For years I dreamt of living in a French-speaking country. While I job hunted in France, Morocco, Canada, and even Pondicherry, India, Switzerland never crossed my radar....
Chocolate Covered Tales of War: Geneva’s Strangely Wonderful Tradition of l’Escalade
Celebrated on 12 December, the Escalade commemorates the victory of Protestant Geneva in 1602 against the conquest of the Duke of Savoy and his Catholic cronies....
Discovering Paris at the Turn of the Century
Paris is a city that attracts old souls- romantics whose hearts ache for a time in which they weren’t even born. Paris in the early 20th century was a time in which the world embraced change. Paris’s heart was beating at an unprecedented pace. To be at its center was to feel alive....
Healing Sessions Yoga Retreat in Tuscany, Italy
A turn of unlikely events led me to a 5am train, heading from Geneva to Florence. A firm believer in taking opportunities when life presents them, I didn’t hesitate in accepting when life offered a spot at the Healing Sessions yoga retreat in the Tuscan countryside on a silver platter....
Conjuring the Spirit of Halloween in Switzerland
“Halloween is our family reunion,” my mother used to tell me each October. After several attempts of catechism classes to fit in with her then boyfriend’s long-term plans, the wooden cross was tossed aside with a deep sigh of relief. “I just…I burn when I walk into a church.” Contrary to popular opinion in Switzerland,...
Burano – the most colorful island in the Venetian Lagoon
I wore dreary shades of black and gray to one of the world’s most colorful locations, Burano. Our vaporetto from Venice had every seat full, with some standing throughout the 40-minute ride across the lagoon. Upon arriving, excitement to see what appeared to be a Wes Anderson film set seemed to be contagious amongst the...
A Quest to Find a Venice Less Traveled
We were swept in a herd of tourists mid-September in Venice, each seeking out a truly local experience - the finest Amarone della Valpolicella and grandmother’s homemade cicchetti. ...
