Generally speaking, whenever I sit down to write one of these posts, my objective is to share something that I have found interesting or notable about the Swiss or European way of life or simply to show an image of something that I found especially beautiful. For this particular post, I am emphasizing the latter objective. Here are three images I photographed and/or video recorded that I found especially awe inspiring. Continue reading
Places
Another emotional reunion, this time with my college pal Rob in Budapest, Hungary
In a previous life, I attended a small liberal arts college for my first two years in a small town in Ohio. There I met this guy named Rob, a fellow rower, from the Philadelphia area. We became very good friends, and let the record show that we won an awful lot of crew races together in those two years. I transferred away after two years, but we remained in contact through the rest of college and for a few years after that. A few years later, Rob got an MBA from a prestigious east coast school which led him to a program overseas in Budapest, Hungary. I knew he was there, but we sort of lost track of each other at that point.
Fast forward about 20 years. When I learn I am going to be relocating to Geneva, I double down on my efforts to locate Rob, and I manage to succeed Continue reading
Geneva’s Jet d’eau – Up close and personal
I’ve come to believe that Geneva’s Jet d’eau (“water jet”) is one of the most underrated man made landmarks on the face of the earth. And interestingly, the jet d’eau is something of an “accidental’ landmark. The idea was first conceived way back in in 1886 when a separate outlet was created to control excess water pressure at a nearby hydraulic plant. That precursor to the current Jet d’eau released a stream of water a mere 30 meters into the air, but everyone still thought it was the coolest thing ever, so five years later in 1891, the Geneva city council came up with the bright idea that they could relocate the fountain out into the Geneva Harbor and attract tourists to come and see it. Continue reading
I’m having trouble getting used to the magnificence of the Alps
I’m very proud of my adopted home state of Minnesota (I’m not originally from there) and I have always told anyone who asked that Minnesota is truly beautiful with its 10,000 lakes, its rolling hills, the spectacular fall colors, the north shore of Lake Superior, and the pristine Boundary Waters to name just a few of its most appealing features. But there is one thing that Minnesota lacks, and that’s mountains. I’m making up for that now, living so close to Europe’s major mountain range, the Alps. Continue reading
A glorious bike ride and hike, and a reunion with my 2nd grade BFF Leo!
When I found out we were relocating to Geneva, my mom said to me, “Did you know that Leo lives in Geneva?”. Leo was my best friend when our families both lived in Washington D.C. when I was 8 years old, and while we had seen each other a handful of times since (he also has a strong Minnesota connection) we hadn’t seen each other for a good 15 years or so. We recently connected and made plans for me to come out to his home and then, weather permitting, do something fun outdoors. Continue reading
We take a road trip to beautiful Mantreux (and you won’t believe the view we had at lunch!)
A couple months ago I posted a piece on my hike up the Rochers de Naye, which featured some video and photographs of the beautiful town of Mantreux, located at the east end of Lake Geneva, opposite of our home in Geneva on the lake’s west end. That day, I had no time to actually explore the city so I have been looking forward to returning. We took advantage of the opportunity during the recent visit of Nancy’s sister Ellen and our brother-in-law Cliff. Continue reading
We visited Arles and Nimes and saw for ourselves how good the Romans were at building stuff
Back in August, we took 9 days and drove across the “Massif Central” of France to visit friends on the French/Spanish border, near the town in the Basque Country called San Sebastian. We had decided that on the way back home, we would take a more southerly route and retrace the path our family had taken 12 years ago in order to visit the towns of Arles and Nimes. Continue reading
We welcome our first American (adult) visitors, Ed and Mary!
We recently hosted our first adult visitors, our friends of 20 years from Saint Paul, Ed and Mary. (The honor of first overall visitor goes to Chris’ girlfriend Holly, who visited this summer.) The primary purpose of Ed and Mary’s trip abroad was to visit their son John who is working this fall for a design firm in Antwerp, but they figured as long as they were on the same continent, why not work in a visit to Geneva!
I know what you’re thinking… “Hmmm, I wonder what they did on their visit, because that would give me/us some idea of what I/we might do for fun if I/we were to visit.” Continue reading
My first real Swiss hike: 1000 meters verticle up to the Rochers de Naye
When I was a kid, my family did a lot of camping and backpacking. I’ve maintained a real love of hiking ever since. This blog post describes my first real hike since arriving in Europe. Chris and I tried a hike in the Jura mountain range, which didn’t really materialize as we had expected, and we did complete a great “hike ” in Spain with Jose and Susan and family which was fabulous and which I will feature in a future blog post, but that was only about 2 kilometers each way, which doesn’t qualify as a “hike” in my mind.
This hike however, was different. Continue reading
We went to Nice! Yep, it was nice!
I just posted yesterday, so because I feel very much caught up on my blogging obligations, this entry won’t display the same level of effort as yesterday’s. So here’s the deal: Chris and I took two days and did a whirlwind tour of the south of France. We drove to Aix-en-Provence — where Patrick studied abroad for a semester — and stayed overnight in a hostel; got up the next morning and drove to and around and through Marseilles; then on to a beach near Saint Tropez called Saint Aygulf where we swam at a beautiful beach for 5 hours Continue reading
Swiss Sojourner 