ollivier

only in europe can you:

1) visit three countries in the span of half an hour. on saturday, we planned to go shopping in france. once we got there and noticed that the parking lots were all empty, i remembered that it was bastille day, the french national holiday. no shopping in france for us. so we drove back into switzerland, then over the border into germany to do some cheap grocery shopping instead.

2) pass through country boarders eight times in a single day:
(a) switzerland to france (in search of shopping)
(b) france to switzerland (after realizing there was no shopping because of bastille day)
(c) switzerland to germany (in order to fulfill the plan of getting cheap groceries)
(d) germany to switzerland (we couldn't find parking on the german side of rheinfelden, so we drove back to the swiss side before walking around and having lunch on an island in the rhine)
(e) switzerland to germany (we had to actually buy our cheap groceries)
(f) germany to switzerland (we had to bring our cheap groceries home and pick up a few friends before...)
(g) switzerland to germany (we had reservations at an italian restaurant in rheinfelden. amazing pizza for half the price of switerland!)
(h) germany to switzerland (we had to come back, of course)

3) leave your bike locked on a public road for 36 hours and still have it be there when you finally go back to retrieve it. though that could be more of a reflection on how nice my bike is than on how safe basel is. when i took it to the novartis bike shop to get the tire fixed, the guy definitely commented that it's older than me. i left it out on friday night and what with all the country-hopping we did on saturday, i didn't have a chance to pick it up in town until sunday. and it was still there.

4) pay more for two cans of sprite than a bottle of wine. i was invited for dinner at a colleague's last night and made sangria to bring. sangria requires a bottle of red wine (which i purchased on sale for 1.50 euros in germany - which is about $2), fresh fruit and about a can and a half of sprite (which i purchased at a convenience store in basel for 3 swiss francs - which is about $2.50). more money for pop than wine!