Swimming with Our Wickelfisch
Accommodation: Cozy Room in House with Cinema; host Nikos
Walk: 4 miles
Wickelfish: 2 miles
Dinner: Vito. Very good pizza.
Dessert: Gelateria de Berna. Very good gelato!
This morning, we did chores: finalized our bike routes for the next week, paid bills, organized our gear. About 14:00, we borrowed our host's Wickelfisch, packed our phones and money in Ziplock bags inside drybags, and hiked about a mile to the tourist office, where we bought a second Wickelfisch. Then we hiked another mile up the river, crossing to the other side via a pedestrian ferry tethered to a wire that lets it float across using the current (no motor), stripped down to our bathing suits, hugged our Wickelfisch, and slid into the Rhine River Wickelfisch lane with several hundred other tourists and locals.
It was 102 degrees this afternoon, and Wickelfisching was the perfect way to spend an hour. What is Wickelfisching? It's rolling up your clothes and necessaries into a fish-shaped dry bag, trapping air in the bag as you roll it tight and buckle it, slinging the strap across your chest, hugging the bag, and floating down the river about two miles through the middle of Basel.
What a hoot.
After we crawled out, we hiked to a pizza restaurant recommended by our host, bought groceries, stopped for ice cream at a gelateria recommended by the clerk at the tourist office, and returned to the house where we are staying.
Our host was home and presented us with a brand-new fan for our room--a very welcome gift! After cool showers and lots of water and lemonade, with all the windows and doors open and the fan at full speed, we are pretty comfortable lying on our bed.
So far, we are handling the heat okay, but it is hard to drink enough and find enough shade. Tomorrow is another hot one. We are hoping for a little cool-off after that.
