Rattle and squeak

One of the fountains in Basel features the work of an artist who was born there, Jean Tinguely. It a very quirky piece of satirical nonsense with shovels scooping up water, a big sieve uselessly sieving and other pieces spraying water in all directions. It's a type of sculpture called metamechanics.

We also went to Museum Tinguely in Basel. There are dozens of mechanical sculptures by Tinguely that operate at the push of a button, with pieces of metal squeaking, rattling, groaning, crashing, thumping, rotating, flopping and whirring. It's a noisy and lively museum and a great delight for visitors of all ages. There were lots of families there the day we went. It's a cryptic, tragic, scary, funny, entertaining and thought-provoking exhibition in an interesting building by the architect Mario Botta.

A day in Basel

After a week of beautifully warm and fine weather the rain has arrived and hasn't stopped for two days, with more to come. It's more normal we're told.

When Glenn and Sarah first started living in Switzerland they lived in Basel and yesterday we all went there for the day -it's an hour's train trip from Zurich. The Rhine River flows through the centre of town and if you stood at the right spot you could see both Germany and France. The old medieval town was a delight to explore.