Thursday discoveries

Right now, I do not at all need any trips to countries far away, but I still need movement and discoveries. For me, Switzerland is the perfect place for that and Basel was what I discovered yesterday. Since I've been there many times before, I tried to get to see some new places. One tip is to go in completely the opposite direction of where you usually go. This means that I ended up on the southern side of the train station instead of at the city side. 

There I discovered some small stores and sweet cafés.

I walked through the city, crossed Rhein and ended up in Kleinbasel.

I enjoyed some confetti decorating the streets and the chocolate, before I met a dear friend and a shining star.

We went to our clear favorite place for delicious vegetarian food and to a bar with a great atmosphere, until it was time for me to discover the way back to the train station, saying good bye to Basel and going back to my sweet home. 

BuuräZmorga à la Transhelvetica

You write less than half a page for a magazine and then you get invited to a brunch on a mountain with a great view, homemade bread and prosecco, sweet people and lots of small, wonderful details. That's generous, isn't is!

Treasure-hunt in Engiadina

I left my home in Baden, for Ardez in the eastern part of Switzerland. A small red train takes you there and it feels like sitting in a toy model train. Suddenly people start speaking Rhaeto-Romanic and you are surrounded by snow and mountains. Once I had arrived Ardez, I stayed at a place where the view and every single piece of the interior is a small treasure and you have to pinch yourself to make sure you are not dreaming.

         

A wonder Monday

It was not only August waiting for me when I got back home from work today, but also a small wonder put into my mailbox. The lovely Swiss magazine "Transhelvetica" was waiting for me with beautiful texts and pictures that makes you start dreaming of a life as Heidi. The topic of this issue is "wonder", most of them related to Switzerland. They were about to forget that there are some wonders in Sweden as well, so I made sure to smuggle in some spring-winter on page 90. I mean, people won´t notice it anyhow, mixing up Switzerland and Sweden all the time.

                                            

Another wonder is the picture on the front cover which is also covering one of the walls in my small happy home.

                    

A weather journal

In Sweden you use to say that people always start a conversation by discussing the weather. So I am allowed to talk about this topic, and I would describe today´s weather as typical Sunday weather. You get some minutes of sunshine, followed by rain and heavy winds. You prepare yourself for indoor activities like reading books and baking cakes. But then...



... the sky turns blue. You rush outside to catch some sunshine, until it starts raining and you get home like a wet cat.  

For some reason, I love those days, and nothing could have been more suitable than the new cup I bought yesterday in one of my favorite shops in Baden. Sääpäiväkirja is the name of this cup from Marimekko, meaning weather journal. 

For more sleep and more sunshine

I´m often wondering why not more people choose to work part time, no matter if they have small children to take care of or not. No, I definitely don´t want to proclaim a society where only the women stay at home taking care of the children (and the man!), but about the possibility for anyone to have one more day off per week. You can maybe not afford a big house or a fancy car if you do so, but you get another kind of freedom, more sleep, more sunshine or more of whatever you want. I am so thankful for my days off, and this is how I spent this February Thursday.



To sleep as long as you want is one of the biggest luxuries for me when I have a day off. I do not dare to tell you how long I usually sleep, but let´s put it like this: when I wake up, then I have the prefect opportunity to choose between breakfast and lunch. I always choose breakfast, no matter what time it is, since that´s my clear favorite meal. Today, I made myself a smoothie with a taste of summer, and a cappuccino and then I had some time for strolling around in my sweet home until it was time to meet up with two creative friends for lunch. 

The sun was shining and we could have this year´s first outdoor lunch. Thank you for that, dear February. 

I walked the narrow streets of Zurich…

...passed by a mad dog...

 ...and some birds enjoying the view...

…of the lake and the mountains. 

I continued to a picture exhibition on seven floors...

...before I went to some friends´ place for dinner. This sweet animal joined me for my dessert...

..and as all days should, this Thursday ended with a bedtime story, with a happy end. 

…and your home will love you!

Small trip - big Saturday adventure

It would be difficult to describe the dialect in the northeastern part of Switzerland as beautiful, but their capital of the canton, St. Gallen, is definitely a beauty, and a place worth visiting. Especially if you have a date with a good friend you haven´t seen for a while.

St. Gallen has an abbey with a famous library, old as a dinosaur...

…and some newer stuff like a bunch of cosy cafes. After our lunch in a restaurant with red and white napkins, we went for a café tour. The Kaffeehaus was unfortunately closed and Franz did not have any empty chairs for us, so we ended up in the prefect place with two Brioche left on a beautiful old cake stand, waiting for us to come.

Two hours train ride, and time for dreaming, reading and observing people, until I am back to my small happy home.

Celebration

It´s February and I´m celebrating with a new desktop picture for my computer, downloaded from this beautiful blog.