Misc

Currently in Oslo, Norway and leaving Europe in about…2 hours! So, here are the last of my Euro pics. Thank you for journeying with me. I couldn’t of done it without you. Happiness is only real when shared. Yeah!
This one’s for my Japanese followers, a Japanese restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland.

Pacifica in the south of France.

I was so lucky to have access to an abundance of English literature at my auntie’s house. I had missed it (English literature) very much in rural Japan.

Little train in the old town of Antibes (France).
Morning walks by the Mediterranean Sea. Hashtagtakemeback. 
Probably the number one thing I will miss from Europe. This and romantic balconies.

Nice market finds.

Last dinner I prepared for my Spanish family. Mexican from a Persian-Kiwi! Go figure.

Imposter in Nice (France).
Street art in Antibes (France). 
Norwegian wood. Caio Europe!

Vegetarian Food In Europe

Apparently California is the place for vegan and vegetarian food but compared to NZ and Japan, Europe is pretty good, too. Mostly Belgium and Switzerland though not so much Spain and France. Here’s a list:

Moon Food (Brussels, Belgium)
This place is completely vegan. There are two buffets, one cooked and one raw. You fill your plate then pay as according to weight. This is also the case for the next two places (Hiltl and Vert). Moon Food was probably my favourite restaurant. The interior is so pretty! Wooden and minimalistic. I wished so bad to be living and working in Brussels just so I could take my lunch breaks here. EVERYDAY. Laura also loved it and she’s not really into vegan.


Raw pizza. 
Raw Lasagna

Hummus (I can hear Oz singing the hummus song)


Featuring zoodles (zucchini noodles), raw felafel, guacamole and slaw.




Hiltl (Zurich, Switzerland)
According to “Guinness World Records” Hiltl is the first vegetarian restaurant in the world. The company was founded in 1898 by Ambrosius Hiltl and is now run by the fourth generation of the Hiltl family. It offers around 500 dishes and includes, in addition to the à la carte restaurant and Hiltl buffet, self-service and takeaway, a bar-lounge, a club, a cooking studio and a shop. The interior is really extravagant. White with hanging chandeliers. Definitely a place to take your mother. Some also do breakfast.

Featuring edamame salad, dahl, lentil salad, mango and pineapple.

Vert Attitude (Geneva, Switzerland)
Probably the most expensive but rightly so. The food was of the highest quality and delicious. Only problem, the lighting isn’t good for an Instagram-worthy image (hehe)

(Obvs not my photo – my plate, which is not pretty enough to post here contained broccoli salad, carrot salad, guacamole, lentil salad and dahl dal or dhal)

Greenway (Ghent, Belgium)
Both vegan and vegetarian options: wraps, burgers, salads etc. But it’s a chain so it’s not THAT great. But it’s good still. It has a Subway vibe like it’s cozy and colourful but it’s not a restaurant.

Maison Blunt (Zurich, Switzerland)
Just had a soy chai here but it was goooooood. Also the interior, very moroccan very cute. Free wifi (no password), comfy couches and many vegan and vegetarian options (some meat dishes too shhhh!).

Others:
These I did not have the time, stomach-space or money to try out. But, they’re on my list. Maybe you’ll get to try them on my behalf:
Qibi (Geneva, Switzerland)
YOGIFOOD – The Power of Raw (Geneva, Switzerland)
Avalon (Ghent, Belgium)
Dolma (Brussels, Belgium)

Lakeside Strolls and Gothic Grandeur

How great is Europe? How cool is this? To travel from one country to another in less than an hour, from France to Switzerland, Lausanne desu. PS “desu” is a Japanese word often used at the end of factual sentences and for me, the most memberable part of the public transport announcements. Osaka desu. Tokyo desu. Lausanne desu.

As for Switzerland, it is clean, luxurious and crazy expensive.

First on our Lonely Planet list was to visit the Olympic Mueseum. Unfortunately, the entry fee turned out to be a lottle expensive. 18 Swiss Franc, that’s about 25 New Zealand dollars for only three floors – and I’m not even interested in Olympics! So, I took a few pics of the building itself but because the sun had not come out yet, I don’t think they’re that great.Sorry. Next up, the local Wednesday (and Saturday) market:

Teeny tiny little widdle pumpkins. 


My best street photography picture ever.



Both Sonia and I agreed these were THE best vegetarian burgers we have ever had ever. From Holy Cow

Ferry back to France. 50 mere minutes on beautiful Lake Geneva.

Back in France, cherry sorbet.
For my Bahai followers (and those interested). This is the hotel (now residential apartment) Abdu’l-Bahá stayed at during his travels of Switzerland and the very port her travelled from.

This Is What It Means To Be Happy

I know I say this of every place, but Anthy-sur-Leman is truly something else.


You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
(Mary Oliver)

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. (Anne Frank)


…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough (Vincent Van Gogh)

A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness. (Leo Tolstoy)


I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” (Sylvia Plath)

Do It. Throw Yourselves.

Dear ones,
I am experiencing a transition. My life is changing. So. I am excited and of course, scared. As some of you may know, I had planned to go to India but after being unable to get the correct visa, I’ve had to amend my plans. There’s also something else – something which I can’t tell you about (just yet). It’s overwhelming but good (I think). For the time being, please bear with me. Or is it bare? I don’t know.

So. As always, I have taken solace in literature. C. JoyBell C comforts me with this:

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”

I am throwing myself. I am taking a leap of faith and letting life happen.

Travelling is amazing but it is getting harder. I have a few plans. Next, I will visit my auntie (whom I have never met but talked to several times over the internet and who seems like the most incredible woman) and her family in Geneva (Switzerland). From there, I might visit my friend Anita(a beautiful Italian girl who I worked in NZ at Cafe Valentino with)’s mother at their holiday home in Antibes (France), and hopefully, Laura (my WordPress friend who visited me in Mimasaka) in Brussels (Belgium).

I am struggling to live in the moment. I must practice mindfulness. I keep thinking of the future. What will I be doing after my travels are over? Will I settle down in NZ or some other place? What will I do for work? Can I make it as a real writer? So many unanswered questions. Sarah Dessen comes to help: “It was amazing how you could get so far from where you’d planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.”

I will be patient. I will be positive. I will be joyous. I will expect good and I will throw myself.

Lastly, my blog has turned two. So I want to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart, from the mountains of rural Japan and the rivers in Galicia. Merci (farsi not french), gracias, thank you and arigato for flying with me. For being a listening ear, an understanding heart and the best travel companion a solo girl could wish for.

At each step I have longed to share my life with you. This I hope I have achieved and will continue to achieve, in the truest way possible. And, I hope that at the same time, I have given and will continue to give, some sunshine too.

My Next Adventure

Hi hello ohayo!

I have some exciting news! I have started planning a European foodie adventure come August (when my current teaching contract ends). Starting by nannying the adorable children of a seafood chef in Galicia, (Spain), next backpacking down Porto and Lisbon (Portugal) then back to Spain for Madrid and Barcelona (I mean Paella). Later, Rhone Alpes (France) staying with my darling auntie then afterwards to Italy (Milan, Verona, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples) and last, Athens (Greece) before returning home, full and fat, to the land of Hobbits. Though this is just a rough plan. Anyway, Wordpress tells me I have about 3000 followers which means, and I’m no mathematical expert, that at least a minority of you may be residing in one, two or four of these places. So my next plea is this: won’t you host me for a little bit? Can we meet? I can bake cake, cook curry and teach English!

Love,
Anisa sensei