This last week we’ve been busy searching for apartments.  We looked at five apartments, each with lines out the door of people waiting for the showings.  For three of these we sent in applications.  The process reminds me of job seeking out of college.  I’m not sure if I’m filling everything out correctly, I’m not sure … Continue reading 25 January 2015 Update →

This week, we still have not received our residence permits… My routine is to check the mail everyday at 9AM, look in the box, then return disappointed up the stairs to our apartment.  We are still within the 1 to 2 month window we were told when we emailed the office, so hopefully this next week … Continue reading 19 January 2015 Update →

The single biggest culture shock in moving to Switzerland is the French language.  It’s everywhere you look in day to day life from the grocery store, to street signs, to looking up information on the internet, to public transport, to restaurants, to people on the street…to everywhere!  We knew before coming here it would go … Continue reading Le français →

This last week we took it easy after our German vacation and we didn’t do much that’s interesting to blog about.  There was of course the Charlie Hebdo incident in Paris.  It’s been front page news every day, and there was a peace demonstration a few blocks from our house Wednesday, which the paper said … Continue reading 11 January 2015 Update →

On Saturday, January 3rd the only site-seeing we did was go inside Cologne’s cathedral.   We may have saved the best for last out of all the cathedrals we saw.  The cathedral has two huge towers out front that must be very close to the size of the one at Ulm.  The detail everywhere is … Continue reading Tour de Germany Day 9 – Coming Home →

Friday, January 2nd we boarded a train from Potsdam to Hannover to meet up with Britt Sieber; she was a foreign exchange student hosted by Melissa’s aunt and uncle a few years ago. We arrived around 11:30, saw a little of downtown Hannover, then stopped into an American style restaurant for hamburgers. It was such … Continue reading Tour de Germany Day 8 – Potsdam, Hannover, Cologne →

Thursday, January 1st we stayed in the same Potsdam hotel a second night.  We anticipated that we may need to sleep in after New Years eve, and in fact didn’t get moving until around noon.  We had lunch in Potsdam, then set off by train to explore Berlin. When we roughly planned out our trip … Continue reading Tour de Germany Day 7 – Berlin, Potsdam →

New Year’s in Berlin was an interesting experience to say the least.  We left our hotel in Potsdam about 7:30PM and arrived at Berlin’s main train station at about 8PM.  From then on we were immersed in huge crowds of people until the early morning. The main celebration is at the Brandenburg gate where over a … Continue reading Tour de Germany – New Years in Berlin →

Wednesday, December 31st we were in Dresden, Berlin and Potsdam.  In the morning we walked around Dresden.  Most of the buildings in Dresden were destroyed by a huge fire after a bombing raid in World War Two.  However, there are still some incredible, lavish stone buildings there that make a person wonder how grand the city … Continue reading Tour de Germany Day 6 – Dresden, Berlin, Potsdam →

Tuesday, December 30 we started in Nuremberg and finished in Dresden. We spent the morning at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. It is a wide ranging museum with the general theme of German history. I really liked it. They have English descriptions on all the exhibits and it’s not just paintings; they have statues, musical instruments, … Continue reading Tour de Germany Day 5 – Nuremberg, Dresden →