Beautiful Bergen

Bergen was the last stop on our Norwegian tour.  We arrived in the late afternoon, found our guesthouse, then went for a walk to explore the town.  The weather here was much nicer than Lofoten, and we again found ourselves in clear skies and sunshine.  We didn’t want to “pound the pavement”, just stroll to…

Lovely Lofoten

The next morning was an early wake up call to catch our flight to Bodø, a very tiny town en route to the Lofoten Islands.  In Bodø, we picked up our rental car and wandered the streets while we waited for our afternoon ferry to depart.  We stumbled upon a cute cafe where we enjoyed…

Norway, Så Bra! Part One: Oslo

After our Summer in the States, our next big adventure was to one of our top travel destinations, Norway.  It has topped our list for years, but we never managed to fit it in.  But this year we finally made it happen, and it was worth the wait. We started our trip in Oslo, where…

Summer in the States

At the end of July came our next big round of travel – this time, back home to the US.  I went out a week ahead of John, for a team strategy event in the Palo Alto office.  The sun was out, and I finally got my first taste of Summer.  Along with full-day conferences,…

June and July – Our “Summer” in Lux

Following our travel-packed and a-May-zing May (hehe…), we spent June and July generally relaxing at home.  The weather this summer was dreadful, so we weren’t able to go to our usual haunts (Vianden pool, the lake, etc) but instead enjoyed a few other special events.  For our 3rd wedding anniversary in June, we booked a…

Fabulous Firenze

For my birthday this year we headed down to Florence, Firenze to the locals, to take in a bit of Tuscany.  On Friday we made our journey, which consisted of a flight to Milan, followed by a high speed train to Florence (of course there’s no direct flight from Lux :-)).  Starting from our very…

The Lovely Month of May mit Mutti

Following our adventures in South Africa, I started my new job at Microsoft.  Between settling in to the new role, establishing myself with my peers and management, and multiple business trips to London and the West Coast, our personal travels were put on pause for a bit.  That is, until Mutti arrived in late April…

South Africa Part 3: Wine Lands and Garden Route

We left Cape Town and drove through the hills to the mountainous wine region, stopping first in the small town of Stellenbosch. It’s amazing to see the Dutch influence on this region, which is especially prominent in the town names and architecture. Stellenbosch’s churches, armory, and town hall all seemed directly imported from the Netherlands….

South Africa Part 2: Cape Town

After an incredible kick off on Safari, we set off for Cape Town to continue our South African adventure.  Two short flights and one car rental line later were were driving into the city (and I was acclimating to driving on the opposite side of the road ;-)).  As soon as we arrived we set…

South Africa Part 1: Safari

After multiple flights, we finally arrived at our first destination on our South African adventure: the Limpopo Province, near the famed Kruger National Park.   As we made our descent into the area, we realized how remote we were – there appeared to be no towns in sight.  Once the plane landed, I looked around for…

2016 Beginnings…

Following the Christmas festivities, we rang in the New Year with a relaxing night in (I know, we’re getting old!).  We ordered takeout, popped a bottle of champagne, and relaxed together till the bells rang out at midnight.  As is tradition, we walked out to the street corner a few blocks a way to watch…

Christmas Fun in Luxembourg

Last Christmas was a great one here in Lux, with lots of visitors, friends, markets, food, and fun!  It all started with Rebecca and Sarah’s visit in early December.  They came to stay for a week to kick off the Christmas season, and we certainly did that in style.  We started off by hitting up…