art

Jugendstil, Qi-Gong, and the world’s worst muffin

On Saturday night, Zurich’s museums opened their doors for the Lange Nacht der Museen, an annual affair that involves late-night openings and special events all over the city (with, of course, extremely efficient all-night public transportation connecting it all). We visited an impressive eight museums (out of 40) over the course of the evening, definitely … Read more

Finding Chagall in small-town Switzerland

My trip to French-speaking Switzerland the other week had a purpose (beyond making fun of the newspapers, I mean)– our goal was to find art and look at it. Day one was spent in Lausanne, a lovely, hilly town on Lake Geneva, where after a lovely Middle Eastern lunch my friend Ali and I visited … Read more

Interactive art at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof

Last year I wrote about the inauguration of the NOVA 3D light sculpture in the Zurich main train station. This marginally entertaining installation has become a lot more interesting since then, now that its interactive capabilities have been enabled. By touching a glass screen on the side of the groups meeting point sign, you can … Read more

I get cultured in Padua

OK, so where was I? A couple weeks ago I spent a few days in Italy, staying at my favorite hotel and spa in the whole world (which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the manager is a good friend of mine, I swear), which is in a small town just outside of Padua (Padova). I can’t go to Padua without feeling an intense urge to move back to Italy, and this trip was no different. It’s just so…. Italian. The cobblestones, the cathedrals, the art, the public humiliation of graduates… and of course the food. Why am I not there right now?

Read moreI get cultured in Padua

Yet another day trip: Luzern

Last Sunday the weather was gorgeous, so we decided to go explore Luzern. We arrived just before lunch and headed directly to the ‘best vegetarian restaurant in Lucerne’, Restaurant Hofgarten. The food was yummy (if a little heavy on the sauce), and we enjoyed sitting out in the plant-filled courtyard. Then we went over to … Read more

A Day in Basel

To further my goal of getting to know every corner of Switzerland, I recently rounded up a few friends and took a day trip to Basel, which is about an hour away from Zurich by train (as I’ve said before – one of the big benefits of living in Zurich is all of the cool … Read more

I love love love Berlin

We spent Easter weekend in Berlin with Kesha and her giant husband (who, by the way, looked quite reasonably-sized among the Germans). I lived in Berlin for the summer of 1997, and hadn’t been back to the city since 1999, so I was eager to revisit my favorite parts and see how the place had … Read more