Hi,

I have just joined the forum so I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Martin and I was born in England but I have lived in Basel for 17 years.

I work for a large software company with a head office in Zurich but luckly I don't have to go to Zurich very often. I suppose I have acquired a very much a Basel view of Zurich i.e. the best things about Zurich are the lake and the roads and rail tracks leaving it. It is bit like most countries where the big towns are rivals. I suppose the reason I like Basel compared to Zurich is that I feel in Zurich image is the most important thing where as in Basel everything seems much more casual.

I have learnt German and though I can understand a lot of Basel Deutsch I find it difficult to speak and so I often have conversations where I speak German and get replies in dialect.

I am looking forward to playing an active role in the forum

Martin

Welcome

Welcome! Nice to see another Basel person adding to our numbers on the forum!!

Heya

Welcome . Personally dont get the whole city versus city thing but I guess its the world over ( Melbourne really is better than Sydney )

Anyways enjoy!
kt

Hi,

when I was in Sydney they told me that Melbourne had a muddy canal and in Melbourne they told me that in Sydney everyone was stressed and the rat race was terrible.

I think the Zurich "problem" is noticable if you don't live there. Watch the swiss news and everything seems to happen in downtown Zurich. There is a real reluctance in Zurich to admit that FCB is a good football team ( not playing so well this year). The politics in Basel are different, here the SVP has virtually no representation and in the party split into two as they did not get on with each other.

I am very happy living here

Martin

Hi Martin,

We move to Basel soon and intend to settle, although basel is a bit expensive to buy somewhere so we will probably buy in France in the end! I am interested in you experiences in Basel, I speak a little 'high German' from my time in the RAF in Germany and we are both studying swiss german prior to moving over. My wife is Lithuanain by birth but speaks excellent english and we are looking forward to the move but a bit concerned over some of the threads!

Hi Martin. I've only recently joined the forum and haven't got myself into the swing of checking and posting threads yet!

And though I've joined the forum I'm not in Basel yet but hope to be in a couple of years when I finish my current job. I'm in Australia.

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts about life in the city as you've been there for a long time. I've visted often as I have friends there and really like it. Not considering Zurich (or anywhere else!) at all!

Cheers,
Pam