Sneak Peak!

 How it starts...

  For two hours we watched endless flat vistas of trees and lakes go by. Our line ended in the middle of nowhere, a train station surrounded by wilderness. A cheerful man holding a little girl with blonde ringlets and no shoes greeted us. His name was Tomas, she was PJ – half of the family we would be spending our next month with.

We had never met this family before – only sporadic emails in the months leading up to our departure. We had been connected through a website that provided work-abroad opportunities to volunteers. Jacob and I wanted to go to Sweden, and this family needed help around their house. It was a risk, but one we were excited to take.  

Upon arriving in Sweden, our first priority was to buy ice cream. According to Tomas, Swedes love their ice cream, and it was the only proper way to welcome us to the country. Twenty minutes later, even deeper into forested countryside, we arrived at their home, a 100 year old, 25 room converted schoolhouse. I say schoolhouse - but think of it more as the Bennett’s house from Pride and Prejudice: grand in it’s expansiveness, but drafty and worn down. 

The house was tucked away from the road, surrounded by trees, with a river edging the backyard. One side of the yard had been transformed into an impressively productive vegetable garden, while the other side had overgrown into masses of raspberry bushes.

The house smelled like raw wood and yeast. Everything inside was recycled, homespun, and appeared to be undergoing constant renovation. Somehow, however, it was all remarkably pretty. Reindeer moss and curious little blue rocks decorated windowsills and bedside tables. Doors were painted with swirling flower designs and homemade art adorned the walls. 

Shortly after arriving we were called to eat. Dinner was made up of vegetables picked from the garden, fish caught from the river in the backyard, and homemade bread, all laid out on a trestle table underneath a tree. The evening air was warm and the grass was soft beneath our feet.

Jacob and I were experiencing a bit of shock. Just 24 hours earlier we had left San Diego, our bags packed with everything we could need for our 6-month journey. On paper we had been preparing for this trip for months, but in reality this trip was years in the making. Even before Jacob and I met and fell in love we knew we wanted to travel. We knew we wanted to travel with someone we loved, and we knew that this, only months after our wedding, was potentially the only time we could pick up our lives and leave without a care. 

I have the fortune of being born into dual citizenship, with an American father and French mother. Jacob likewise has dual citizenship, with an American mother and Swiss father. This afforded us an opportunity not available to many – we were free to travel as citizens of the EU, having family and friends scattered throughout Europe. As such, we could spend longer in Europe than most Americans are allowed, and hop from country to country, throwing ourselves on the hospitality of friends and family. Mid-air to Europe we had switched our passports, leaving as Americans and arriving as Europeans. In a way we felt like we had dropped off the map. As far as America would know, Jacob and I had simply vanished in thin air. 

Our destination in Sweden didn’t just feel like another country however, it felt like entering a storybook. From palm trees and sun-bleached concrete we found ourselves among cool pines and creaky wooden stairs.  

To be continued in the book...

Art Show

Hello friends! 

At long last, a new post on the blog! 

Many of you were recently blasted with announcements of the two Art Shows I held in San Diego. I exhibited 20 prints, as well as custom made stationary designed by a talented friend and artist, Chris Wright. (For a peek at his work and some awesome design freebies, check out his website: http://creativewright.com/)

The shows went incredibly well - better than I could have hoped. Thank you once again to all of my dear friends who showed me such support and love! 

For those of you not in the area, I wanted to share the photographs there were exhibited, as well as open up the opportunity to order prints. The descriptions, sizing and pricing accompanies each image below. I am happy to take custom-size orders as well. Please let me know if anything catches your eye! 

Feel free to email me directly at white.chelsea@gmail.com if you have any questions or requests. :) 

Keep an eye out as well, as the book is in it's final stages! I will be releasing sneak-peaks in the near future, with plans of having it printed in the fall. It has been wonderful to see everything come together!

Thanks again, my friends, for your overwhelming support! I am so grateful for you and your encouragement with these projects. It honestly would never have happened without that encouragement. 

Thank you!!

In summer, the trees in the South of France are filled with fruit. A walk

down almost any road will take you past trees laden with plums, apricots,

cherries, and figs. These figs were pulled off a tree during an evening walk,

paired with strong Bleu cheese, and homemade liquor given to us by an

elderly neighbor.

8 x 8 in. print, $15

This forest path was in the “Valley of the Snakes” the most fairytale-like

place we saw in all of our travels. The area was designated as an old growth

forest – left untouched for hundreds or thousands of years. The result was

a patch of forest that felt almost magical, like at any turn you could find a

gnome popping up from behind a moss covered rock.

8 x 10 in. print, $20

In a little village up in the mountains of coastal Turkey, we passed by a

weaver’s shop, with the wares displayed on a wall. The whole scene was

such a picture of Turkey: the warmth, the vibrant colors, the dust, and the

sun – but also somehow peaceful, free from the usual masses of people

while out on the streets of Turkey.

8 x 10 in. print, $20

Located on the Rhine, this town is a classic example of a medieval Swiss

town. The picture was taken from an ancient fortress that once surveyed

the surroundings for approaching danger. The rolling hills and deep green

of the landscape is typical in that area of Switzerland, even in the midst of

winter.

8 x 10 in. print, $20

While in Sweden, our neighbor invited us to come and harvest the currant

bushes in his yard. It took 8 people almost 4 hours to pick the currant

bushes clean. We walked home pulling wheelbarrows overflowing with 80

pounds of red, black, and white currants.

8 x 10 in. print, $20

Umbrellas set up on small local beaches on the edge of the Aegean Sea.

We arrived in a small town named Ozdere just as it began to shut down

after the holiday season. Even in November the water was clear and warm,

the air was hot, and everything was perfect for long lazy days spent on the

water.

8 x 10 in. print, $20

Cappadocia is an incredible, surreal landscape, rich with Christian

history. We woke in the morning to a sound like waves crashing on the

shore. Walking out to our hotel terrace, we saw the hot air balloons rising

just as dawn was breaking over the horizon.

10 x 15 in. print, $25

Ancient Roman canals in Nimes, France. The canals cut through the city,

culminating in the Jardins de Fontaine, a Roman Bath in the city center.

Along with the baths, Nimes is well known for its Coliseum, a source of

great pride for the locals. While the Coliseum in Rome is open only for

visiting, the Coliseum in Nimes still regularly hosts music festivals and bull

fights.

10 x 15 in. print, $25

The lake of Lucerne, in Switzerland, just as night was falling. Our day had

been alternately snowy and rainy – until the evening, as the lights of the

city were just beginning to appear. The clouds and fog parted and we had

our first glimpse of the Alps, visible for the first time across the lake.

10 x 15 in. print, $25

The canals of Ghent, Belgium. Many cities in western Belgium are striped

with canals, often studded with boats and that sail in and out of the

waterways. Ghent is a vibrant University City, and home to an incredible

amount of cathedrals – we came across four while walking down just one

street.

10 x 15 in. print, $25

On the upper terrace of the castle overlooking Bamberg, Germany. The

view spans over the entire city, also known as the “Venice of Germany”.

Bamberg is known as the “Venice of Germany”, a quaint University City

where the buildings are all painted bright colors and decorated with ornate

carvings.

10 x 15 in. print, $25

A streetscape in Brussels, in the heart of the city. The old town city square

is a mass of ornate buildings, flecked with gold accents that catch the light

of the sun. The architecture reflects the blend of cultures that make up

Belgium – Dutch sensibility and French panache.

11 x 14 in. print, $30

The canals in Brugge, an idyllic town in Belgium. The town feels like a place

from a story book - perfect little scenes of a quaint life. Peaceful waterscapes,

manicured gardens, old fashioned Dutch houses, and a quiet little convent

make up the sleepy little town.

11 x 14 in. print, $30

A Wishing Tree in Cappadocia, Turkey. People come to the tree and write

their wishes (often for love) on a scrap of fabric and tie it to the tree.

Tradition states that once the fabric falls off the tree, that person’s wish will

be granted.

11 x 14 in. print, $30

Looking down into the water in Sweden. Our area of Sweden was filled

with hundreds of lakes – every walk down a new road eventually led to a

lake more beautiful than the last. As much as we enjoyed the beauty and

our afternoons relaxing on the docks, we only ever braved swimming in

the cold waters once.

11 x 14 in. print, $30

The old courthouse in Bamberg, Germany, dating from the early 1400s.

The building is built in the midst of a bridge, straddling a river, hanging

over the edge of the water. Bamberg is known as the “Venice of Germany”,

a quaint University City where the buildings are all painted bright colors

and decorated with ornate carvings.

12 x 18 in. print, $35

Overlooking a valley in Cappadocia, a surreal landscape formed by porous

volcanic rock eroded down over thousands of years. Ancient Christians

built their homes and churches into the caves of this landscape, even going

so far as to dig underground cities during times of persecution.

12 x 18 in. print, $35

Ancient Roman canals in Nimes, France. The canals cut through the city,

culminating in the Jardins de Fontaine, a Roman Bath in the city center.

Along with the baths, Nimes is well known for its Coliseum, a source of

great pride for the locals. While the Coliseum in Rome is open only for

visiting, the Coliseum in Nimes still regularly hosts music festivals and bull

fights.

12 x 18 in. print, $35

Cappadocia is an incredible, surreal landscape, rich with Christian

history. We woke in the morning to a sound like waves crashing on the

shore. Walking out to our hotel terrace, we saw the hot air balloons rising

just as dawn was breaking over the horizon.

12 x 18 in. print, $35

Announcement of a Project

Jacob and I have been back in the States for just over a month now.

Our homecoming was a sweet time. While we loved our time in Europe and would miss it dearly, we were so excited to come back to our friends and families who we hadn't seen in so long. For that alone, it has been wonderful to be back.

In the meanwhile, we are adjusting into our lives in San Diego, sorting through boxes of things that had been packed away and settling back into a working schedule.

One of the exciting parts of this new routine is the chance to work on a project I've had flickering around the edges of my mind for some while.

I've received so much overwhelming support and praise for this blog that I've decided to trying doing something about it: I am writing a book!

I've collected a great swath of recipes from our travels, not to mention countless stories and pictures (some of which you have read and seen here). I'm taking everyone on their word who has said "you should write a book!" and I'm going to try it.

Let me know if you are interested in the book, and what sorts of things you would like to see in it! I find it helpful to gauge what people are looking for.

Personally, I am surprised that anyone would be interested in having a book of my photographs and ramblings, but for now I'm chalking that up to the fact that I'm a harsh critic of my own work.

Along with the book I will be holding two Art Shows in the San Diego area where I will have prints of our best travel photography. You will also have a chance to look over and pre-order the book at the art show if you are interested.

Look for the dates for those art shows soon! (Most likely they will be held in late April or early May).

Friends, I will keep you posted as things progress - I am hoping this blog will not go silent just because Jacob and I are home now. :)

Finding "Home" in Switzerland

For Jacob and I, our time in Switzerland was a homecoming.

Jacob (and I by proxy) had long heard stories of his Swiss heritage - he has the full collection of Swiss souvenirs and knickknacks, including about ten Swiss Army knives. He has a Swiss passport and ID card, yet had never seen Switzerland through the eyes of an adult.

The last time Jacob was in Switzerland he was 7 years old. His vivid memories are of running through a house of mirrors and banging his silverware barbarian-style on the table while waiting to be served dinner in a castle. Now he was back in Switzerland, bringing a wife, and establishing a relationship with the relatives that loved him even when he was acting like a barbarian.

In the last few days of our time in Switzerland we drove to St. Gallen to stay with another member of Jacob's family, Edith and Guido. Living close by was another family member we had yet to meet, Walter and his wife Ursula.

As was the trend throughout our time in Switzerland (as well as our entire trip), we were royally welcomed. St. Gallen was a place we had been very excited to see. Switzerland may be Jacob's home country, but St. Gallen and the surrounding region is the soil from which his family sprung.

Chauffeured by Ruth and a longtime family friend named Karin, we arrived at Edith and Guido's apartment to find a lunch of cheese fondue waiting for us. CHEEEESE FONDUE. The Swiss have contributed many wonderful foods to the world, but I would take cheese fondue over chocolate any day. (That statement will offend the chocolate addicts of the world. My defense? I am French. Cheese is in my blood.)

Karin and Ruth fighting over the cheese fondue remains

As if that wasn't enough cheese for one day, after lunch we made a trip to the Appenzeller Cheese factory, made almost exclusively in the small canton of Appenzell. It was a potent smelling place, where an Ipad gave us a tour of the cheese making and aging process. Jacob announced that in another life he will be a mountain-dwelling Swiss man who makes cheese and wears gold earrings. I actually don't think I'd mind if that were the case, it sounds like fun.

On the way home we made a stop by Schwellbrunn, a tiny village notable for no reason except this is the original birthplace of the Frischknecht name.

In the evening Edith and Guido packed us into the car with Walter and Ursula and drove us over to Austria for dinner. It's a strange world to me where you can do little things like go to another country for dinner. The thought still awes us a bit.

The next day Walter took us on a tour of the city of St. Gallen. Walter is an extremely knowledgable tour guide with a vibrant sense of humor. It was a pleasure to learn not only about the city, but also about Jacob's forebears who had lived and worked in the buildings we were passing by. We saw several former homes of various family members, as well as the bank where Jacob's great Grandfather had worked back when all the math was done by hand.

St. Gallen has two particularly famous landmarks, the abbey library, as well as a Catholic cathedral.

Unfortunately I was not permitted to take any pictures inside the library, so I had to steal one from google. Let me tell you - this library. It's just....well, there aren't any good words for it. All I could say while we were there was "I want to live here. Right here. I'll happily camp out in that corner for the rest of my life."

See for yourself.

I have this fantasy that if I had gone to a school with a library that looked like that then I would have ended up as a world renowned poet or something.

As if that wasn't enough beauty, afterwards we visited the church.

Jacob and I outside the church doors with Ursula (on the left) and Edith.

The next day we took a trip out to the countryside of St. Gallen where Walter and Ursula's children and grandchildren live. Patricia (Walter and Ursula's daughter) and her husband Martin have a pack of children who are athletically gifted in a way I cannot begin to understand. Three of the children are on the Swiss National Ski Team, doing competitive downhill and slalom skiing. They train year round, in winters at the ski resort that is walking distance from their house, in summers on the glaciers in Austria.

Patricia and two of her daughters, Anna and Leah, took us up to the top of their mountain so we could enjoy the view.

On top of the mountain we found a broken igloo and climbed in for respite from the driving wind.

On the way back Jacob and I attempted some sledding. (We mostly just posed on a sled.)

On our final day, Edith and Guido took us to the top of another mountain that gave a glimpse over the country border into Austria. The views will never ever get old.

Guido, Edith, and Jacob

The next day we said goodbye to Switzerland. Edith took the train with us to the airport, tearing up ever so slightly as we said our goodbyes. Once again we were astounded by the depths of love and kindness that was offered to us. We are humbled and grateful to have such wonderful family that would take us - near strangers - and make us feel like we were home.

Skiing and St. Moritz

After two wonderful weeks with Daniela and her family, Jacob and I moved on to stay with Daniela's parents in another part of Switzerland. This time we were heading to the mountains of south-east Switzerland, just an hour away from the Italian border.

Skiing in the Alps is no big deal for the Swiss. I've already mentioned how amazed we were that people got to go skiing in the Alps. Actually for me - who has always lived at least 3 hours away from the closest ski resort - skiing at all seems like an incredible privilege. So you will understand our giddy delight when we got to go skiing. 

It had been a long time since either Jacob or I had skied. We set out on a beautiful clear morning with Daniela's family and parents, all of whom are (by our standards at least) expert skiers. By some miracle Jacob and I remembered how to ski, managing to spend more time on our feet than face planted in the snow.

Midway through our day we stopped for lunch at a "ski in, ski out" cafe poised on the side of a long run. We sat outside on couches overlooking the entire resort and mountains beyond, soaking in the brilliant sunshine.

Once we had skied out every last bit of energy we took the sledding route - although "sledding" seems hardly like an appropriate term. This sledding course ran for about 2.5 kilometers, winding down half the mountain. On this sledding route, you actually had to steer (that was a problem for me.). It took us 10 minutes and 6 crashes (with me steering) to get to the bottom of the run.

It was a perfect day.

After a day or two to recover from the post-ski soreness, Daniela's parents, Ruth and Ueli, had a surprise for us. They would be taking us to St. Moritz, ski playground for the rich and famous. St. Moritz, while it appears to be like any other gorgeous Alpine town tucked in the mountains, is actually a world in and of itself.

I'll come back to that in a bit.

First - our train ride. I believe I have already described Jacob and I as "giddy like children" multiple times in the Switzerland blog posts. It certainly was a trend - something about the insane natural beauty just makes you want to hop up and down and clap your hands. Our train ride to St. Moritz was no different. The particular route we were on so happened to be a UNESCO World Heritage site for the engineering and architectural genius required for designing the tunnels and bridges that cut through the mountains. We spent nearly the entire ride with our noses pressed up against the glass. 

Once we arrived in St. Moritz we promptly took a bus to an adjoining town called Sils Maria - Ruth and Ueli still hadn't told us what we were up to. 

Then we saw it. There was a horse-drawn carriage waiting for us, complete with thick fur blankets and a bottle of locally made Schnapps. Our jaws dropped, I jumped up and down some more, and we all bundled into the carriage for a ride through an Alpine winter wonderland. (I understand that is a cliche description, but it's the most appropriate one nonetheless. We might or might not have hummed "Jingle Bells" while in the sleigh.)

We took a break for Schnapps, then stopped at a several-hundred -year-old Inn in a tiny village for a warm meal. We had a luxurious lunch before heading back to St. Moritz. 

Jacob and I couldn't believe (yet again) what an amazing experience we were having. This had happened so many times throughout our travels: amazing experiences that took us completely by surprise. Whether we stumbled onto them or they were given to us as a gift, it seems that every corner we turn we find a blessing that surpasses what we had dreamed of. What amazing gifts we have been given! We are indescribably grateful. 

Back in St. Moritz, we took a walk out onto the lake. The massive lake that sits at the base of the town is used for sailing and water sports in summer, but in winter it freezes over and is turned in a multi-purpose playing field. 

A view of the lake in Summer. 

Horse races are held on the lake, cross-country ski marathons, and as we saw, polo. I have always wanted to watch a polo match. It seems like such a British concept - only an aristocracy would invent a sport that involves riding horses while hitting little balls with long croquet bats. St. Moritz was preparing for an international world cup for "Polo on Ice" to take place over the weekend. We watched two teams as they practiced. One team sponsored by Cartier, the other by Polo Ralph Lauren. It was fascinating to watch - almost exactly like soccer, only with some sticks and horses thrown in. The game was fast moving and the horses beautiful as they kicked up a fine dust of powdered snow. 

Once they managed to tear me away from the polo match, we walked up into the town. The extravagance of wealth displayed there is (to be honest) a little shocking. I have experienced my share of wealthy places in the past, but this was wealth on a whole new level. We counted about 12 private jets flying overhead - all heading to a nearby airport to drop off their wealthy clientele. We read menus posted on restaurant doors that advertised 5 course meals that cost $800 a person. We saw window displays where prices began in the thousands, and cafe signs that read "Coffee, Tea, and Caviar". We saw gorgeous cars and women walking around in floor length white fox fur coats. 

Jacob and I decided not to do any shopping there. Instead we stopped for a hot chocolate before catching the train back home. 

It was a day we will remember for a long time - more like a fairytale than real life. A couple of days later we packed up our bags yet again and moved on to another part of Switzerland - this time we were "going home" in a very real sense.