Alicia Altmueller

Vevey for the Day (or so)

This past Saturday morning, Stephan and I hopped on a train to Vevey. Vevey is just a quick 15 minutes from Lausanne and about 2.5 hours from Zürich. It was such a lovely town. Off season and before the grapevines wake up - it was a nice treat to

One more about the Ball

In Austria there are over 300 balls during ball season. As mentioned in the last post we choose the Kaffeesieder Ball because of our love for the Viennese coffeehouses. At the start of most/all the balls there is a precision of the honored guests followed by musical and dance

Wiener Kaffeesieder Ball

I know it has been over a month since a blog post. We have been down with covid followed by the flu and various other fun things. However, we were able to get our health back in time for the Wiener Kaffeesieder Ball. This magical evening started for us with

Geneve for Lunch!

Lunch - das Mittagessen My friend Birgit and I both had a free weekend so on Saturday morning we hopped on a train and headed to Geneve. We got there just in time for lunch. We wandered the small streets and came across a Mexican Restaurant. Once refueled, we headed

Lucerne in the Rain

Lucerne in the rain. - Lucerne im Regen. Stephan and I took advantage of a weekend with no plans. We hopped on the train on Saturday and headed to Lucerne. The rain definitely shortened the trip but didn't dampen the happiness we had together. We dashed in and

SNOW

Snow time - The snow started Friday night and stopped at some point on Saturday. It seemed to surprise us all. We were out at a holiday celebration on Friday and happened to have our car - we ended up taking a slightly longer route home to avoid the steep

Basel

Water Fountain - Der Wasserbrunnen My friend and I decided to visit Basel Friday. We hopped on the train and an hour later we were there. It was my first time in Basel. It was a pretty cold day, so we walked around the city, found a restaurant for lunch

Rainy November

It is raining all the time - Es Regnet die ganze Zeit I haven't written much recently because I think I and many of us are kind of stuck. In addition to the world chaos and pain, the weather here has not made it very comforting. We went

Pumpkin Time

Pumpkin Time- Kürbiszeit For the past 15 years, Jucker Farms, one of the big local farm hosts a new holiday display. The project is lead by the German artist Pit Ruge. One afternoon my friend and I went to see the exhibit. Turns out we were not the only one

Zürich Succulent Collection

Cactus - Der Kaktus Stephan and I were doing errands today and we passed the Zürich succulent collection. So we took a little detour and walked through the collection. Here is what we learned: It is one of the largest collections of succulents in the world More than 50% of

Klara's an author

author -  Die Autorin (female) This past summer Klara informed us she was submitting a book to a competition being held for young Austrians. And she did.  The book is six short stories all intertwined throughout the multiverse. When I read the book - I hear Klara's voice.

Sunflowers

Sunflower - Die Sonnenblume One of my favorite flowers are sunflowers. This year the farm by us is growing sunflowers and they are offering self picking options. We are enjoying our daily walk by the fields and the opportunity to bring them home as well.

Grosse Alpabfahrt in Einsiedeln

Die Alpabfahrt - well there really isn't a translation Each Summer farm animals are brought up the mountains in the Alps to graze in the cooler temperatures and roam the mountaintops. As the weather starts to turn, the animals are brought down the mountains to their winter homes.

May in Innsbruck

May - Mai So right before the tech pause in June - we spent a weekend in Innsbruck. The 4 of us met up as a halfway point. Technically, it is closer to Zürich than Vienna -  but no one minded. No one complained as Innsbruck is favorite town. It

Marmot Sighting

Marmot - Das Murmeltier While on our last hike of the trip - we heard some whistling and looked around to spot a marmot. It was a cool moment and we were able to get a couple blurry shots. In addition, throwing in a few of final shots on the

Dessert in Graz

dessert - der nachtisch We spent a lovely weekend in Graz this summer. It is a nice town, even if the continual downpour occurred all weekend.  It was 5 of us for this time. We walked, ate and thrifted. (M was the big winner this round of thrifting - she

Wald Im Pinzgau

Mountains - Die Berge A week in the mountains with only hiking and resting was something that we have never done before this week. I am not sure why we waited this long.  Stephan found a nice location in the Austrian mountains right on the border between two Austrian states

Cows in Charge

Cows - Die Kühe We are spending the week on the mountain top town called Wald Im Pinzgau  in Austria.   We drove up right on a rainy night. We learned two things the next day: We took the back-way up the mountain (very happy we can leave on a bigger

And We Are Back!

return - zurück Hello friends!  It has been a few months since we posted on the blog. We took a little time off from tech in June and part of July. It was a long year of schools ending, exams and some health blips. All is behind us and we

Riedikon/Uster

path - Der Weg Taking you on one of our morning strolls this spring from the first week in May.

Pfannensteil

hiking shoes - Die Wandernschuhe This is from April break: Stephan, Klara, Benedikt and I walked from our apartment to the Pfannensteil. It was a gorgeous day! The hike was uphill for the first 2+ hours but the view and the company were worth it. Well that and the treat

Hike in Feldkirch

We hiked in Feldkirch - Wir sind in Feldkirch gewandert Klara and Benedikt came to visit this past week and Stephan and I met them at the train in Feldkirch. We had the day off so we got up early and went for a hike before their train arrived. It

Passover

Seder - Der Sederabend We held off  to host our seder for a couple of days until our two were under the same roof as us. So today we hosted our Seder. There were six of us this year and it was quite a nice evening. We did bring back

The Birds of Greifensee

Die Vögel - Bird Our daily walks to the lake near our house. Here are some of the birds we have seen. These are not all - but some of the wonders.

St. Gallen

Der Kanton  - Canton/State There are 26 cantons in Switzerland. Last week, Stephan and I went to a new canton (for us). We visited the town of St. Gallen, which is in the canton of St. Gallen. Lovely, stroll and lunch in the town center. One thing we did