Ash woke up about 1am after just a few hours sleep. He went down to the lounge and let me keep sleeping. I joined him around 4am. Thank goodness for the availability of 24 hour coffee.

We went out about 6:30 for a walk.

We returned to the river and took a right this time. Came across this cute Basel sign.

There wasn’t as much to see in this direction so we turned to walk through residential neighborhoods, passing this nice church along the way.

We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast around 8am.

This painting was behind our table, which meant it was the exact same table we sat at Friday night, it just looked somehow very different in the daylight. We had this whole discussion that night at dinner about – where did Robin come from? Or maybe it’s just that Heath’s Joker is so iconic the artist is not specifically referencing The Dark Knight? You decide.

At any rate, Shaye joined us for a bit before she had to run some errands then head to the airport. We said our goodbyes and decided to go back to bed.

We slept until 1pm. Wow. Clearly we both needed it. And it’s a good thing we had no plans. We decided at that point it was just time to give up on Basel and head to the next stop.

We packed up, got our car, and made our way into the German countryside.

Traube Blasingen, less than 30 minutes north of Basel. We found this on Booking.com. It’s a small hotel of just 8 rooms, but has a restaurant with one Michelin star. It’s an adorable house in a farming village about 2 kilometers from the Rhine River so close enough to fit in our theme for this trip.

A sitting area above, dining area below.

Breakfast room.

Our room above, bathroom below.

With a little balcony looking into the backyard and village beyond.

We went for a walk through farms and vineyards.

The weather was perfect, the scenery gorgeous.

The hills gave us a nice workout. We walked that whole lane down then up again. Clocked 19 floors by the end of the walk.

A sweet hillside cemetery being looked over by angels.

With horses and goats along the way.

We got back to the room and rested a bit. Took showers and made our way to dinner around 6:15.

We sat in the dining room off the entrance. Just seats 15. Only us and one other couple tonight. But was full last night and already completely booked for next Sunday.

Meet Daniela, one of the owners who was also our waiter.

When we booked this Dani asked about food limitations. It’s a price fixed menu, so you get the whole thing. But they tailored each to our preferences. Sweet.

She brought a bottle of sparkling water and offered an alcohol free aperitif. It was so wonderful we are looking it up to see if we can get it shipped home. (We can’t, they only ship to Germany, Austria, Luxembourg. We have since ordered 7 bottles, shipped to our hotel in Cologne. We will figure out how to get them home then….)

Three items in the amuse bouche to start: a miso muffin with venison, a trout tart which we liked better. But the star of this trio was a cold artichoke and zucchini soup.

Homemade bread from a local grain with a soft brown butter.

Tomato, cucumber, melon, bay leaf oil. Refreshing is almost cliche anymore but that’s definitely what this was.

The only other staff beyond Dani and the chef. We didn’t catch his name.

Corn, pearl barley, leeks, mushrooms, pickled mushrooms, in a mushroom broth, topped with smoked egg yolk. Rich and savory.

This was a dish they tailored for us. Both start with potatoes three ways – chunky, pureed, and foamed. Mine with beef and no truffle. Ash with onion and truffle. First taste for me reminded me of shepherd’s pie, which I love. Yum.

This is another dish they tailored for us. The menu item is roast pork with eggplant and broccoli. Mine at the top is pork with broccoli and Swiss chard. Ash’s at the bottom is guinea fowl (chicken) with eggplant and broccoli. We both enjoyed our dishes.

Brian, chef and Dani’s spouse. They have been here for 7 years. He is originally from Canada and went to culinary school there. Then spent time in London and Norway.

Wow. Frozen blue cheese crumbles / she called it blue cheese snow – , mulberry and fig compote, salted sunflower seeds. Wow. (Yes, again.)

Chocolate mousse, lingonberry, coffee ice cream, frozen lemon zest.

The final bites: a seabuckthorn (local berry) jelly at the bottom; a lemon curd ice cream sandwich; a salted caramel lollipop. The rock the ice cream is on is chilled to help keep them cold.

Breakfast isn’t until 8am which is pretty late for us, and no coffee in the room. So she made a thermos to take to our room.

Finally, peppermint tea. A perfect end to a delicious meal with a fun and interesting presentation.

And with that, it is 9:30. A 3 hour meal. We had talked about a walk after. I’m betting that’s off.

We are here just the night. Tomorrow we will drive on the France side of the river to our first castle.