Herbstmesse in Basel

I'm a bit behind... On Thursday evening the entire BFA staff and student population piled into buses to ride into Basel for a night on the town at the Fall fair. We met Bethany there and she had a great time sharing some of her new vocabulary - Swiss German! One thing she told us is that person born in Basel is called a "Bebbi" - which sounds more like "Beppy". We laughed when she told us that because her nickname ever since Katy could talk has been "Beppy"! Anyway, the little brown and white pointed sweets in this picture are called "Bebbi" - made especially for Basel natives.

Another treat native to Basel is "Basler Läckerli". It is a soft but chewy sort of cookie and if you mix cinnamon, nutmeg and anise (from aniseed) together, you might get close to the flavour. At any rate, it's very, very good!

We see this guy at the same corner every year. He just sits with a container in front of him, waiting for people to toss in coins. Sometimes he does move around a bit but we're not really sure what it is he's doing! We wonder what it must be like to dress up like this every year...

At 7:00 all the BFA High School kids meet at the bumper cars. It is a wild and crazy and extremely LOUD time! Bethany and Katy managed to get into a car together, however, we were long gone. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed this picture, Michele!