Speaking of local traditions, Sinterklaas is approaching again, and with it, the controversy over Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). As I posted last year, Sinterklaas (the holiday) takes place on December 5th. On that day, as well as the weeks leading up to it, Sinterklaas (the person) delivers gifts to children, landing on their roofs on…
It was just my luck that the day I’d signed up to take a walking tour in Athens, there was torrential rain. Nevertheless, this tour – covering religious Athens under Ottoman rule – was fascinating. Disclosure: I received this tour for free, but all opinions are my own. It never occurred to me, to be honest,…
Today is St Maartens Day here in Groningen, a children’s tradition that is relatively unique to this area. On the 11th of November, once the sun goes down, children go door-to-door begging for sweets. Instead of threatening “trick or treat” like on Halloween, the deal here is that they sing a song, and in return,…
I’ve been to Athens before, so I’ve already done the usual Athens itinerary like visiting the Acropolis. Disclosure: This is a sponsored article in that I was given a free ticket to the cruise in exchange for writing about it. All opinions, however, are my own. So, with only one free day after my conference was…
Last week I posted about the possibility of renouncing my American citizenship due to the onerous requirements the US government imposes on expatriate Americans. That post broke the record here at Rachel’s Ruminations: the most “hits” ever. And, in the process, I’ve learned a lot more about the situation from the many people who responded,…
For several years, I’ve been thinking about giving up my American citizenship. This is not an act of disloyalty or of protest, I hasten to add. I admit there have been moments – when George W. Bush was reelected, for example – when I was angry enough to repudiate my nationality in protest. But I…
A few days ago, I managed to book an extremely low airfare to go visit my daughter in San Francisco. I found out about the fare by using Skyscanner, where you can input your destination and the dates you want to travel and receive updates whenever the fare goes up or down. So while I…
I am a certified open water diver and have done exactly 29 dives up to today. That makes me a relative newbie, but I know the basics of scuba diving. Nevertheless, scuba diving is and always will be outside my comfort zone. The basic problem is that the whole thing just goes against any idea…
My first awareness of the existence of Petra was seeing it in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When I learned that it was a real place and not just a movie set, I added a trip to Petra to my next Israel trip. (Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links, which means if…
Floating in the Dead Sea is one of those things people put on their bucket list: something that has to be experienced once in a lifetime. The Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea because its salt and mineral levels are so high that nothing lives in it. It is also the lowest elevation on…
In about 66 C.E. (Christian Era, which is the term Israelis use for A.D.), a Jewish rebel movement captured a great fortress and palace built by King Herod. Called Masada, it stood high above the Dead Sea on a flat-topped mountain, surrounded by desert. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. by…
If you visit Jerusalem’s old city, you will surely see the Western Wall. It’s as if the large plaza at the center of this ancient place draws you in like a magnet. All roads don’t lead to Rome; they lead to the Western Wall. Yet the Western Wall is more than the most holy place…
The route by which Jesus is believed to have carried the cross to his crucifixion is now a tourism and pilgrim route in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Amidst bombings and tension between Gaza and Israel, everyday life continues.
Why I traveled to Israel at a time when Gaza and Israel were bombing each other.
When I posted about how the Dutch see the Americans, it wasn’t particularly complimentary, so I promised to write the opposite post: how the Americans see the Dutch. (Nederlands vertaling beneden) Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and spend money, I will receive a small percentage of what…
“You’re not like most Americans.” A student of mine, a trainee English teacher, said this to me. I laughed, and the conversation moved on to other topics, but I’ve been thinking about what he meant by this. What the Dutch think about Americans – and I dare say this applies to other Europeans too – is…
There are two kinds of expatriates: the kind who move to a foreign country to seize an opportunity for a job or education or retirement, and the kind who move to a foreign country for love. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I will…
All we were trying to do was to get out of the car while it was stopped in traffic. The plan was to walk to the restaurant two blocks away while my husband went to park the car. It made sense. I stepped out on the right side, but not before saying to the kids…
That’s part of this admirable hubris: complete and utter self-confidence.
With such names, we become the “them” in “Us versus Them.”
To state the patently obvious, it’s terribly racist in this day and age for a white person to dress up in blackface and play a comic character.
[:en]Let’s look at a particular type of graffiti: the kind that names the person writing it, often accompanied by a date. [:]
When you tour a historical building, do you ever wonder about the rooms they’re not showing you? I do! My ruminations about Chateau Chaumont.
One culture chooses to flout law #1 and obey law #2, while another culture obeys law #1 and flouts law #2.
My oh-so-laconic son, on exiting Arromanches 360 circular cinema, which depicts the D-Day invasion, remarked, “Even I found this one moving,”
A not-very-favorable review of the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy in Bayeux, France, with other ideas for learning about D-Day.
With so many Belgium war graves, memorials, monuments, trenches and museums in the Ypres Salient, it’s as if the locals live among the dead.
We ate lunch yesterday at a café in Gent. Afterwards, I went inside to use the toilet, followed the signs upstairs, came around a corner, and saw this.
The In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium, is one of the most effective museums I’ve ever been to. It focuses on WWI in the Ypres Salient. Read my review here.
People place their home where their parents are.
I’ve pointed out before that one of the things I like about the Dutch is that they ride bicycles. And it’s not just that it’s politically correct, non-polluting, and good exercise. I’ve lived here for 15 years, and the way the Dutch use their bicycles never ceases to amaze me. For example, to the Dutch…
