The second weekend of September brought with it our second set of guests: Melissa’s friend from high school, Eric Adams, and his friend Ashley Brown.  Like the Diedricks before them, Switzerland was just one stop along the way of their much larger European tour, which for them began eleven days earlier in Rome.  Being Americans they … Continue reading Switzerland with Eric and Ashley – Part 1 →

After an uneventful August, Melissa and I are in the midst of a busy September.  This weekend we are in Brussels, Beligium, visiting Britt Sieber, last weekend we hosted Minnesota friends Eric Adams and Ashley Brown at our apartment, and before that, on the first weekend of September, we welcomed my uncle and aunt, Jim and … Continue reading Switzerland with Jim and Lee →

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 →

From Thursday June 23rd through Monday July 4th Melissa and I were back in our home country!  Our trip was our once a year visit home, and the excuse we used for taking it this year was a wedding for my cousin Sam to his bride Marianne.  We only visited our home state of Minnesota, but managed … Continue reading Back in the U.S.A. →

Monday June 20th On Monday we let Tim and Colleen loose to explore the Swiss Alps by themselves.  Their journey began right after breakfast with a train ride through the scenic canton of Valais, then, after a few transfers, a stop in the city of Interlaken.  From Interlaken they went higher up into the Alps … Continue reading Switzerland with Tim and Colleen – June 20-23 →

Even though we’ve lived in the Lake Geneva area for 18 months now, it took until Sunday June 19th with Tim and Colleen for us to figure out the best 1-day sight seeing route for the region. After a nice slow morning with crepes and coffee, we squeezed in a drive to the summit of Mont Tendre, … Continue reading Switzerland with Tim and Colleen – June 19th →

On Saturday June 18th two of our friends from Minnesota, Tim Gillard and Colleen Crook, flew into Zurich for a see-it-all Swiss vacation.  Over six days they made our apartment their base of operations as they ventured out to see Swiss cities, mountains, country side, and lakes, while riding every means of Swiss public transport: … Continue reading Switzerland with Tim and Colleen – June 18th →