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Not at all what I was going for, but thought I’d share.

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Streets full of water. Please advise.

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Bern on the shortest day of the year.

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Lab holiday dinner tomorrow! I hate it when the sushi gets complicated.

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The benefits of doing research in Switzerland.

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Update

Here the rundown of what life has been like in Basel for the last couple of months.

I am renting an apartment about ~10 min walk from the Biozentrum, where I work. When it's nice out and I am not lazy, I cycle to work, which takes all of 4 minutes. However, most of the time I am lazy. About 20 ft from my front door is a bakery that sells delicious crusty bread and amazingly is open on Sundays, when even the traffic lights aren't working.

Since it's gotten a little chilly for alpine hiking, I've been exploring the surroundings of Basel a bit more, mostly on extended weekend runs. I start running from my house and keep going until my legs stop working, then jump on the train/tram/bus to go home. After about 1 mile Basel pretty much ends and Swiss countryside begins, complete with cows, horses and tractors. And farm stands that work on the honor system: vegetables are piled up on a stand by the side of the road, with prices and little collection box where you are expected to deposit your payment.

Here is a typical scene: gravel road through a cornfield. The right side of the cornfield is in Switzerland, the left side is in France.

Here is the view towards Basel from one of the nearby hills. It's that bit on the left with the white smokestacks - Novartis factories.

In the other direction next to Basel is the French town of Saint Louis, pronounced Seh Loo-ee, the French way. It's not very exciting, although apparently there is an amazing cheese market every Friday that I keep on missing.

For the last couple of weeks, Basel has been celebrating Herbstmesse, the fall festival. This has mostly meant that at least two times a week we make a lab outing to the nearby Petersplatz, which during the festival is filled with amazing food stalls and craft vendors. It's like Smorgasburg but with Swiss people instead of hipsters. The best stall serves chäsbängel, which is a hollowed out baguette filled with fondue. It has to be consumed with extreme care, so as not to burn your tongue or drip cheese all over your coat. It's a life-changing experience, truly.

This weekend the plan is to take a day to walk around Basel with a camera, so check back later for an album of dragon-shaped drinking fountains.

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Back to blag

I've neglected updating lately, will try to catch up.

Earlier, I posted a couple of photos from a hike I did from Grindelwald to Wengen in the Bernese Alps. It had snowed a couple of days before and about half of the trail was still untracked. Most of the walk I spent in the shadow of Eiger, Moench (monk) and Jungfrau (maiden). No one knows what Eiger means, but it's usually translated as Ogre, which is most likely made up.

Here are some cool clouds drifting past the Eiger's north face.

The north face is mostly famous because of lots of Germans and Austrians killing themselves trying to climb it in the 30ies. Thanks to them landmarks along the climbing route have names like "Death Bivouac".

Across from the famous mountain trio are a couple of smaller mountains. I walked up one called Lauberhorn, overlooking the towns of Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. 

Half way to the top I discovered to my delight a pair of tracks going up the mountain, meaning that I didn't have to walk knee deep in snow any more. When I got to the top, I met their originator, a local from Grindelwald, who it turns out was going to paraglide down instead of walking. And off he went. Having neither the gear nor the balls to follow him, I hiked down to Wengen by foot, then took the train home.

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Another Basel sunset

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These sunsets make staying at work till after dark worth it.

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The Eiger reflected in what appears to be a toxic sludge dump.

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Basel train station underground bike parking. Pardon the photo quality.

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A caprese bagel. I took the risk of buying a bagel outside of NY. Will keep you updated on how this pans out.

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We set off late and because it’s absolutely imperative not to be stuck out in the bush after dark, we were treated to a rally drive home, complete with exaggerated skidding. There were 12 people in the car, which - although it’s not the most crowded vehicle I’ve ever been in (that distinction belongs to a share-jeep in India which was so full that a passenger was sitting on half of the driver’s seat and had to change gear) - was still not amazingly comfy.

Anyway, we had a tiny break at sunset.

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By the way, check out the Tumblr of my friend Nick, who recently moved to Madagascar to work for an NGO there. Tales of bandits, Polish princesses, 9 am moonshine sampling and an occasional gorgeous sunset.

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Berlin

Long time since the last post. Has been a little hectic between moving apartments - I now finally have my own place, totally devoid of furniture - and going to a conference in Croatia. More on that later.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Berlin to hang out with Hassana while she had a postdoc interview there. This was a lot of fun, partly because it was great to see Hassana, partly because Berlin is a lot of fun, and partly because it is about 10x cheaper than Basel and I had just been paid my lovely Swiss postdoc salary, which in Berlin can buy approximately 1,000 delicious falafel wraps from Dada Falafel.

We spent most of our time exploring the city on foot and drinking coffee. Some of you may know that traveling with a coffee cup in my hand is one of my favorite activities.

Here is Hassana enjoying a delicious cup of Turkish coffee.

As you may imagine there are plenty of relics of socialism around. Except, unlike in Russia, where they have been quietly decaying away for the last 20 years, in Berlin they are loving preserved for their kitsch value, like this lovely mural on the wall of some government building.

The epicenter of kitsch is the DDR/GDR museum. "This is just like your mothers living room!" - Hassana.

Here is the obligatory Fernsehturm photo. Although it's not that tall, thanks to the flatness of Berlin and lack of other tall buildings, it can really be seen from anywhere.

We spent a lot of time exploring Berlin's street art. Here are a few photos including one depicting Pedro/Jack Nicholson.

There is a cool tunnel/bridge linking the Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain neighborhoods.

Apart from walking we also saw some museums. One of the places we went to is a WWII era bunker, that subsequently was used as a POW camp, vegetable warehouse and techno club before becoming the home of private contemporary art collection.

The architecture of the bunker is fascinating. All the stairwells have two sets of stairs running in opposite direction, which can be a bit disorienting and makes you feel like you inside an MC Escher lithograph. Supposedly they were built to let people enter and exit the bunker rapidly during an air raid. This photo is taken from one set of stairs looking toward the other one.

And this is the view up the stairwell.

This you might give you a better idea of the layout:

This is one of the many ventilation gratings:

This piece created a great illusion when you walk around it. Only now looking at the photos I appreciate how it only works in the right room, otherwise the reflections of the walls would screw up the effect.

Obligatory Hassana-striking-a-ridiculous-pose photo.

That's all for now! More updates, including photos of my barren apartment coming soon!

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Hanging out with the Biozentrum cat.

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Received my mountain rescue insurance card. There are two companies that offer it in Switzerland. Went with this one because Monsieur sounds much classier than Herr.