A tentative start to my Rhine tour
On a dreary Good Friday afternoon, I visited the remains of what was once the splendid Roman town of Augusta Raurica. I was accompanied by my old friend Roberto, with whom I had studied Latin and Ancient Greek more than 40 years ago. I felt somewhat guilty for having drawn him out of his warm Basel flat in this weather, and on such a sad holy day. And yes, the museum was closed.
The ruins didn't instill the exact same awe and inspiration as the temple at Vassae, in Greece, where I dimly remember us embracing the columns in the moonlight. Oh, yes, antiquity loses some of its attraction if you yourself feel a bit like an antique.
The site is close enough to the Rhine to count as one of the monuments that shaped the history of this river. However, we managed to miss the Roman baths, where, according to the tourist brochure "people not only bathed but also discussed the latest news, played games, applied ointments and had massages".
The two of us did much of the discussing later on the day (not the latest news, but life, its perils and passions), and some of the massaging (well, imbibing plenty of wine amounts to a massage of the soul). We gave up our promenade along the murky river soon after the power station as gusts of wind threatened to lift our umbrellas up, up and away.
The bar of the Hotel Euler, with its Armenian-Kasakh-Russian lady pianist, proved to be a soothing resting place. Resting, did you say? I was reminded of the day, 30 January 1934, when one of the protagonists of my novel "Das Heft in die Hand", Prof. Fritz Haber, died in a room in this very hotel.
Despite the aborted walk, it was a good Friday, this 30 March 2018, but a sombre note permeated the hours.