WWII and Cold War sites in Berlin
Berlin is a wonderfully diverse and dynamic city, and especially intriguing to visit as a tourist with an interest in history. In particular, Berlin is the place to go if you like learning about 20th…
Search Results for: Berlin
Touring Reichstag Dome for a Wider View of Berlin
It’s not the kind of sightseeing I usually do, but touring the Reichstag dome was so highly recommended by a friend that I decided to do it anyway. It was also a bit of a…
Stasi Museum Berlin: The Dark Heart of East Germany
At both the DDR Museum and the Palace of Tears, I learned about the kind of everyday surveillance that East Germans endured in Cold War Germany. To find out more, I went to the Stasi…
The Jewish Museum in Berlin
After my experience at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, I was apprehensive about visiting the Jewish Museum in Berlin. This, I thought, is something they will have to get right. After all, Berlin…
Street Art in Berlin with Alternative Berlin Tour
The meeting place for the street art tour by Alternative Berlin Tour was easy for me to find. I looked for the guide at the base of the Berlin Television Tower in front of the Starbucks. I loved…
Berlin’s Palace of Tears
Walking into the Palace of Tears is stepping back in time. The floor tiles, the wall clock, the “modern” design of the building: all hearken back to a 1960s aesthetic in interior design. Standing on…
The Berlin Wall Memorial Illuminates Berlin’s Divided Past
The consequences of the division of Berlin by the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) are visible all over the city. The Wall was a wide, empty gash through the city, and that gash has, ever since the Wall…
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin
The night I arrived in Berlin was full of color and light: the annual Festival of Lights was underway. A light show projected onto the Brandenburg Gate kept the crowds entertained in the cold autumn…
The 8 best Hamburg Christmas Markets (+ 11 more!) for 2023
Tips for visiting the best Christmas markets in Hamburg, Germany, plus a listing of all the rest: 19 in all!
Review of Audley Travel: Luxury bespoke travels
Considering booking Audley Travel to arrange your itinerary? Read this review of my experience with Audley on a tailor-made trip in Greece.
How to choose a destination: Tips to consider before travel
Sometimes it’s hard to choose a travel destination. Say you have only two weeks’ vacation, and you want to get the most out of it. Here’s some advice.
Communist Prague: 4 places to learn about it
Here are four things to do and see to learn about life in Communist Prague – and Czechoslovakia as a whole – during the Cold War era.
A weekend in Portland, Oregon: A 3-day itinerary
A weekend in Portland, Oregon: here’s a 3-day itinerary that covers what to see, where to stay, where to eat, things to do … everything!
Holocaust Memorial, Miami: Witness the horror through art
A memorial composed of a series of statues portraying the anguish of the Holocaust, becoming a sensory and emotional experience for visitors.
28 Practical Tips for Women Traveling Alone
Truly practical advice for women traveling alone. Tips for sleeping, eating, socializing and lots more travel advice for solo female travel!
Things to do in Freiburg in one day
Freiburg, Germany, is a lovely little city with narrow cobbled streets, charming architecture, and a gorgeous cathedral. Read here about all the things to see and do in Freiburg in 1 day.
What to see in Frankfurt in 1-2 days
You’ll only have a short time in Frankfurt? This article will help you decide what to see in Frankfurt in 1-2 days: must-sees and lots more options and ideas so you can make the best of a short city trip!
Taking the waters at European hot springs
In the 19th century, European hot springs became gathering places for the rich and titled, and the historic thermal towns that grew around them still exist today. Read about them here!
The Liberation Route Europe: WWII battlefields and more
If World War II interests you, the Liberation Route Europe is something you could easily build a European vacation around. It traces how the Allies advanced through Europe to retake it from the Germans. Click…
Nuremberg Documentation Center
Note: This is a guest post by LeAnna Brown. There are so many things to do in Nuremberg, whether it be visiting the famous Christkind Weihnachtsmarkt, or just walking the Altstadt, which is why it…
Things to do in Heimaey island, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
Things to do in Heimaey island, off the southern coast of Iceland: a small place with dramatic scenery and a dramatic history to match.
Ruminations on an Auschwitz Tour
Ruminations on a tour of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where Nazis turned genocide into an industrial enterprise, efficiently turning over a million souls to ashes.
The KGB Museum in Riga, Latvia
You could easily miss the KGB Museum in Riga if you didn’t know where to look. Commonly referred to as “the Corner House,” it looks on the outside like a quite stylish residential building. I…
A maritime-themed weekend in Hamburg
I’ve visited Amsterdam – about two and a half hours from home – more times than I can count. Hamburg is only slightly further away – three hours by car – and I’d never been…
Bitemojo app Singapore food tour: a review
Bitemojo food tours are not like other food tours. That’s not to criticize other food tours, mind you. I love learning about a place’s particular customs and foods. Bitemojo tours are different, though, in that…
A Krakow Tour with a Twist
Crazy Guides’ communism tour advertises a visit to Nowa Huta, a “model communist city.” Built starting in the 1950s, this experiment in communist community-building is considered a landmark of Soviet-era socialist architecture and urban planning. I…
USS Pampanito and SS Jeremiah O’Brien: WWII maritime history in San Francisco
After learning about how “Rosie the Riveter” constructed Liberty Ships in the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco, it seemed to me that the obvious next step was to tour an…
Elie Wiesel Memorial House: A museum with a message
The Elie Wiesel Memorial in Sighet, Romania, where Wiesel lived, is a small museum with a big, important message.
The Communist Consumers Museum
A Communist Consumers Museum? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? I mean, in the Cold War, we in the West were the consumer society. We still are. They were, well, communist. So what could a…
Bitemojo: A new twist on culinary tours
If you ever take a Bitemojo tour, make sure you start with an empty stomach, good walking shoes and plenty of time. You’ll need all three. Disclosure: I took a Bitemojo tour in Jerusalem because…
Five Synagogues in Prague (and One Cemetery)
Five synagogues in Prague and a cemetery are what remains of Prague’s once-thriving Jewish neighborhood. Under the umbrella of the Prague Jewish Museum, they are open to the public, each serving a different function. Tourists can…
Choosing a destination in a time of terrorism
Note: I wrote this a couple of years ago, but the argument I make here still applies. Where I mention a terrorist attack from some time ago, just fill in whatever the most recent one…