I took this picture a couple of weeks ago during one of my early morning walks through Basel's city center. I love capturing shots in the early morning or late afternoon when places are quiet and you get to enjoy the small things that make them what they are — like a gravel pétanque court scattered with pigeons, a lone person sitting quietly on a bench, a bare winter tree, and the twin spires of the Münster poking up above the rooftops in the background. The light made it impossible not to stop and take a photo.

It's one of those scenes that feels completely unhurried, which is something I really appreciate about this city.

If you've been here before, you'll notice things look a bit different! I rebuilt the whole design from scratch — cleaner layout, better typography, and a proper dark mode. I did the same for my personal site last week and it was about time the blog got the same treatment.

The old design had been running for almost ten years on Skeleton CSS with a dark mode toggle bolted on and a lot of custom CSS piled up over the years. It worked, but it was getting messy and hard to maintain.

The site was already on Astro, so the heavy lifting was really just the design layer: I replaced all the old CSS with Tailwind CSS v3 and a proper light/dark colour token system, so switching themes is now just a single class on the html element with no annoying flash on load.

The content stays the same, though—hope you enjoy the new look!

I took this picture while walking through Berlin-Mitte on my way to get my glasses done — way cheaper than in Switzerland! Among the renovated façades, galleries, boutiques and expensive apartments, Linienstraße 206 stands out like a time capsule. Covered in graffiti, street art and banners, it's clearly not a fully modernised luxury building and that's exactly what makes it so unique.

After the Wall fell in 1989, hundreds of empty buildings across East Berlin were occupied by squatters, artists and activists. Most of those squats were eventually evicted or swallowed by gentrification, but Linienstraße 206 is still standing, still defiant. A small piece of Berlin's alternative history right in the middle of all that fancy new East Berlin.

A couple of days ago the weather started to get better so I decided to jump back on my bike and commute to work. I left relatively early to avoid the rush hour and enjoy the morning light.

The weather was perfect, but what was even better was the background view of this commute: The sun rising in the background behind the Alps, creating interesting shadows and beautiful colors reflected on Lake Léman. I stopped to take some photos and enjoy the moment.

I felt really lucky to witness such a beautiful scene during my daily commute!

We Europeans are among the most avid coffee drinkers in the world, with several countries ranking at the very top globally. If we’ve ever shared an office, you’ll know I’m definitely doing my part to keep the pot empty.

Interestingly, Switzerland doesn’t top the list for per capita consumption. That honor belongs to the Nordic countries, with Finland leading the way at an impressive 10.76 kg of coffee per person each year.

Luxembourg stands out statistically at 18.98 kg per capita, largely due to its large cross-border workforce, but the Nordics remain the most consistent heavy drinkers overall.

In total import volumes, however, the largest European players are:

• Germany: 449,000 tonnes annually (5.31 kg per capita)
• Italy: 363,000 tonnes annually (6.11 kg per capita)
• France: 346,000 tonnes annually (5.21 kg per capita)

With all this coffee talk, I think it’s time for another cup ☕

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