I headed in to the show for a couple of hours after I dropped off my suitcases at the lockers in the Basel SBB train station. I was headed for Neuchâtel later that day to spend the afternoon and evening with Stephen McGonigle and his lovely lady, Cathriona prior to heading back to Zurich the following morning to catch the flights to London and then on to San Diego.

As I didn't intend to spend very long at the show, I hadn't any specific appointments set up, so I headed into the AHCI area, where I met up with Kari Voutilainen & enjoyed a coffee and a lovely Dutch cookie/biscuit that was waffle like in a sandwich format with honey/maple syrup in the middle. How it remained crunchy I'll never know, but suffice to say it was delicious with the strong coffee! I then chatted with Dutch brothers for a few minutes longer before heading over to see John McGonigle and his brother lurking off to the side.

I bid everyone good bye and then headed off to the train station with Stephen McGonigle to catch the train to Neuchâtel with Stephen. We grabbed a quick bite to eat prior to jumping on the train at a cafe close by the station:

I then grabbed my case and made for the train to Neuchâtel with Stephen. Arriving with a little light in the early evening, I headed to his pub that he and Cathriona own, the Cafe du Cerf, in the heart of old Neuchâtel, tucked away in an alley. We grabbed a pint and chatted for a while til Cathriona joined us. A fun moment as I hadn't seen her since their visit to San Diego in February.

As there was a traditional Irish music night with two musicians starting around 6.30pm, I decided to hang around and check them out as I could see Stephen was quite excited about them. I was rewarded with an amazing hour and a half of fantastic music played by two very skilled fellows. Playing the guitar and flute to start with, they then switched, so the flutist took over the guitar and the guitarist took up the banjo. Wow!

These guys played their hearts out, well done!

I stayed til the end at around 8pm, then headed home to Stephen's for a fabulous rack of lamb dinner. Excellent preparation and I headed off to bed happy and full. Up early Monday, I made my bus, train and planes via Zurich & London, back to San Diego.

All in all another successful Baselworld trip, with my friendships/relationships strengthened and many superb watches looked upon and handled! I thank all my gracious hosts in and out of the fair, and I look forward to next years event of the year!

Cheers,

Tim