Tag: Travel
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Venice Part 2: History and Heat
We had a historic theme for our third day in Venice. After more croissants and cappuccinos, we headed across our little bridge into Piazza San Marco and stopped by the Museo Correr for a little Venetian history. Lots of sculptures, paintings of naval battles, weapons, manuscripts, and decorative rooms ranging from the time of the…
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Falling in Love with Venice
It’s hard to know where to even start with Venice. The extra excitement of this being our first trip across borders as Europe relaxed some of its restrictions this summer notwithstanding, we had a magical time in Venice. I fell in love with this city, which is at once magnificent and crumbling, opulent and decaying.…
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Traveling in Time in Fribourg
So far, we have experienced incredible architecture in Switzerland, mostly in the grandiose and ornate buildings of La Belle Époque or the picturesque rural homes of the Swiss chalet style, with small pockets of preserved medieval architecture in the vieilles villes, or old towns, of cities. It was an unexpected treat then to find the…
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A Year in the Life
It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since Kurt found out that he was chosen for a post-doc opportunity at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. I find myself reflecting on the past year and all that has happened and marveling at the number of life changes and challenges we have faced. After he…
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In Pursuit of Flowers
A popular phrase here right now is La Neige de Mai, or the May Snow. Now this is a type of snow I can get behind, as it’s not frozen water that is currently blanketing the mountain meadows, but white narcisses, or daffodils. Such a sight was worth a muddy, rainy, and foggy trek into…
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Fun Times in France
In the midst of the whirlwind of moving, apartment searching, and the never-ending bureaucratic nightmare that is living as expats in Switzerland, we managed to make the most of our few weeks of living in France. Kurt gets all of the credit here; I think he got tired of looking at my frazzled face and…
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Bienvenue en France! Welcome to France!
Our latest Geneva adventure has been a two-month saga in apartment hunting, which we had no idea could possibly be so complicated! With our new apartment not ready for a few weeks (one of the important lessons of Geneva rental practices: there are only two days per month on which a lease can begin—the first…
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Signs of Spring in Montreux
With temperatures hanging out in the 50s and even—gasp!—approaching 60 °F for the first time in months, it felt like time for a celebration! That’s not to say that I dislike winter; I actually really do like winter. But there is something indescribable about that first consciousness of slightly longer days, air temperatures that lack…
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Wintry Wanderwegs in Interlaken
I am currently obsessed with the word wanderweg, which is German for hiking trail. Wanderweg seems to capture the magic of hiking so much better than our very functional “hiking trail.” I just love the cognate wander, and wander was exactly what we did on our trip to Interlaken, in the Bernese Oberland. As one…
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Our First Nöel
Learning Swiss holiday traditions during our first Christmas in Geneva The entire holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year, and as Kurt (sometimes exasperatedly) will tell you, I am a sucker for all things seasonal. Our first Christmas in Switzerland was the perfect opportunity to be immersed in a new set…
On A Grand Tour 