Castles and Art with Sarah and Steve

My sister Sarah and brother-in-law Steve (our California family) made a Basel pit stop this weekend as Steve was travelling to Zurich for work. We made the most of our time with these great loves of ours.

Steve requested art and castles and I’m a woman who delivers. Out first stop was Basel’s Fondation Beyeler to see the Close Up and Goya exhibits.

I’ve been wanting to see the Close Up exhibit since it was written up in the New York Times. It’s an exhibit that examines how nine female artists — Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Lotte Lasertstein, Frida Kahlo, Alice Neele, Marlene Dumas, Cindy Sherman and Elizabeth Payton — see themselves and others in portraiture. It was very cool to consider how we look at women and how we women view ourselves.

Goya was also gorgeous and weird and grotesque and outrageous. He was prolific!

That night we had a lovely dinner at L’ambasciatore. A premature celebration of Sarah’s upcoming (big) birthday. The wine was great, the food was Swiss-good and the company was super. I forgot to take pictures.

Next day: castles.

It was a beautiful fall day, with falling leaves and sunshine. We first went to Ermitage in Arlesheim, right outside Basel. We walked through gardens, past the grotto and up to Birseck Castle.

It was cool, but the castle was closed! After Steve and Xander tried multiple ways to break in, we de-camped for Kayserberg in Alsace, France. First a lunch of burgers and riesling. Then to the medival castle. Open! We climbed to the top of the tower and took in the great views of Alsace towns in the valley and the golden vineyards.

We climbed down and enjoyed a brief stroll through the town. After getting a little lost and having a traumatic gas station stop (Pump 7 wasn’t working!!), we made it home.

Sarah and Steve took Jacob to the Basel “Fantasic Empire” store to buy Magic the Gathering cards and look at Dungeons and Dragons paraphernalia. Xander escaped to a party (after his friends started chanting for him in the platz outside our apartment building).

We had a nice dinner, watched “Free Guy” and went to bed. Sunday morning, I drove Sarah and Steve to Zurich for their next adventure, enjoying the orange, gold and red leaves on the route. It’s always hard to say goodbye to them, but I’m grateful for the art and castles along the way.