Bye, bye January!
Is it just me or does it feel like January lasted like two months?
I always spend the first week of January recovering from the holiday season. Putting the tree away, cleaning up the decorations, and endless vacuuming of fallen Christmas tree needles.
Switzerland trip
After the exhausting start of the year, I decided to go for a week in Switzerland to try and recharge a bit. Switzerland is one of my absolute favorite places to be. From hustling Zurich to peaceful Appenzell Switzerland has something to offer for everyone.
I first started with the visit to splendid Zurich. This city located on the namesake lake offers a lot of opportunities for sightseeing and museum visits. While there I visited the Swiss largest museum – the Swiss National Museum as well as a fair share of bookstores.
Next, I continued my trip to St Gallen, the home of one of the most beautiful libraries in the world – Abbey Library of St Gall. Taking pictures inside the library is strictly forbidden so instead here are pictures from Wikimedia Commons.
I finished my Switzerland trip with a visit to the picturesque Alpine village of Appenzell. There I visited an amazing bookstore – Bücherladen and bought a fair share of books. More about my visit to this bookstore you can read here.
Montblanc pens
For over a century the German manufacturer Montblanc has been a synonym for a good looking quality made pens and fountain pens.
I wanted to try either a Montblanc pen or fountain pen for many years but picking the right one was not easy. While I was aimlessly wandering the streets of St Gallen I finally decided to buy a Moleskine pen. I went for the classic Pix Ballpoint Pen in color black.
Space Opera Books
January was a great reading month for me. I read 6 books in total, 3 space opera books, and 3 Harry Potter books. Ever since I read Dune as a teenager I’ve been a huge fan of space opera.
Space opera is my favorite subgenre of science fiction and I love discovering new space opera books. In January I was lucky enough to discover two new favorite space opera books, The Collapsing Empire and The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. Both books are part of The Interdependency trilogy and the final book is coming out in April.
I hope that your January was as lovely as mine. All the best to you in February.
Persephone
Disclaimer: All pictures are mine unless it’s stated otherwise.