Hello from Switzerland!

I finally managed to get scanned some of the pictures I took in America – plus a couple from the recent skiing trip with my family.

It's taken me ages, I'm sorry – I've been not really well all semester, but now I slowly get back to normal. I'm also planning my next big trip – this summer to New Zealand and Australia!

Okay, so the New Zealand trip is not just for pleasure – for my university major, Cultural Anthropology, I need to do 'field work', meaning I have to go and study another culture. Since I know an awfully nice Kiwi girl, who has the best connections, and always wanted to go visit her and her family anyway, I decided to learn about the Maori.

After that, since I'm down there anyway, I'll go over to Australia and visit Willa, who I met in DC last fall. We want to go traveling together for a bit – and I do hope that it all works out!

Anyway here are the pics:

Boston's skyline, from Charlestown on the other side of the harbour, where that old ship lies. I love this city – it's one of the most beautiful in the US, in my opinion.


This was my favorite spot – a bench at the Charles River.


This is Jenny, from Ohio. We met at the hostel and went exploring together.


After Boston I went to Cape Cod, where I stayed in Provincetown – town of the rainbow flag… 😉


The weather was beautiful, so I spent a lot of time on the beach.


I did a short detour to Canada and visited beautiful Montreal. This is the view from Mont Royal – hard to believe that the day before it was storming, isn't it?


I went to Pittsburgh mainly to visit my two online friends Rhonda and Missy – but I really liked it there. This is the Point, where two rivers with terribly complicated names (the Monongahela and the Allegheny, thanks to Susie !) flow together into the Ohio (I think).


These are me and my friends, in front of a club – we had a really good time together!


The next stop was Washington D.C. – a lot of American history and politics to be seen there…


I did all my sightseeing (here Arlington Cemetery) there together with two Australians (Luke and Adam) and a kangoroo named Diesel. *g*


I'd been looking forward to a visit in the Air and Space museum of the Smithonian Institute – but these handsome coast guards were an unexpected bonus! 😉


To New York City I traveled with another Aussie, Willa – and the first thing we did was the Staten Island ferry, which gives you a phenomenal view over Manhattan's skyline and the Statue of Liberty. And all for free! 😉


I met a lot of people at the hostel there – and Adam (the one with the kangoroo *g*) and Luke were there, too. It was fun, believe me! LOL


The mandatory visit to the Empire State Building – Cam (Zimbabwe), Adam, me, and Willa, enjoying the sunset.


On the day Sibylle came over from Switzerland Willa and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge – another opportunity to see the skyline…


Sibylle and I were rained on on Wallstreet…


Of course we also spent time in NYC's green lung, the famous Central Park. Very beautiful – but believe me, after 10 days, I had enough of the city!


We stayed with Sibylle's former host parents in North Carolina for a bit, then we traveled down to Florida, where we discovered beautiful Clearwater Beach.


We saw gorgeous sunsets like this every day – simply breathtaking! Not something one gets used to…


We did a canoe trip in the Everglades. The hostel there kicks ass – it's the best I've ever stayed in, mostly thanks to the staff. We had a great day there and would have loved to stay longer.


Graham sent me this pic: Tim and Miranda from Holland, Graham, me, and Sibylle – and you don't even see that we were eaten alive by moskitos… *g*


Our last stop was Miami Beach, but we also spent a night in Key West, the Southern most point of the US, really close to Cuba. I don't have any pictures scanned from there, because unfortunately the scanner decided to stop working, so the pic from our last sunset in the US is the last…

Two weeks ago I went skiing with my family – we went to Pontresina in Graubünden, one of the most beautiful parts of the Swiss alps. The skiing was fun and the mountains were gorgeous…


The view from our hotel room – complete with Swiss flag. 😉


The view over the Engadin valley from Muotas Muragl (a word from the local language, an ancient tongue related to Latin) – to our feet the posh St. Moritz.


My parents didn't ski but went for walks, and one day my brother Michael and I went with them, into the valley of Rosegg. Breathtaking – but exhausting… *g*

Okay, that's it for the moment – next week Sibylle and I'll go to Sharm El Sheik in Egypt for a week of sun and beach. Can't wait to escape the cold!

Take care, everyone!