A list of trips I took. 2024-07-03 2024-07-09 Berlin, Germany My 19^th trip to Berlin. Our first trip with our son and my parents. This year, our focus was on landmarks, since 3 persons were discovering Berlin for the first time. 2023-09-16 2023-09-18 Europa-Park, Germany Our 6^th visit to Europa-Park. 3 days. 2 nights. It was a blast. We met several friends and their children. This was also our longest trip with our VW ID.3. 2023-07-29 2023-08-10 England, UK My first time in the UK outside of London. We visited Canterbury, Brighton, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Bath, and Oxford. I didn't know anything about most of those places, so that was an enriching trip. Stonehenge was a highlight, but there were many things to like, from cathedrals/abbeys to old warships. I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that vegetarian/vegan dishes are available in most restaurants. This is not something you see often in Swiss restaurants... 2023-07-01 2023-07-10 Corse, France My first time in Corsica. We stayed in the Ajaccio, Porto-Vecchio, and Bonifacio areas. Beautiful landscapes, mountains, beaches, etc. I hope we'll have the opportunity to return there one day. 2023-04-14 2023-04-18 London, UK My 3^rd trip to London. The 1^st time, in 2003, was to see Keith Jarrett at the Royal Festival Hall. The 2^nd time, in 2007, was to see Prince at the O2 and at the Indigo2. This time, we didn't see any concert, but we saw a play (The Mousetrap), a musical (Back to the Future: The Musical) and visited three museums (Tate Modern, British Museum, and National Gallery), among other things. That was fun. I will miss the vegetarian/vegan restaurants, like in Berlin. 2022-09-17 2022-09-19 Basel, Switzerland / Europa-Park, Germany Basel Europa-Park Our 5^th trip to Basel and 5^th visit to Europa-Park, this time with our 4-year-old son. In Basel, we visited the Basel Paper Mill, which is a fantastic place for children (and adults!), and went to Aquabasilea. 2022-07-27 2022-08-10 Le Boucanet / Montpellier / Carcassonne / Toulouse, France Le Boucanet / Montpellier / Aigues-Mortes Carcassonne Toulouse My first time in all those nice places. I'd like to go back to Toulouse someday, but probably during spring or fall, when it is less hot. 2022-07-09 2022-07-16 Turin / Milan / Verona / Stresa, Italy Turin Milan / Bergamo Verona Iseo / Stresa Turin and Milan both have beautiful areas, but Verona was our favorite place visited during this trip. We'll probably visit it again in the near future. Possibly in spring/autumn, as the temperatures were too high for my taste. Stresa and the Borromean Islands were also very nice, with the advantage of being quite close to where we live (i.e. also an idea for an upcoming weekend). 2022-05-25 2022-05-27 Weil-am-Rhein, Germany / Basel, Switzerland This was our first time in Weil am Rhein and our 4^th trip to Basel. We had an excellent meal (vegan menu, for me) at Gasthaus zur Krone. We visited the Beyeler Foundation, the Vitra Campus, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and Augusta Raurica, among other things. 2022-04-25 2022-04-29 Berlin, Germany Berlin My 18^th trip to Berlin (my 4^th since 2010 actually). This was a trip to mark our 10 years of marriage, as Berlin is a special city for us. We visited the Humboldt Forum for the first time (twice), among other museums. We planned two special diners at a vegetarian (Cookies Cream) and vegan (Lucky Leek) Michelin restaurants, and visited some of our favorite "normal" restaurants as well (Atame, Samadhi, and Oxymoron). We also biked quite a lot. That was fun. 2021-07-19 2021-08-02 Schaffhausen / Saint Gall / Grisons, Switzerland Schaffhausen Saint Gall Grisons I might have already visited Schaffhausen, Saint Gall, and the Grisons when I was a child, but I'm not sure. It would have been a very long time ago. Anyway, Switzerland is expensive, but it's also beautiful. We should probably go back to the Grisons once our son is older, so we can hike and bike there. 2021-07-05 2021-07-09 Vallorbe / Bern / Lucerne / Interlaken, Switzerland A family trip in Vallorbe (Vallorbe Caves), Bern, Lucerne (Swiss Museum of Transport), and Interlaken (rain, mostly). 2021-04-06 2021-04-08 Leukerbad, Switzerland Our fifth stay in Leukerbad and our second at the Bristol Hotel, which has its own indoor and outdoor thermal bath. It was a welcome break, without our almost-3-year-old son. Being able to go to a bar and a restaurant for the first time in four months was also pretty cool. 2020-09-19 2020-09-21 Basel, Switzerland Our third weekend in Basel (and our first with our 2-year old son). We went to the Spielzeug Welten Museum, among other things (walking in the Old Town, crossing the Rhine on small boats, having delicious food at Markthalle, etc.). This certainly won't be our last stay in that nice city. 2020-07-25 2020-08-11 Bretagne / Brittany, France This was my first trip to Bretagne / Brittany in about 30 years. I didn't swim in the English Channel (La Manche), this time (one story I heard a lot those last 30 years: I apparently was almost taken by strong currents when swimming in La Manche in St-Malo - I didn't realize at the time I could have been in danger). We ate a lot of crêpes (sometimes because it was the easiest way to eat something vegetarian), a lot of pastries (kouign-amann and others), and drank a lot of cider. If it wasn't for the non-vegetarian-friendly food (seafood and French cuisine in general), I guess I could live in Brittany. This is a really nice region. 2019-09-14 2019-09-16 Leukerbad, Switzerland Our fourth stay in Leukerbad (after 2006, 2014, and 2018). Our first weekend without our 16-month-old baby. 2019-07-18 2019-08-02 Oslo / Northern Norway I already visited Oslo in 2002, but this was the first time I visited Northern Norway. We had a lot of luck with the weather (a lot of sun, comfortable temperatures, often around 20 °C). North Cape (Nordkapp) was a bit underwhelming (it's a place "at the end of the world", but it somehow looks fake/artificial). I'm glad we went to Magerøya (the island), though. I really like sparsely populated areas. The Lofoten Islands were absolutely fantastic, of course. I'd like to go back there again, someday, and visit Senja and possibly other islands as well. 2018-09-07 2018-09-16 Cala Mesquida, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain Mallorca We did a similar trip last year (in Alcúdia, more or less on the same side of the island, 50 minutes away from Cala Mesquida), this time with a 4-month-old baby. The plan was more or less the same: sleep, eat, go to the swimming pool or the beach, read books, etc. This time I finished five books (three of which I had started many weeks ago). I also did a short hike to Talaia de son Jaumell (beautiful view). I think I prefered Cala Mesquida to Alcúdia (more nature, no cars, beautiful beach, mountains, etc.), but the hotel in Alcúdia (PortBlue Club Pollentia Resort & Spa) was probably a bit better than the one in Cala Mesquida (Zafiro Cala Mesquida). Next time, we should really visit the whole island more (with a rented car, possibly). 2018-03-09 2018-03-11 Leukerbad, Switzerland Our third stay in Leukerbad (after 2006 and 2014) and our last weekend/trip before our baby was born. Like last time, we had a massage at the Sources des Alpes (but we stayed at another, way cheaper hotel). 2017-10-07 2017-10-22 Chicago / New Orleans / New York, USA Chicago Chicago: Art Institute Chicago: The Driehaus Museum New Orleans New York New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York New York: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) I had never been to Chicago. It's a nice city (lake, river, buildings, etc.). I particularly liked the Art Institute of Chicago (a fantastic museum!). It was the second time I went to New Orleans and the first time since 2001. This is the city I liked the least among the three. I liked the National WWII Museum, though. It's very well done. Finally, this was the third time I went to New York (after 2001 and 2004). A fantastic city, of course. The city. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is impressive. Probably one of the best museums in the world. The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum was completely different, but very moving and also very well done. It had a special meaning for me, as I first visited New York in September 2001, a few days before 9/11. I will also miss the vegan restaurants. A lot. 2017-08-25 2017-08-27 Adelboden, Switzerland Adelboden & Thun A weekend in Adelboden for our 5-year wedding anniversary. We stayed at The Cambrian, a wonderful hotel, with a beautiful view, a spa, an indoor pool, a small outdoor pool (warmer), an excellent restaurant, etc. A very relaxing stay. We visited Thun Castle on our way back. 2017-07-28 2017-08-04 Alcúdia, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain Mallorca This is not the kind of trips I'm naturally "attracted" to. We spent seven nights at PortBlue Club Pollentia Resort & Spa. We didn't visit the area. At all. Instead, we slept, ate, went to the swimming pool and to the spa, read books, etc. For six complete days. This was the plan and this is what we did. I finished A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy and started Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. The last time we did something similar was in 2013, when we went to Fuerteventura. 2017-04-08 2017-04-23 Tokyo / Kyoto, Japan Tokyo Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art Fujiyoshida Kyoto Nara This was a trip we had wanted to do for several years. It was obviously very different from our trip to Namibia in 2016: big cities (Tokyo, especially), many people (in the subway, in the stations, in the streets), a language (Japanese) we couldn't read, etc.; but it was also quite "exotic", in a different way. This was the cherry blossom season, so nature was still an important dimension of the trip, in a sense, although we mainly visited cities. It was quite a dense trip, which I see as a kind of introduction to a country I had never visited before. We definitely need to go back to Japan someday. 2016-12-29 2017-01-03 Berlin, Germany Berlin Berlin: Gemäldegalerie 2016-07-30 2016-08-17 Namibia Namibia: Windhoek / Sossusvlei / Solitaire Namibia: Swakopmund / Walvis Bay / Spitzkoppe / Cape Cross Namibia: Twyfelfontein / Vingerklip / Purros / Epupa Namibia: Etosha National Park / Cheetah Conservation Fund Namibia: selections 2016-05-03 2016-05-06 Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen: Kronborg Castle Copenhagen: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Copenhagen: Rosenborg Castle Copenhagen: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Copenhagen: selections 2015-09-19 2015-09-21 Giessbach / Bern, Switzerland Giessbach Bern 2015-07-27 2015-08-17 British Columbia / Alberta, Canada Canada: Vancouver Island Canada: Cowichan Bay (orca whale watching) Canada: Cowichan Bay (orca whale watching) (Simon Pidcock) Canada: Tofino (bear watching) Canada: Port McNeill (orca whale watching) Canada: Haida Gwaii Canada: Banff / Lake Louise Canada: Icefields Parkway / Jasper Canada: Vancouver Canada: Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver) 2015-07-19 2015-07-27 San Francisco, USA 2014-10-23 2014-10-26 Florence, Italy Florence Florence: Palazzo Pitti Florence: Palazzo Vecchio Florence: Galleria dell'Accademia 2014-07-24 2014-08-10 Québec / New Brunswick, Canada Montréal / Mauricie / Québec From Québec to Tadoussac Zoo sauvage de St-Félicien Bergeronnes (whale watching) Gaspésie New Brunswick / Québec / Montréal Montréal: Musée des beaux-arts 2014-04-25 2014-04-27 Piedmont, Italy 2014-02-22 2014-02-23 Leukerbad, Switzerland 2013-10-17 2013-10-21 Prague, Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic NG Prague - Veletržní Palace 2013-07-29 2013-08-08 Jandía, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain 2013-06-29 2013-06-30 Château de Pizay, Saint-Jean-d'Ardières, France 2013-05-17 2013-05-21 Berlin, Germany 2013-03-30 2013-04-13 San Francisco, USA 2013-03-15 2013-03-16 Basel, Switzerland 2012-12-29 2013-01-01 Baden-Baden, Germany 2012-10-20 2012-10-28 Andalusia, Spain Granada Córdoba & Carmona Seville Tarifa, Gibraltar & Málaga 2012-05-26 2012-06-11 French Polynesia Huahine Moorea Bora Bora Rangiroa / Tahiti 2011-09-18 2011-09-19 Colmar, France / Rust, Germany 2011-07-30 2011-08-13 Ireland Part I Part II Part III Part IV 2011-07-23 2011-07-24 Colmar, France / Rust, Germany 2011-07-02 2011-07-13 San Francisco / Lake Tahoe, USA 2011-04-22 2011-04-25 Tyrol, Austria 2011-02-26 2011-03-06 Kuramathi, Maldives 2010-12-03 2010-12-05 Basel, Switzerland 2010-09-16 2010-09-20 Berlin, Germany 2010-08-07 2010-08-21 Mexico Mexico City Teotihuacán Puebla Palenque / Villahermosa Merida, Uxmal & More Chichen Itza & Tulum Cozumel, Isla Mujeres & Cancun 2010-08-02 2010-08-07 San Francisco / Monterey, USA 2010-07-17 2010-07-20 Amsterdam, Netherlands 2009-12-21 2009-12-24 Paris, France 2009-10-10 2009-10-13 Berlin, Germany 2009-08-10 2009-08-19 Catalonia, Spain 2009-07-24 2009-07-26 Berlin, Germany 2009-07-20 2009-07-23 Stockholm, Sweden 2009-07-17 2009-07-19 Berlin, Germany 2009-07-11 2009-07-12 Lucerne, Switzerland 2009-06-26 2009-06-29 Berlin, Germany 2009-05-27 2009-05-30 Berlin, Germany 2009-05-07 2009-05-10 Berlin, Germany 2009-04-16 2009-04-20 Berlin, Germany 2009-03-21 2009-03-25 Cologne / Berlin, Germany 2009-02-04 2009-02-10 Berlin, Germany 2009-01-16 2009-01-19 Dresden / Berlin, Germany 2008-12-12 2008-12-14 Berlin, Germany 2008-11-14 2008-11-20 Berlin, Germany 2008-10-17 2008-10-19 Berlin, Germany 2008-09-07 2008-09-29 California / Arizona / Utah / Nevada, USA Los Angeles (1/2) Los Angeles (2/2) San Diego (1/2) San Diego (2/2) Joshua Tree National Park Grand Canyon Zion National Park Red & Bryce Canyons Las Vegas Death Valley Mono Lake & Yosemite San Francisco Alcatraz 2008-08-19 2008-08-20 Château de Pizay, Saint-Jean-d'Ardières, France 2008-07-16 2008-07-18 Lucerne, Switzerland 2008-07-14 2008-07-16 Interlaken, Switzerland 2008-03-08 2008-03-09 Lucerne, Switzerland 2008-02-11 2008-02-15 Vienna, Austria 2007-09-09 2007-09-13 London, UK 2007-08-01 2007-08-05 Berlin, Germany 2007-02-19 2007-02-21 Paris, France 2006-10-13 2006-10-15 Leukerbad, Switzerland 2006-07-16 2006-07-16 Lucerne, Switzerland 2006-06-22 2006-06-24 Amsterdam, Netherlands 2006-06-16 2006-06-21 Madrid, Spain 2005-09-17 2005-09-19 Paris, France 2005-07-25 2005-08-08 Catalonia, Spain 2005-07-21 2005-07-23 Milan, Italy 2005-06-17 2005-06-19 Münster, Germany 2005-05-20 2005-05-22 Münster, Germany 2004-11-06 2004-11-08 Rome, Italy 2005-04-15 2005-04-16 Europa-Park (Rust), Germany 2004-06-30 2004-07-20 Québec / Ontario / New Brunswick, Canada; New York / Massachusetts / etc., USA Montréal / Ottawa / Kingston Toronto / Niagara Falls New York / Boston Gaspesia / Québec / Montréal 2003-07-15 2003-07-18 Antibes / Juan-les-Pins, France 2003-05-03 2003-05-04 London, UK 2002-07-22 2002-08-02 Sweden / Norway Stockholm / Vaxholm Oslo / Karlstad Voss / Bergen Balestrand / Lom Trondheim / Östersund / Sundsvall 2001-08-16 2001-09-08 East coast (from Florida to New York), USA New York 2000-07-26 2000-08-07 Egypt Giza Cairo Giza and Valley of the Kings Luxor Aswan and Abu Simbel 1999-08-16 1999-08-26 California, USA Lassen Volcanic Park 1997-08-05 1997-08-20 California, USA 1996-07-24 1996-08-01 Ticino, Switzerland Riazzino, Bellinzona, etc. 1995-??-?? 1995-??-?? Paris, France 1994-??-?? 1994-??-?? Liguria (Cinque Terre, etc.) / Tuscany (Pisa, etc.), Italy 1993-07-27 1993-08-03 Andalusia, Spain 1987-??-?? 1987-??-?? Ticino, Switzerland Riazzino, etc.