Vienna - Wien As many know, Vienna is Stephan's favorite city. By default, it has become the entire family's place to be.  Two weekends ago we had a little escape and hopped on the train - 7 hours later we were in Vienna. We spent 3

Rainbow - Der Regenboden After a lovely day of hiking on Sunday, I took a little escape and napped in our hammock. And lucky for us we got home before the storm. We were treated with a rainbow after the storm. taking a little cat nap after the hikeoutside our

School Cone - Die Schultüte In the German speaking world - on the first day of school each child gets a cone filled with treats.   It is something that occurs in Germany, Austria and the German speaking parts of Switzerland and Belgium. I would assume there are others as well.

Birthday - Der Geburtstag Today would have been my mom's 78th birthday. In reflecting upon her birthday I am reminded, she lived her life exactly as she wanted. And she REALLY loved those that she loved. One that she REALLY loved was Miriam. Some of my mom'

Garden Gnome - Der Gartenzwerg I know it is silly - but I love the German word for Garden Gnome. Last year I must have giggled for several months every time I heard the word. So much so, that my family stopped being amused. Whether it is from my childhood

Hedgehog - Der Igel While Miriam and Klara were visiting Salzburg  - a little friend came by to visit Oma and Opa.  Miriam got a few good photos of the little friend. Hallo little buddy!Everyone loves Oma's treats

Der Wasserfall - Waterfall Some photos from the walk with Stephan's father during Klara and Miriam's trip to visit. The Waterfall is just a short walk from Stephan's parents home.

Grandma and Grandpa - Oma und Opa Last week Klara and Miriam took the 6:40am train from Zürich to Salzburg. There they spent a week with Stephan's parents. They stayed in Stephan's childhood room, cooked some of his childhood dishes and walked the same trails

Pediatrician - Der Kinderarzt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gearing up for the move, I made all the necessary  US doctors' appointments, gathered all records, got a 3 month supply of needed medicine for all. I tried to make appointments with doctors for when we arrived, however, all recommendations were retiring or full.

to go - gehen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After several weeks of saying we are going live with the blog - we are finally there. Small things kept getting in the way of finishing the backend: work, immigration, jet lag and unpacking. A summary of where we are right now: In the past

14 - vierzehn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 19 marks the 14th birthday of Miriam. Just a year ago she wowed us at her Bat Mitzvah. And today she is running around Zürich going to German class (this is the first time she has had school on her birthday - she is not

Cow - die Kuh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2005, I was listening to NPR and a story came on. It was about a restaurant called the Blindekuh (the Blind Cow).  The restaurant staff are blind or visually impaired and you eat in the complete dark. I remember this story because Stephan and

to visit - besuchen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday morning we headed out of town and went to Freiburg im Breisgau. This is a town in Germany in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). We were very happy good friends from North Carolina were visiting nearby and could meet us for the day. We all

to drive - Fahren -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few posts back I wrote about Zürich reuse. We were very fortunate to score shelving units for our storage room. This is exactly what we were looking for and were getting ready to buy new - but we were able to get the units

Eine Woche - a week -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It has been a week and a day since we arrived in Zürich. It feels like we have done so much and yet so little. We are in this odd limbo phase. Not really in a routine yet and not really vacation. And without

Spot - die Stelle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She has found a happy spot in the living room.

recycle - recyceln -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the things I love to do is recycle. Whether it is the compost from our veggie scraps, or turning my mom's old needlepoint into a pillow. But today we had a great experience of reuse in our new town. We are currently

laundry - die Wäsche -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laundry was one of the key factors in the apartment selection.  Well, that and distance to M's school, monthly cost, number of bedrooms and ease to public transport... but that misses the point of this blog post. From my years in New York,

short - kurz -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the deal - I am short. The shortest in the house. And now the only one who will be using a step stool on a daily basis!  Why you ask? Well, the kitchen was not made for short people. Example A: Alicia attempting to

together - zusammen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are all together again, tired, but together. The trip started with the help of our friends Caryn and Bill. Loading two cars, one with the Altmueller luggage and the other with the Altmueller people. And then the unloading and the goodbyes. Due to the dates

bittersweet - bittersüß -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Altmueller household has some bittersweet news to share. Normally, I start with the bitter to get it over - but this time I will share the sweet first. Stephan has accepted a new position with Google. We are all thrilled for him and look forward