A ride with the Ferris wheel at Basel’s autumn fair has always been something very special to me. From ground level, near the house entrances at the Münsterplatz, upwards it goes. Suddenly one can look into the attic windows, then onto the roofs. And soon the cabin is way above the city, almost on level with the tips of the twin towers of Basel Cathedral. From the top of the Ferris wheel one can see the whole city, the river Rhine [in Deutsch: Rhein] and in the distance the mountains of the Jura [Switzerland], the Black Forest [Germany], and the Vosges [France]. And then, round and round it goes…
The Basler Münster’s twin towers are from the 15th century. The southern tower [Martinsturm] is 62 m high, the northern tower [Georgsturm] 65 m. This year’s Ferris wheel ‘Bellevue’ has a height of 55 m.