Our first bit of travel, as the pandemic seemed to subside here in the Netherlands, was a simple weekend away in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, generally referred to as Den Bosch. It’s only a few hours from home, and I had to be near there for a couple of days to lead a workshop anyway. My husband and…
With so much focus on #BlackLivesMatter, it can be illuminating to look at other ethnic groups in the US. I visited MOCA New York City last year, and it’s high time I published my review. I used to teach an American Studies overview course here in the Netherlands. Every year I made sure to point…
The picturesque harbor town of Tromso (spelled Tromsø in Norwegian), lies more than 300 kilometers / 200 miles above the Arctic Circle. It has a history of serving as a jumping-off point for varous polar activities like trapping, hunting and fishing, as well as polar exploration. Nowadays, it is home to a fascinating little place…
You’re visiting Holland, so of course, you want to see windmills. While windmills dot the countryside all over the Netherlands, Kinderdijk and Zaanse Schans are two popular places for viewing windmills and seeing inside them. I wrote about a visit to Zaanse Schans a couple of years ago. North of Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans has a…
There are 12 UNESCO sites in Switzerland, covering history, architecture and natural wonders, and all of them are well worth seeing. Read about them here!
If you’re not from around here, you’ve probably never heard of Drenthe, a province in the east of the Netherlands. When I decided to make a list of things to do in Drenthe, I was surprised at how many there are. Some are a bit odd or obscure, but those are the places I like…
Small museums, historical sites and activities all over the province of Groningen: something for every interest!
A general overview of 10 things you need to know if you are considering moving to Switzerland. Expat life takes a lot of adjustment; this is the first step.
The Amsterdam Tulip Museum is surprisingly interesting, especially when it tells the story of the tulip mania: the Dutch bulb-buying bubble that burst.
A review of the Amsterdam Cheese Museum, plus everything you ever wanted to know about Dutch cheese!
Written during the pandemic, but still useful for anyone who loves travel but has to stay home a while.
In Amsterdam, you’ll admire the beautiful canals, lined with elegant Golden Age houses. But have you ever wanted to see the insides? Read here about visiting the Willet-Holthuysen Museum!
Hongik University Street, also known as Hongdae, is one of the most famous streets in Seoul, South Korea. Here are 6 of the best things to see there!
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.
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 walked right by it and had to retrace my steps a block or two away. Basically what the KGB did…
Read here about 10 incredible film locations in Singapore that were used in the hit movie, Crazy Rich Asians, and then go visit them yourself!
Castle de Haar is one of the most fanciful castles I’ve ever seen, if you discount Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland. It’s got a moat, a formal garden, towers and turrets galore. Stunningly ornate, especially inside, it’s a medieval princess’s dream. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and…
Lots of things to do at Changi Airport in Singapore. It’s a destination in itself!
This could have been a review of a tour that doesn’t actually exist. What I mean is that the Riga city tour I took was sponsored by #LiveRiga, a campaign of the Riga Tourism Development Bureau, but it is not run on a scheduled basis. Rather, our guide, Juris Berze, is a freelance tour guide,…
Back in 2013, I visited the Tenement Museum in New York City’s Lower East Side and loved it. When I visited again recently for a different tour, well, I didn’t love it. This article combines both reviews, with updated museum information. My family’s immigration history Three of my four grandparents were Ukrainian Jews who immigrated…
As you’ve probably guessed, I love food. I can’t call myself a foodie, exactly, because I’m not choosy about what food I eat. I’m likely to enjoy whatever national cuisine I try, or at least find it interesting. Generally, I’m happy with anything from street food to chic food. But tasting the difference between one…
I’ve seen a lot of castles in my travels, but Muiderslot Castle is a real classic: a drawbridge over a moat and four corner towers, designed for defense.
Eating Europe’s Jordaan food tour allows a peek into a special section of the city with its own unique atmosphere while sampling excellent Dutch foods. Click to read the review!
Gorgeous photos in the form of greeting cards, art prints, notebooks, coasters, etc.
Groningen has three nearby manor houses or “stately homes” that are open to the public and furnished to allow visitors to learn about local history. I’ve written about one of them before: Fraeylemaborg, which I only half-mockingly referred to as the “ancestral home.” Another is Menkemaborg, a similarly impressive display of wealth and social position…
One of the first people I met on my recent week-long trip with Boat Bike Tours was a retired Canadian man named Peter, who told me right off the bat that this was his third tour with the company. I took that as a good sign. Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in that I…
Back in the 17th century, not long after the Reformation turned Sweden Protestant, a new law required church attendance, depending on one’s distance from the church. People up in the cold north of Sweden, despite living on widely-scattered farms far from the nearest church, still had to get to church. Disclosure: This article contain affiliate…
Read here all about things to do in Rovaniemi, Finland in the summer: see excellent museums or explore the wilderness inside the Arctic Circle.
I am a digital immigrant. What I mean by that is that I didn’t grow up with computers like digital natives; the only computers I knew of as a child in Connecticut were the ones that filled whole rooms in banks and government offices. As far as I was concerned, they were equivalent to the…
In a guest post, Danny Newman explains the 10 reasons people get addicted to travel. Are you addicted?
Hurtigruten cruises are unlike other cruises! This Hurtigruten review describes all aspects of a Hurtigruten cruise on the Norway coastal route: the cabin, the food, the excursions, and it gives lots of advice.
The Amsterdam Historical Museum (more correctly called The Amsterdam Museum), housed in a former orphanage, covers Amsterdam’s whole fascinating history. Click here to read all about it!
