After a final breakfast on board, we took a city tour of Basel taking in the well preserved Old Town, the University, Town Hall and the City Gates. Ami, our guide was an enthusiastic proponent for her city (although born in Germany) and was full of interesting tidbits about Basel.So, just before lunch, we bid farewell to the Alemannia and our traveling companions and headed for our hotel which is right next to the Swiss/French station. The hotel, the Grand Hotel Euler, with its mission ‘Feel the difference’ is a triumph of design over function. Where do I start?
Because of a mix-up with dates we end up in an expensive ‘family room’ – a 2-room accommodation recently decorated in lime green, black and white. There are no spare powerpoints, so to plug anything in, you have to unplug something, like a light! So then you can’t see! The desk lamp is 20 cm high, too low to see anything on the desk/table.There are no tea/coffee making facilities – luckily we won a coffee maker on the Alemmannia – just unplug a light and we can make coffee!
There are no wardrobes or drawers! One shelf and an exposed hanger! We had more storage in the tiny cabin on the Alemannia, which is beginning to look better every minute.
The light switches are large rectangular rocker types, but the top part affects some lights, while the bottom part effects others. Don’t press exactly right, you switch the wrong ones.
Now the bathroom. The lights are movement sensitive and are tiny pilot lights in the ceiling – too dim to see anything useful. Going to the toilet is an adventure in operating by touch alone. The shower is big enough to fit 6 people and has a massive shower head with inbuilt coloured lights, 3 spray jets on each side and a hand-held piece for any places left that you can’t get wet. Unfortunately, all the controls are on the back wall, which means while you are trying to work all of the controls out, your are getting soaked by cold water. Am I exaggerating? Well Frances managed to have a lukewarm shower after 15mins of fiddling! They are right, we can definitely ‘Feel the difference’!
The staff are very nice though, and there is a lot of room. That's the silver lining.
I’ll say something about Basel tomorrow.
