Europe travel

The Elie Wiesel Memorial is a single-story house on a street corner: quite small, painted white with blue around the windows.

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.

A panel from inside Patrauti church. Look at the detail the painter put into it? Do you happen to know who they are? The Spectacular Painted Churches of Moldavia

The spectacular painted churches of Moldavia

Last week I posted about the fortified churches in Transylvania, eight of which make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another collection of churches in Romania, this time in the northeastern part of the country, Moldavia, are also UNESCO sites, just listed as “Churches of Moldavia.” The Painted Churches of Moldavia What makes these churches…

Should you visit Dracula’s castle?

As the crowds shuffled through the castle, some tourists tried to stake out spots where they could take pictures of each room without people in the photo. Others posed for selfies, their backs to the beautifully restored spaces. One man, reaching high in an attempt to snap a picture above our heads, leaned casually on…

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 Communist Consumers Museum even show? When we passed through Timişoara, Romania, this summer, we didn’t really have any plans. Picking…

The contrast between these two buildings is remarkable. The one on the left is down to the underlying brickwork in places while the one on the right is pristine. What is not clear is how much the restoration on the right involved removing decorative elements. I suspect some plasterwork was removed, since the originals of this type generally have different window frames for each row, as you can see on the building on the left. Visiting Timisoara: faded glory

Timişoara photo essay: Faded glory

Majestic buildings boast imposing, ornate facades, even on the side streets. Edged with statues, often figurative, each row of windows differs from those above and below, yet they all display detailed workmanship. Grand doorways framed with artwork, topped with glass, span several centuries of architectural styles. But the paint is flaking away. Underneath, exposed to…

Burghausen Castle looms over the town of Burghausen. This photo only shows a part of it. I think the only way to photograph the whole castle would be from the air.

Lovely Burghausen Castle

I don’t see why Burghausen Castle isn’t on the German castle must-see list. It’s among the best medieval castles I’ve ever seen.

Deva Castle, as seen from where Albert stood under the shelter. It's the closest we got to it.

Not visiting Deva Castle

We weren’t even planning to go to Deva Castle. My husband and I were just driving along, minding our own business, on a road trip in the western Carpathian mountains of Romania. The GPS was guiding us from Timişoara (beautiful buildings, much in need of renovation) to Alba Iulia (18th century fortress with seven bastions),…

The Erotic Museum Amsterdam is in the red-light district, in a building that served originally as a warehouse and was built in 1685.

Is the Erotic Museum in Amsterdam erotic? A review

Is the Erotic Museum in Amsterdam erotic? The short answer is “No.” What is it then? Thought provoking and sometimes disturbing.

Micropia museum of invisible life

Micropia Museum in Amsterdam is remarkably successful, considering that it’s all about creatures that are invisible to the naked eye! Not for those with a weak stomach!

Moco Museum: Contemporary art in Amsterdam

Read here about MOCO Museum, a little art museum in Amsterdam with an outstanding exhibition of Banksy works and other modern and contemporary art.

The Wallace memorial as seen from its base, complete with a statue of William Wallace.

The Wallace Memorial and a travel blogger’s heart

My son has decided he wants to go to university in Scotland. After investigating the possibilities on line, he applied to five universities that offered the sort of program he was looking for. It didn’t really occur to him that perhaps he should consider other factors in his choice. Would he prefer an urban or a…

Five Synagogues in Prague (and One Cemetery)

Five synagogues and a cemetery (with a ceremonial hall) are what remains of Prague’s once-thriving Jewish neighborhood. Together, they now make up the Prague Jewish Museum.

Square entrance with rounded corners into the reception, which is dimly lit. A lit-up sign reads YotelAir.

Yotel Hotel at Schiphol: A Review

A review of Yotel Hotel Schiphol (a.k.a. YotelAir): inspired by capsule hotels, it’s worth considering if you have an early flight and little luggage.

Nightmare colors and textures - one part of this space looks like fungus is growing, but multi-colored.

Electric Ladyland: hippie heaven

Electric Ladyland in Amsterdam is one of the weirdest museums I’ve visited yet. The museum claims to be the “first museum of fluorescent art.”

Two porcelain figurines of white cats with bow ties.

The Cat Cabinet: Another quirky Amsterdam museum

The Cat Cabinet is a rather mixed bag of cat art – from movie posters and mass-produced figurines to Picasso and Rembrandt – in a beautiful Amsterdam canal house.

The Houseboat Museum, Amsterdam

Ever considered living in a houseboat? The Houseboat Museum in Amsterdam gives a glimpse of houseboat life: a very quick glimpse, given how small a vintage houseboat is.

Trip of a Lifetime: Bloggers Pick their Must-See Destinations

For this collaborative post, I asked fellow travel bloggers about their idea of a trip of a lifetime: If a person who’s never traveled far from home asked you to name the one place they should visit on their one-and-only trip ever, what would you say? I got so many different answers! I’ll start with the…

two glass mugs printed with a picture of Oldenburg.

What makes German Christmas markets special

It’s funny: most countries in Europe have Christmas markets of some sort. Yet Europeans travel to visit the ones in Germany.

The Reichstag dome as seen from the roof

Touring Reichstag Dome for a Wider View of Berlin

Made of steel and glass, the new dome of the Reichstag echoes the old one that was there originally, and offers a 360-degree view over Berlin.

The Stasi Museum Berlin looks like an ordinary office building from the early 1960s.

Stasi Museum Berlin: The Dark Heart of East Germany

At the Stasi Museum in Berlin, it becomes clear how the Stasi managed to keep everyone under control for so long. Read about it here.

Flat metal disks, piled haphazardly, covering the floor. Each has a simple face, most of them with a round O for a mouth as if screaming.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin

I was apprehensive about visiting the Jewish Museum in Berlin, but it turned out to be an excellent museum with the right mix of information and emotional effect.

street art at Haus Schwarzenberg, 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 the irony of starting an alternative walking tour in front of a Starbucks. Ben from New Zealand, our tour guide…

Getting a visa was no easy task unless you had official business in West Germany or elsewhere in the world.

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 East German territory since 1962, the Palace of Tears was an addition to the older Friedrichstraße train station. This station…

souvenirs available to East German tourists when they visited East Bloc countries. The sign explaining them states "Wall units displayed Russian dolls or other products from the series Knicknackery and Dust-gathery until they were finally stowed away in the cellar." DDR Museum, Berlin

A Peek into East Germany at the DDR Museum

In my last post, I wrote about the Berlin Wall as a gash across the city. What brought me to the Berlin Wall Memorial was my visit just the day before to the DDR Museum in Berlin. That museum and its hands-on portrayal of life in the former DDR (called the German Democratic Republic or GDR in…

the view of the restored piece of the Berlin Wall in the Berlin Wall Memorial

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 “fell” in 1989, been repurposed in a variety of ways. In some places, buildings encroach on the space: Potsdamerplatz is a…

In the background, the Palau de les Arts. In front of that, the IMAX theater. At the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

The City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (with teenagers)

I caught my first glimpse of Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences last year as we drove by on our way to see the old center of the city. It was astonishing: massive, futuristic architecture contrasted sharply with everything we had seen so far. Note: Updated in April 2023. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links…

a daytime shot of the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin

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 air. Walking the short distance from the Brandenburg Gate to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe meant, both…

Archways provide shade in Monells,, in the Baix Emporda,, Spain

Baix Empordà villages: a photo essay

Baix Empordà, part of the province of Girona in Catalonia, is one of those hidden gems, to use the cliché, that no one seems to know about. Many tourists visit Girona, and many of them venture out to the Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres. Most, though, don’t stay long enough to explore the lovely stone villages…

a street in the old section of Girona, Spain

One Day in Girona (with teenagers)

We only had one day to spend in Girona. That, and the fact that we had three grumpy teens with us, meant that we had to choose what we saw very carefully.

some of the line for the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. You can see the museum straight ahead and the church on the right.

8 Things to Do While Waiting in Line for the Dalí Museum, Figueres

As I mentioned in my post about the Dalí Theatre-Museum, we were stupid enough not to book tickets ahead of time, forcing us to wait in line in the center of Figueres, Spain. It was the middle of the day in August and, believe me, it was hot in Figueres. We waited about 45 minutes to get to…

Modernism in Alcoi, Spain

It was a hot Sunday morning in August when I walked from the deserted Plaça d’Espanya into the visitor’s information office in downtown Alcoi, Spain. The lone woman at the counter seemed thrilled to have someone to talk to. All I wanted was a map, but she insisted on telling me, in detail, about everything…

Kitsch and karaoke: the ABBA Museum, Stockholm

Admit it: You like ABBA. Okay, maybe you don’t like ABBA, but you catch yourself singing along when you hear an ABBA song on the radio. Disclosure: I received free admission to the ABBA museum as part of a TBEX conference in Stockholm. All opinions, however, are my own. A second disclosure: This article contains…