Travel blog

Summer vacation was a three-part trip. First was Long Island to celebrate Marty’s 80th birthday. Second was Vermont to join Rosie and Zach’s wedding. Then Portugal, with #friends4life Schwartzberg clan. Coronavirus made it bumpy. The guest list for Marty’s birthday was shorter than planned. A particularly important guest, Alison, tested positive and spent the week feeling crappy, at the Stony Brook holiday Inn Express. It was a great party but not the same without her....

Last week we took an American style road trip (🚙) through the Czech Republic. Originally we were thinking about Holland. Also Norway. But we procrastinated and airfares went up. So we decided to drive North. On the road Like other vacations, this one started by dropping Leo (🐶) at his second home - a beautiful kennel ranch outside of Linz. Here’s an aerial view: Nice place right? Leo agrees. He’s very waggy about it....

I stopped writing over a year ago. Not sure why. Wasn’t feeling it. But today I’ll give you a short update. We’ve experienced some new things. We went skiing on a couple of glaciers. We bought a hyperactive dog named Leo. We visited friends and family in America and then went scuba diving in Costa Rica. In autumn we saw Belgium, then climbed up the Eiffel Tower. Then it was winter again....

I learned some important things during our vacation in Corfu. Wasps don’t like smoke. Google maps can tell you to drive in circles. Jacques Cousteau invented scuba diving. The scuba diving bit was learned on this boat in the town of Nisaki, on Corfu’s northeast side. If you look closely you’ll see Chris, the owner of Apollo dive, sitting with my wife and kids. Chris and his wife Maria led us on five dives in total....

The Danube flows less than a mile from our house. Once, on a hot day, I peddled to it, took off my shirt, and jumped in. The current was strong. Off I went Eastward towards Vienna. I made it back home in time for dinner. A few weeks later we drove to a bigger body of water. The Adriatic. Venice. Home of St. Mark’s corpse, Peggy Gegenheim’s dog cemetery, tagliatelle, and gondoliers....

The word “Fahrrad” reminds me of King Fahd, of Saudi Arabia. But no. It’s not about that. Ein Fahrrad just means “a bicycle.” And this long overdue blog post is about my bicycle, and what it’s like to use it around town. Woah. Calm down. You’re too excited. Last fall I bought a used bicycle for €170 from B7 Cycling Center, which hires former inmates and trains ‘em as mechanics. The brand name, printed on my frame, says “Heavy Tool....

Snow is falling in Linz today. This makes the kids very happy. I put on some ski gear and rode my bike to work along with dozens of other folks. Snow fits the scenery. Linz is all in for Christmas. Lights are strung above the streets. Clear lights, globes, stars, and multi-colored spirals. Linz has three different Christmas markets within a half mile radius. Main square’s market has tasty Glühwein....

We had special guests last weekend. Alison’s sister, Felice, and her friend Danielle. We poked around Linz together, and visited Salzburg for a day. It was fun. Now that Felice and Danielle are back in sunny California we are back to our daily routine. The routine looks like this. Wake up at 6. Make breakfast and lunch. Commute 25 minutes on a tram. Say goodbye to the kids. Have a cup of coffee as husband and wife....

We bought Max and Zoe smart phones in June. This was a huge deal for us. We were going to wait until Max was in high school. We relented. An obvious bribe. Compensation for the chaos of what followed. Of course the phones are super useful — especially for translating and text messages. Maps are key too. I can see when they are at school, at home, or on a tram....

There are three supermarkets within a five minute bike ride of our flat. Two are in the local shopping center — Merkur Markt, and Hofer. The third is Billa — next to Rudolphstraße station. Merkur Markt has the most variety. You can find veggie dogs, sushi rolls, and lots of fresh produce. There are also giant home-made gummy bears. Big fan. The Billa isn’t as nice as Merkur, but it works....