Well, nothing is ideal and even I was able to find something bother on Basel. This post summarizes list of things found in a month here. Only the first one I find really annoying, the others are fine, but I wanted to mention them.
Smoking Like a Chimney
Really a lot of people smoke here and practically everywhere. You will find smoking people walking on the streets, sitting in the parks, waiting for public transport or even inside railway station building. You can sit in the park and enjoying you lunch and suddenly someone sits near you and lights his/her cigarette. By the way, I met several people with tobacco-pipes on the street. There are even vending machines for cigarettes on public places accessible 24/7, so anyone can buy cigarettes anytime. It feels to me a bit ridiculous, considering their approach to alcohol.
This is one is the only one really annoying and rude thing from my point of view.
Too Tiny ½ Franc
One Swiss Franc is divided into 100 Rappen. There are coins of value 5, 10 and 20 Rappen; ½, 1, 2, and 5 Franc. Problem is ½ Franc’s dimensions and weight is between 5 and 10 Rappen, so it’s a bit more difficult to find proper coins.
Tiny ½ Franc
Interesting fact is that even coins from 19th century are still valid, for example top ½ Franc in the picture is from 1970.
Hard Time for Alcoholics :-)
I like store chain Migros, which is quite cheap, but I wanted once to buy beer there once. Well, after 2 rounds around shop, I asked staff and I got to know, Migros sell no alcohol beverages (and no tobacco).
Calm on Sundays
Almost every store and even restaurants are closed on Sundays. We are also not allowed to use washing machine on Sundays and we should also probably do not vacuuming and do other noisy tasks on Sundays.
That I can’t do my laundry on Sundays is OK, but I would like to at least do some shopping. Unfortunately, there is same custom in neighboring Germany.
Too Big Bebbi-Sacks
At first, I found the idea of Bebbi-Sack quite nice, but even the smallest bag is too large for me and the garbage gets stinky after a few days. I have to figure this out somehow.
Public Transport Interval
Public transport in Basel is great, except intervals in rush hours. Interval during day is OK, interval in the evenings, Saturdays and Sundays is great, but not in rush hours. If you check tram no. 3, interval is 7 minutes and I would expect at most 4 minutes. I have to admit, this tram is not overcrowded, so from this point of view it’s sufficient.
When I was complaining for this to locals, they recommended me to get a bike, if you like velo. Well, probably not ideal for me and when I go to the tram stop according to its schedule, then it’s OK and very fast for me.
