Sundays might be my favourite.

There is a delightful slowness to Sunday’s here. Everything is quiet and the streets are empty. It was especially so today because it was also cool and rainy. While out on our daily explore it was like a ghost town, not another soul in sight. The cool damp weather has become my favourite. It allows…

Goats make good neighbours too

Is it getting repetitive? I apologize. It’s just the biking here is amazing. You set out to explore, with no end point in mind. The path quickly leaves the city and before you know it you’ve discovered another adorable little town which inspires you on to the next. “Just one more town.” Is what plays…

Won’t you be my neighbour?

In that we will be calling this home for the next 12 months, we set out to capture some shots of our new hood. Despite living in the most urban setting of our family’s lives there is a definite farm feel to it. A few moments walk from our house are fields and farms, complete…

Settling in to the everyday

We are slowly but surely settlilng into what will become our regular life here in Winterthur. The urban-ness of life here is what thrills us the most. Our ability to set out on foot or bike to everywhere we need to go is fantastic and even the kids are loving the simplicity this brings to…

Post vacation blues

Like all good vacations, eventually they must come to an end. With that we are both happy and sad. So sad to leave Lugano (and Titi) but so thankful that it will be our Drumheller – the place we quickly escape to when we can that promises weather warmer than at home. Oh, and the…

Who were we kidding…?

Our last “vacation” day before we return to our new, real life. The priority today was a final visit to our favourite spots here in Lugano. Having arrived, determined to represent well here, I’ve concluded these 10 days having given up. My hope to assimilate with the Europeans and adopt a high-style life proved to…

We are tourists, after all

A classic tourist outing today for the kids and I while Daddy continues to earn our keep here at Villa Sole. Monday means power tools are in the mix once again so Manolo was excited to get back at it. Before we set out the kids honed their own lumberjack skills, or as Helena says…

Sunday stroll

In Switzerland they take Sunday’s seriously. At some point on Saturday, preferably early in the day, while near a shop, you need to think about what you might need for Sunday or you’ll be s.o.l.   We are practiced now having three Sunday’s under our belt. We aren’t rookies anymore. Manolo’s lumberjack duties were on…

Rainy days

Today brought a glorious cooling and with it a pace that was far different than the pace of enthusiastic exploring. A thunderstorm that came in from the south kept us indoors all morning.  An extra coffee, a full load of laundry, another session of German lessons and lovely, uninterrupted conversation.  The day’s outing had been…

Milan – who knew?

A successful trip to Milan today. What a great city.  Pulling in by train didn’t overly inspire and so our expectations were low. We’ve become fairly familiar with train travel now and know that you will always be asked to produce your ticket at some point. This was the first journey where we traveled into a…

A lumberjack in Switzerland

Today was another putter day. No grand outings. Grocery shopping is a daily event and the task of that involves a trip down into town which always takes longer than one anticipates and somehow it’s already 3:30. Perhaps it is the deliciously slow mornings that are to blame..we don’t move too quickly in the mornings….

Biting off a bit more than we could chew…

The outing for today turned out to be a bit overly ambitious. We may be asking too much of the kids with the epic walking we’re doing. But they soldier on. Our punishment is a relentless barrage of “how much longer?” and “are we there yet?” That’s enough to drive us to day-time drink. Who are…