Once upon a time, in a faraway village, I walked into a shoe store, with only one object in my sights. The shop was tiny and smelled of leather and glue, for they repaired shoes as well as selling them, and along every wall were shoes of every shape and size, from house shoes to…
Tag: Germany
Barbarazwieg: Of Twigs, Christmas and New Discoveries
“Apparently it’s a big deal to dress up in costumes when you pick someone up on Christmas Eve in Switzerland…” Christmas Eve morning, Timmy starts texting me as soon as he gets to the airport. With his customary picking-people-up-in-Zürich Starbucks drink in hand, he relates a new and strange Swiss tradition: dressing up in costumes…
Four World Cups {And Kandern, My Home}
I confess, I wasn’t watching when they scored the first goal. Distracted by the coolness of the German away jerseys–red and black blocks that take me straight back to Ballard High School–I was doing some online shopping when the pub erupted, reacting to Thomas Müller’s clean shot past Brazilian keeper Júlio César. “Ahh, I missed it!” I…
From Sausenburg
The pavement bends up behind the Catholic church, and we leave the smallest city in Germany down in the valley, turning a corner to find ourselves in the bottle-green halls of the summer Black Forest. It’s been a long time since my trail map was a constant companion, since Emily and I traced these little diamond-marked…
The Way Home 