While searching for flights back to the United States, we stumbled across a round trip ticket from Frankfurt, Germany on July 4th, that was considerably cheaper than any other ticket—even one way tickets.  We decided to buy it.  A perk with the July 4th departure was that we had a few days to go on … Continue reading A Final Tour of Germany →

After two and a half years of soaking in the European lifestyle our time in Switzerland has come to an end.  Coincidentally, on the anniversary of America’s birth, Melissa and I stepped off a plane in Minneapolis for our own new beginning.  The next chapter of our lives will be in Washington D.C., where Melissa … Continue reading Moving Away… →

Wednesday June 14th June was a stressful month for Melissa and me, filled with the planning and worry associated with our forthcoming move back to America.  However, we had a welcome break from the stress in the middle of the month when Melissa’s aunt, Jodi Windschitl, came to visit.  For six days we took advantage … Continue reading Switzerland with Jodi →

This year Melissa and I spent Easter with the pope… ok not with the pope, but at least in the same city as the pope.  Like most Europeans Melissa had Good Friday and Easter Monday off of work, and to take advantage of the four day weekend we headed south to the eternal city.  While … Continue reading Easter in Rome →

The last few months have been pretty quiet for us here in Switzerland, but over the first weekend of March we finally had a guest in our extra room again. From Thursday March 2nd until Monday March 6th Melissa and I got to put on our tour guide hats to show our friend Britt Sieber … Continue reading Switzerland with Britt →

On Sunday January 29th Melissa and I took a mini vacation to one of the highest altitude hotels in the world: The Klum hotel atop the Gornergrat mountain. The journey to the hotel required riding three different trains.  Our first leg took us past Lake Geneva and through the scenic mountain canton of Valais until … Continue reading A night at 10,240 ft. →

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.  Especially for Melissa because she gets time off from work.  Since the holidays fell on weekends this year she got off the whole week after Christmas plus Monday January 2nd.   Our activities over the season began before her break, on Thursday December 22nd, when we spent … Continue reading Christmas Break 2016 →

Time flew by on our Christmas market tour, and before we knew it we were off to visit the last city of our tour, Salzburg, Austria.  We woke up Sunday December 11th near Austria’s eastern border, in Vienna, then, after a two and a half hour train ride, we arrived in Salzburg, near Austria’s western … Continue reading Christmas Market Tour – Day 9 & 10 Salzburg & Goodbye →

Despite arriving in Vienna on Wednesday, it wasn’t until Saturday that we decided to explore the city.  Our tour began with trips to two different palaces, then followed with an afternoon in the city center being guided around by native Austrians, and finished up with a hokey, yet fun and informative, trip through Vienna’s history … Continue reading Christmas Market Tour – Day 8 Vienna →

Because we’re Americans when we go on vacation we have to do and see it all.  On Friday December 9th that meant pushing ourselves to visit Budapest, Hungary.  This national capital is located about 150 miles, and about 2.5 hours away from Vienna. Knowing we had only a limited amount of time in the city, … Continue reading Christmas Market Tour – Day 7 Budapest →