This morning brings us our first sunshine since we started. Not a cloud in the sky. Now we another issue. A conundrum you might say. For it is breakfast time and our only alternative seems to be a $50 breakfast for two at the Krafft-Basel Hotel. Unbelievably, I caved. I attempt to justify it by vowing to stuff ourselves at breakfast an eat nothing the rest of the day. Their expensive breakfast was ok but not near as nice as many of the "free" ones we experienced elsewhere. I grabbed extra fruit, rolls and crackers to sustain us for the next 24 hours.

Our hotel is located very central to everything. Located on the boarder of three countries – Switzerland, France and Germany – Basel is the center of one of Europe’s most exciting Christmas regions. Switzerland’s largest and most beautiful Christmas town also boasts the longest illuminated Christmas Street in Europe which we walked on. The historic Old Town hosts the popular market, where a huge variety of goods, such as fossils and minerals, hats and children’s clothes, glass balls and wooden figures are on sale in not less than
150 stands. This is the one we went to last night.

Our Eurail pass expires tomorrow so we opt to visit Lucerne, a town about an hour train ride away that we visited last year during the summer. So after our breakfast, we take the free tram to the train station and grab the next available train to Lucerne. We manage to board a 1st class car and discuss the day's events when a fellow passenger informs us that this is a business car with no talking, no phones, no noise. He's very nice about it and suggests another car but we opt to sit quietly for 45 minutes to Lucerne. By the way, the sun is gone, never to appear again. The beautiful yellow glow lasted a mere 4 hours. 

The first Christmas Market, supposedly at the train station, isn't there so we go to the one in town which we find is there. It's smaller than the ones we're accustom too but Mom manages to find some ceramic smelling house you put drops into. It looks pretty cool. I find the apple strudel bakery, the same one we visited a year earlier, and break my fasting vow. We note that the town is not as colorful as it was last August, with none of the flowers in bloom. It's around 3:30pm and, checking my IPhone, the next fast train back to Basel leaves in 22 minutes. I ask Mom if she can do it. She says no but we make the attempt to return to the train station. Moving through the crowds, down ramps (she doesn't like stairs), navigating the traffic signals, we inch ever closer to the station. We roar through the front entrance and there it is, our train, waiting for us, with 4 minutes to spare. That one move saved us 1 1/2 hours on the next available train. We are truly professional train travelers

Returning to Basel, we decide to go directly to the Munsterplatz Market and check it out first. It's very beautiful but quite small and we cover it in less than an hour. Mom had a sausage, I had little sausages and also fries. Remember, we have to save money on food today. Tomorrow she can eat whatever she wants on the riverboat. The tram gets us back to the hotel and I grab a few more oranges off their table. That'll teach 'em to mess with me.

See ya.