Category Archives: Travel: Within Switzerland

My first Swiss Painting

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Post by Lauren

So, you may have noticed on our post about our new home that our water closets have an “interesting” tile color.

I took some inspiration from the Friday hikes I do with the American International Women’s Club to try to improve the situation. Two weeks ago, we hiked through some wheat fields from Jussy to Vesenaz and some of the natural yellows in the wheat fields and paths were similar to our the bathroom. So, I figured it might help our visitors not concentrate on the tile-work. Let me know what you think on the “match”.

Also, I thought you might want to check out a few photos from the hike that provided this inspiration and also see the faces of some of the wonderful women who have helped me feel more at home here in Geneva.

Keeping change in check

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Most readers know I am OCD in terms of organization. So, I always had to have to a billfold that had separators – a divider in the larger cash section – one for bills, one for receipts and lots of little side pockets for keeping various things separate. I never fully took advantage of the dividers in the change section of the billfold though….until now.

Since Switzerland doesn’t use Euros (they aren’t a part of the EU), we use Swiss Francs day to day. I also keep a small amount of Euro change since we are on a border town of France, and in case I need a bus ticket there, etc. When we arrived in London this weekend, the pounds and pence added a third dimension. I surely have to keep them separate as you can’t tell the coins apart at a glance (or at least I have not become that skilled yet). So, I have my little change purse divided up with all the different currencies.

I can’t imagine what is was like before the EU & one monetary system for most of Europe!

Bern Means Bear

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All I know about Bern comes from my friend Randi. As we were considering the move and prior to our final departure she mentioned that one of her two cities she’d been to in Switzerland was Bern and she colorfully added both times she mentioned it, “Bern means bear”.

So today, as S (who is in town for house-hunting) and I walked around beautiful Bern, all I kept hearing was Randi’s voice saying “Bern means bear”. And I am pretty sure its stuck in S’s head as well based on how many times I repeated it to her.

But, nonetheless, the fact is true and this capital city of Switzerland was named for the bear. We were able to see a few walking through the city:

Bern was so beautiful – I loved the architecture and charm. For a 90 minute train ride, it was a nice treat and great way to spend the holiday (Ascension Day is a national holiday and all groceries & stores were closed all over Switzerland). Also, S was a great tour guide as she had been to Bern before and knew all the great things to check out. In fact, one of her favorite activities was the Bern River Float. However, with 40 degree temps, we decided to postpone this until a future trip.

Here are a few photos from today’s adventures:

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Isn’t it time…..to move to Switzerland?

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Should he move to Charlotte?

Should I move to Atlanta?

What the heck? Lets just both move to Europe!

Gabe and I decided that there really wasn’t enough excitement with the recent engagement. We have more news….we are moving to Geneva for 2-3 years!

His job is with the same company he works for now, but instead of the U.S., he will be doing Finance for the European region. With our love for travel & adventure, this opportunity to live abroad came at the right time and we are very excited. Of course, we’ll miss all of our friends & families tremendously and that is why we decided to start this blog — to keep everyone up to date!

Here are a few photos from our orientation trip we took a few weeks ago:

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks for more updates!