The Weekend I Bushwacked and Trespassed France

German, French, and Swiss Flags

A couple weekends ago I set out on another lone weekend adventure on a mission to see the Vitra Design Museum, one of the leading interior design companies in the world. Famous for their flawless construction of classic modern chairs, the designs of legends like Charles and Ray Eames and Mies van der Rohe are displayed,  honored, and even built in buildings designed by famous architects such as Frank Gehry and Antonio Citterio at the Design Museum. For a design guru like me "paradise" would be an understatement. So off to Germany I went to have a design experience of a lifetime. Check out the slideshow of the museum!



I have to admit that after I walked through the design museum and into the gift shop I was like a kid at the candy store. I bought a coffee table book for someday when I am lucky enough to have a coffee table, a keychain, a pair of shoes, and a model of the Panton Chair, my favorite of all classic chairs. I may have spent about 150 Euro on it all, but I think everything was beyond worth it. And for the record, those shoes are so comfortable!

The day after I went to the Vitra Design Museum I had another mission: walk from Switzerland to Germany to France and back to Switzerland. Not many people can say they have walked to three European countries in a day, but luckily for me Basel is a city that is right on the border of Switzerland, Germany and France so it was all possible. The whole journey would have taken about two hours...if it weren't for the fact that I am prone to mistakes and "whoops" moments along the way. This journey was no different.

Walking to Germany was no hassle. It took about 15 minutes and along the way I was able to make a short video greeting while in all three countries at once:


(I apologize that you can't actually see the flags and that I lie about not telling you exactly where I am because that is exactly what I am doing. The next time I make a video I promise to be more accurate.)

After making the video I crossed over into Germany and as it began to rain I decided there was no better use of my time than to go into a local bar and have some German beer. Once the rain stopped I resumed my mission and walked across the bridge into France.



For the next stage in my three country trek my thinking was that my best chance of making it back to Switzerland through France without getting lost was just to walk along the Rein river along the French border until I came to a bridge taking me back to Switzerland. Brilliant! ....Or so I thought.

In hindsight, maybe I should have done a little more research or looked closer at a map to plan my route, but that is just not my travel style. I figure that I am a start enough woman to just figure it out along the way. Well, this time my sense of adventure and lack of information actually got me into a dicey situation. The long the road I had been walking eventually had been reduced to this little path...and then into a giant dead end into a huge thorn bush. I was in flip flops so I couldn't really whack my way through the bush and I was already about a 45 minute walk down the coast of France and far to determined and stubborn to fail my mission. I was so close to the Swiss border I knew there had to be something I could do. I have wiggled out of difficult situations before, so why would this be any different?





So I crawled my way through a hole in a fence...








Into an oil yard.

                                                         Whoops!

The first clue that there had to be a way out through the fence was that the hole was already there, so it wasn't like I was the first person to have done this. With the evidence of blatent tresspassing on my hands I decided to tuck my hands in my pockets and walk around like I owned the place until I found my way back to Switzerland...as quickly as possible...without getting arrested. Eventually I stumbled upon a security center and, with no other options or ideas of how to get myself out of my predicament, I poked my head inside and simply asked "Excuse me, how do I get back to Basel?" All three security guards just stared at me with confused expressions and in slow motion pointed in the direction where I should go. I smiled cheerily, thanked them, and then walked faster than I have ever walked in my life to get the heck outta France.

Once I was on Neutral land again I spent the rest of the day giggling to myself about how ridiculous my day had been and how I should never do something like that again. But I am definitely glad to have the memories!