T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
Julie Without Halloween and Thanksgiving to hold it back, Christmas merchandise apparently starts running wild as soon as the leaves on the trees start to turn. Are there really people out there who stock up on chocolate santas two and a half months in advance? While completely immune to the charm of chocolate santas (especially milk … Read more
OK so we’re still in Switzerland, but all I can think about is our upcoming trip to Japan. I’m so exciting my head is about to explode. I’ve never been to Japan before, but I suspect it will be something like this (turn your speakers on – you’ll want to sing along). I don’t want … Read more
Time flies when you’re unemployed for the first time ever and trying to get used to a new country. The newlywed thing was the easy part. A year ago today we celebrated our wedding in Stresa, Italy, in a beautiful setting surrounded by more friends and family than we usually see in a year (thanks … Read more
From yesterday’s Heute (one of the free newspapers in Zurich): “Welcome to London. As soon as the other passengers have left the aircraft, we will start coming around to pry the remaining Americans out of their seats.”
If you’ve ever been to Interlaken, you have probably noticed the bizarre-looking complex of buildings that you pass on the train on your way out of the city that houses Mystery Park. Founded by an eccentric Swiss millionaire, the park consists of seven pavilions which explore great mysteries of the world such as Stonehenge and … Read more
This past weekend we enjoyed that quintessential Swiss experience, the cow festival. These are celebrated in small farming towns all over Switzerland at the end of summer, when the cows are brought down from their summer grazing spots in the mountains. This particular fête désalpe (which as far as I can tell is French for … Read more
For best effect, turn speakers up as loud as possible. Read all about our adventure at the Swiss cow parade.
Last weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed north to the Rhine Falls (Rheinfall in German). It’s one of those places that has been on our we-should-get-around-to-going-there-someday list for quite a while, so the trip gave us a nice sense of accomplishment, too. We took the train to Schaffhausen and wandered around … Read more
How do I know fall is here? The Wild [German for ‘game’ – the kind you eat, not the kind you play] menus posted outside almost every single restaurant in Zurich told me so. Despite the title, even vegetarians like me can rejoice in these seasonal culinary offerings. Good restaurants offer at least one fall … Read more
We spent a day in Lyon on our way back to Zurich from southern France. Our guidebook (The Rough Guide to Europe ) promised good things, so we decided to check it out. We started the day by taking a funicular up a hill to see some Roman ruins and an archeological museum (which, truth … Read more