Seeing a new city with different eyes.

I recently moved to Basel due to a work project. So at least from Monday to Friday I call this multinational city in the country triangle of Switzerland, France and Germany my temporary home. And I still remember the first week I sepnt here. It was the beginning of July, hot and humid and every night when I found a different new route to my project apartment, I wanted to go out and explore the city, drink it all in, the bridges, the Rhine, the little shops, the old buildings, the beautiful marketplace, the people that literally come from all over the world. So I downloaded 1h walking tours I could easily do after work, looked at the map and googled for nice restaurants to spend the warm summer evenings at after having floated down the Rhine. Floating is THE summer acticity for everyone here. Stores sell sealable orange bags to put your clothes and wallet in. Then you go to a certain spot, put your belongings in the bag and float to the area where all the steps are, you get out, buy yourself a beer on one of the stands and sit on the steps in the sun to dry off. Great idea! There were even lots of nights when I could have done it, but for the lack of the sealable bag, the company and several other made-up reasons I haven't managed more than a late-night almost skinny-dip with some colleagues a few weeks back. On one route to work I kept seeing those amazing architectural buildings near the Novartis campus and I made a mental note to get off the tram there one day to look at them. But every night my shoes were already pinching me, I had no camera with me and I was too hungry to stop and take a look. So one week after the other passed, I had a lot of 4 day-weeks and then I went on vacation. Since I am I feel a little more home here, I moved apartments and now have a really nice one with 2 Ginkgo trees outside my window overlooking a nice little square. I know my way around the city a little better, and guess what happened? The urge to explore has vanished. The camera is in my purse all the time now, but I never seem to need it, although there are so many things to see, so many interestings scenes to watch and everytime I walk around, I am thinking, I can pay attention to the details another time. After all I will be here for another 9 months at least. So there is no hurry. The same thing happened to me already in New Haven, CT where I lived in 1999 and in Munich, where I moved in 2008. Until today, I have not seen most of the sights, know less than most visitors to my current "hometown" and don't know my way around as soon as there is no subway map involved. Isn't that sad? We are being placed into new surroundings, are all eager to explore, travel half around the world on a regular basis to experience something new, but we don't seem to bother about what we have right in front of us. So here is to Basel and my plan to make an effort and explore the city before the days get shorter and I only see everything in the dark on my way to and from work. I will start exploring... next week, I promise :)