Oct. 28th Basel and Arriving in Portugal

I woke up early and finished packing for the plane trip to Portugal. This meant that everything had to fit in my suitcase. I kept my large purse and a few things out but I made sure there was room to pack everything in when I got to the airport. Easyjet says one item only, so no purse. Well I have the little one that slides under my sweater and doesn't show. It has my passport, credit card holder and boarding pass. On the plane my iPad will fit into the purple sweater inside pocket so I will have that as well.
I left Sabrina's key in her mailbox and left it on a Canadian key chain. I walked to the bus for the last time and headed off to the train station. I took the train to Zurich, bought a banana and a croissant to eat on the train and off I went to Basel. Once in Basel I knew I had several hours before I had to go to the airport. I hopped on a tram and headed downtown hoping to find the pedestrian streets. A few blocks later I exited the tram when I saw some carnival rides. Right across the road was the beginning of the old town and the pedestrian streets. I love the winding streets in these areas and the very old architecture. The decoration on the building is lovely and the building could not be duplicated today. I spent some time window shopping and finding all the interesting spots including a park with lots of mechanical machines like large toys in a reflecting pool. There was a gorgeous church a few blocks away. I took pictures of the outside but there was a young lady giving a concert on the inside so no pictures. I started to follow the signs for the hauptbahnhof but after a few blocks I gave up and hopped on another trolley. Of course it was going the wrong way. I rested on the trolley for several stops and finally decided to get off and go back. It turned out I was only 3 stops from the central station if I had gone the other way to start with. I took the airport bus and arrived at the airport about 2 hours before the flight. I didn't realize how small the airport was. Security was a breeze compared to Toronto, Amsterdam or most other airports. I stopped at this point and packed my purse and things into my suitcase or my pockets. The flight was uneventful. When I arrived in Faro, Ana and Paulo were waiting for me. I passed through a gate that said customs but didn't see anyone and walked out to join them. We drove to Tavira and nice warm soup was waiting for us. Relaxed for the evening and we will start our adventures tomorrow.