Despite Switzerland being a small country, and despite Melissa and I trying our best to “see it all”,  it wasn’t until July 30th that we visited the Italian part of Switzerland; 20 months after first moving to our adoptive country.  The main reason for this is that the one and only Italian canton, Ticino, is on … Continue reading Lugano →

Every four years the world tunes in to watch its greatest athletes compete for Olympic gold.  Before this year I had only ever seen the filtered coverage from American media and thought the rest of the world probably viewed the Olympics in much the same way. However, now that I live in Lausanne, Switzerland, “The … Continue reading Watching the Olympics from Switzerland →

I live a charmed life… the only goad I needed to pack my bag for Vienna, Austria was a phone call.  My aunt and uncle, Mary Jean, and Tom Hansen, were on an epic, multi-week, European tour, and called me July 6th to see if I wanted to meet up with them.  Vienna was the closest … Continue reading Vienna →

The town of Montreux, located 20 miles away from us on the eastern shore of Lake Geneva, marks every July with the famous Montreux Jazz festival.  For sixteen days the town’s long lake walk is filled with festival booths, meandering tourists, and of course, music!  On the final day of the festival, July 16th, Melissa and I … Continue reading Montreux Jazz Festival & Rochers de Naye →