travel

A few more things about Berlin

Of course we did more than visit Christmas markets in Berlin in our four days there. Not that we can remember much after all that Glühwein… kidding, kidding. I remember a lot of stuff. Well, some. To start off our second Berlin trip of the year, we first went to the ever-fascinating Checkpoint Charlie museum. … Read more

International Glühwein Tour 2006 (part 1)

We spent the weekend Christmas-market-hopping around our little corner of Europe. On Friday I introduced fellow blogger Ali and my mother-in-law to that most delicious of Christmas treats, Glühwein (hot spiced wine, for those who haven’t been following along). This took place in the courtyard of the Landesmuseum, a large castle right next to the … Read more

Peeing in Japan

After drinking all that beeru, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have to use the facilities sooner or later. Hopefully you are still sober enough to figure things out. Toilets in Japan come in two main varieties: holes in the floor, and super-high-tech-crazy-toilets. The holes in the floor are common in public places, like at … Read more

And now for a random photo from Japan

What do you think they are trying to communicate to us, the consumers, with this particular packaging design? In my next life, I want to be a graphic designer in Japan. But really I made this post to let you know that I’ve finally uploaded a bunch of photos from our trip.

Mud and other Italian-style fun in Abano Terme

After spending a long weekend in Milan with Scott and our friends, I headed off alone to visit a friend in Abano Terme, a small spa town near Padua (Padova in Italian). Abano is relatively new for an Italian town, as it was mainly built up in the 50s and 60s, when having oneself wrapped in mud was the hip thing to do.

My friend happens to own one of the many spa hotels in the town, the Hotel Universal Terme. It’s a grand, old-fashioned place that makes you feel like you’ve gone back in time from the second you walk through the door (this is what the clients want, he tells me).

Read moreMud and other Italian-style fun in Abano Terme

My Milan

I love this city. I still can’t believe I avoided going back for a year, despite its proximity to our new home. I guess we needed some time to settle in and get on with our new life in our new country. When you have as many former homes as I do, sometimes it’s important … Read more

Aaaaaah… Italia

How in the world is it that we hadn’t been back to Italy a single time since moving away over a year ago? We have no good excuse – Milan (our former home) is a mere three hours away by train. We don’t even have to change (changing trains in Italy might be considered a … Read more

Everything you ever wanted to know about beeru…

ビール一杯ください。(If you find yourself in Japan, print the above out and point to it in case of emergency.)Our Japanese friends were kind enough to school us in the proper beer-drinking etiquette in their country while we were there. First of all, please note that the Japanese word for ‘beer’ is ‘beeru’ (pronounced bee-roo). This word … Read more

Big fun in Tokyo

Japan offers endless opportunities for novelty entertainment. We were often entertained at things that weren’t specifically designed to be entertaining, like in women’s hosiery stores and while choosing beverages out of vending machines. But a lot of the entertainment is on-purpose entertainment, too. Here are just a couple of the things we tried: Pachinko. Giant, … Read more