Italy: you say Bozen, I say Bolzano

I was happy to finally get back to Bolzano (Bozen in German), a city where we spent some time many years ago and completely loved it. At the time we were living in Italy and found Bolzano’s German-ness to be novel and charming; this time around it was the Italian side we were more interested … Read more

France: Charming Toulouse

Lufthansa was having a sale on direct flights to Toulouse, so how could we resist going to meet up with our friends who have a house just outside the city? I only wish we had gone sooner, because as a vacation destination it was fabulous. Toulouse itself is a wonderful city for wandering. One day … Read more

Italy: Val Gardena

The Dolomites were the perfect place to unwind after two weeks of Oktoberfest. A friend recommended Val Gardena, Italy – about a 3-hour drive from Munich. It’s a ski resort area in the winter, and popular with hikers in the summer. Since we are now the shoulder season, we were able to get a great … Read more

Italy: Bolzano’s colorful market

I could have wandered up and down this street all day. Not that Munich doesn’t have a nice market; it does. But for some reason everything looks more delicious when it’s in Italy. Luckily we didn’t have to just look. We came home with many delicious Italian treats from this market. My husband gets credit … Read more

Hiding out in the Dolomites

Greetings from Italy. We’re recovering from Oktoberfest in a cute mountain resort town, because the best way to get over too much German beer, pretzels and kaesespaetzle is to wash it down with Italian wine, pasta, and cheese. I’ll be back to finish off my Oktoberfest posting in a few days. But for now, the … Read more

Berlin: as enchanting as ever

After almost three whole months (oh, the horror) of sleeping in my own bed, I finally got out of Munich for a few days in Berlin. Berlin is one of the few places I go back to over and over and over again, because I will never get enough of it. It’s so big and … Read more

Dublin notes

[I spent about a month in Dublin this past spring, and wrote most of this post then. I figured it’s high time I got around to publishing it.] What I enjoyed most about this stay in Dublin were the little bits of daily life: the grocery stores, the pubs, the friendliness of the people. Spending … Read more