It’s not a film for the weak of heart. Scenes of all kinds of human brutalities set its pace.
The slaughtering of a pig. The whipping of a child. The botching of an abortion. With a backdrop of the vast natural beauty found in the mountains of Emmental, Der Verdingbub (The Contract Boy) is a film of stark contrasts.
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My fascination with Basel’s cliques started last year when I met a member for the first time at a friend’s party.
Up until that point, I had, like most new Basel expats, a very distant relationship to Fasnacht.
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When an elderly woman hailed me down off my bike in Freiestrasse the other day, I was sure that I was in for it.
Freiestrasse is the main shopping street in Basel and passage is reserved for pedestrians only. I know. I’m bad. But, I was cycling so slowly and my turn was so close.
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A row of windows glowed a mysterious turquoise in an otherwise dark, empty, and quiet street in Basel.
(photo: dampfbad.ch)
Looking for some tranquillity as my first Christmas season away from my family in the States was coming to a close, I decided to treat myself to some steam at the Dampfbad. The Turkish-style spa just opened a couple of months ago in the former St. Johann train station.
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A labyrinth is not a maze. I found this out during a serendipitous afternoon in Zurich, where I am spending the period “between the years”. The difference is technical and, for lack of a better word, spiritual.
A maze has dead ends and nerve-wracking loop paths. The labyrinth has a defined entrance, an exit and a centre. In a maze, you get lost. In a labyrinth, you find yourself.
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One cannot help but think that if the Latin influence were not so strong in Geneva, Christmas might not be such a jolly affair in the city.
Geneva is, willy-nilly, steeped in some Calvinist juices, however. So it is hardly surprising to find that when celebrating such a pagan-tinged, heretical feast as Christmas, the smoked salmon, foix gras, oysters, calorie-laden bûches (the French pastry Yule log) and bubbly are accompanied by something a little thorny, something you have to work hard for to reap the rewards.
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