4 Orange Suitcases

Lot of Baking at Home

to bake - backen We are doing most of our cooking and baking at home. Costs are high to eat out, which in a way is a happy change. In the states, I admit - it was very easy to just eat out or bring pre-made in.  However, here the

Vienna Food

more - mehr More stories about Vienna. This time around it is about where we have eaten. As you know - we are a gluten free home, so we are very careful about eating out. Luckily, Vienna and Austria in general, are pretty easy to navigate. Being part of the

Hello People

Hello People - Hallo Leute I am not sure why this story is making me feel like I need to write a blog post - but it is... So today, Lilith Magazine posted a story that was written in the Atlantic.  It was all about people using the term, "

Viennese Coffeehouses

Coffee - Der Kaffee First, I know that I am jumping around and talking about different locations. We are currently home in Zürich, so don't think I jumped back on the train to head to Vienna. (Though, once I start writing about Vienna - I may). Today- I

Kürbisfest Rudolfingen

pumpkin - Der Kürbis Stephan was away for work travel, Miriam was off at a friend's house for the night - so Klara and I went on an adventure with a group of friends. We took a train out to the village of Rudolfingen [http://www.rudolfingen.ch/

Gluten Free

Gluten Free - Glutenfrei  (Senza Gluten - Italian) GluFree BakeryLet's face it - finding safe gluten free food anywhere is a pain in the ass. Trust me- we have been doing this for over 7 years now. From the moment we returned from the emergency room, we knew

Pizza in Pisa

Pizza - Die Pizza On our final day in Tuscany, we went to Pisa. This town was the biggest surprise of the trip. We fell in love with it. It was full of young people (we later figured out one of the best universities in Italy is located there). Locals

Staying in Town

Village - Das Dorf Today we spent the day, resting, reading and walking. We walked the olive groves, the vineyard, had a coffee in the little village and ate outside overlooking the beauty in its' many shades of green.   I know some of these photos may look the same

Florence

Florence - Florenz - Firenze (Italian) We recognized that Florence was going to need the most time this trip. We allotted two days. Each morning we walked the city, if you haven't figured this out - walking cities is a favorite past time of all of us. Then

Tuscany

Tuscany - Tuskana afternoon view from where we are stayingAfter our long weekend in Milan, we hopped back on the train and headed to Tuscany.  We have 5.5 days here. We realize we are not going to see everything so we are going to enjoy what we do see.

Siena

beautiful - schön We left our little paradise in the olive trees and grapevines to visit the beautiful city of Siena. The small winding streets had us entranced. We spent the day strolling up and down the tiny passages, looking at the stunning buildings and the views.

Milan

Milan - Mailand - Milano (Italian) Duomo di Milano - took 6 centuries to complete and it is the third largest cathedral in EuropeAfter 5 days in Vienna - we headed home. But that only lasted a couple nights because, we quickly hoped on another train and headed to Milan

Vienna Again

to repeat - wiederholen train ride to ViennaYes - we are here again!  We anticipate spending a bit of time in Vienna. This time we got 5 days to relax and explore our new favorite area - the 16/17th district. Definitely, not the fanciest part of town - but

Gmar Tov

to remember - merken This year loss is weighing heavy. As we continue our wandering during the high holidays we are feeling the loss of those that passed a little harder. I apologize to those I may have offended. It was a whirlwind year and I know I didn'

Happy New Year

New - neue Happy New Year! L'Shanah Tova! Swiss farm flowers and apples, Italian pomegranate and German honey from Klara's summer school The Jewish New Year always brings a flood of memories and hopeful dreams. This year, we have a lot of new things to celebrate

City Park

In the morning - Am Morgen Weekend mornings include an early morning walk from our home to the farmer's market. Sometimes we get sidetracked and explore other areas of Oerlikon. This is the part of Zürich where we live.  Here is our favorite little seating area to escape

Senior Portrait

to take a photo - fotografieren It is really hard to believe that this is the beginning of Klara's senior year. Having just turned 17 a month ago - I have a hard time processing. However, time does not stand still, it continues and it is up to

Upper Austria

Wedding - die Hochzeit Living in the US made it nearly impossible for us to share Stephan's family events. We painfully missed all types of family celebrations. One benefit of moving to Zürich, we hope, is reconnecting with some of Stephan's family and friends. This past

Track Meet

To Run - Rennen We were very lucky to get seats to the "World Class Track and Field Meet" hosted in Zürich with some the greatest athletes. Several world record holders and Olympic Medalist were competing.  The stadium was sold out - but Stephan surprised us with tickets

A Poem By Miriam

Poem - das Gedicht Miriam is working hard in school and last week they wrote villanelle poems.  I loved her poem so much she agreed to let me share it here. They are all gone away Forced to leave their home There is nothing more to say All because we

Toothpaste

toothpaste - Die Zahnpasta Perhaps this is too much information - but a few years ago a dentist figured out I was allergic to the "SLS" often found in toothpaste. So between my SLS and the gluten issue in the house - toothpaste has not been an easy

We Are All In School

School - Die Schule It is official - each one of us in school. A: I have been in German class since the middle of July. I am working toward getting through my A1 levels. There are different levels that one needs to get to for various reasons: work, university

Applestrudel

Apples - Die Äpfel It may seem like a small thing, but I made our first applestrudel in nearly seven years. Gluten Free Applestrudel is not something we have found prior to this weekend.  I have searched for gf phyllo dough in the past and no luck. About two weeks

Lucerne

Train - Der Zug We moved to Chapel Hill just a few weeks before Miriam was born. Klara was a busy three year old. We decided to put Klara in preschool shortly after arriving. New baby, new town, new preschool and new mode of transportation (no more NYC subways) meant

Vienna Calling

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