Well, this is definitely no simple hunting lodge. The palace of Versailles, built by Louis XIV just outside Paris, is one of the most overtly conspicuous displays of wealth and ego ever built, by a monarch for whom wealth and ego were like mother’s milk. Walking around, golden domes, gates, window adornments - golden everything…
After more than eight weeks, we are finally at the last segment of my Germany trip. This portion will all be centered around Munich, considered one of the most livable cities in Germany, and in all of Europe. I intend to find out for myself. All I know so far from lining up an Airbnb…
Montmartre, Montmartre, where the throngs and the songs continue Montmartre, Montmartre, where Paris (Paree) on a spree gets in you Montmartre, Montmartre Can Can While not home to the most recognizable sights in Paris, Montmartre is perhaps the most famous neighborhood, heavily represented in popular culture for more than a century. It is the traditional…
Bonn doesn’t get much love from the tourist community. It seems to always be passed over for the larger Cologne, about thirty minutes north by train. Well, that’s a shame. Bonn, while smaller than Cologne, has a lot going for it, and the price differential between staying here versus in Cologne itself makes it -…
On May 7, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces. As the war in Europe ended, Germany was divided into four spheres of control, each region “belonging” to one of the allied powers: the US, the USSR, Britain, and France. Berlin was divided into quarters, although it was surrounded by the Soviet region.…
Castles on the Rhine. There is a fairy tale quality to this abject reality: castles are truly everywhere along the Rhine River in between Mainz and Bonn. Some are ruins; some are intact. Some are medieval stone keeps; some are more modern chalets and villas. Some are museums; some are lived in still. A castle…
Stepping off my morning train from Bonn and exiting the central train station of Cologne, I can’t help but stop and stare - and I’m not the only one. My entire field of vision is consumed by a huge stone edifice, spires and buttresses soaring into the sky. Cologne’s cathedral is imposing, to say the…
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Fremder, Etranger, Stranger Gluklich zu sehen. Je suis enchante. Happy to see you. Bleibe. Reste. Stay. Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret. Cabaret The famed Broadway musical Cabaret starts with this greeting. Based on the Christopher Isherwood novel Goodbye to Berlin, Cabaret confronts the realities of the huge Berlin…
It isn’t often that one can say that an experience was shared with Napoleon, Mozart, and all the royalty of Europe. And yet, when I step into the Farina House in Cologne, that is exactly what I am able to do. As I walk upstairs for my private tour, I am sprayed with a small…
Sitting in the Music Room, I find myself moved to tears, and not for the first time today. A small circle of seats and a projection on the wall are the sole features of the room, but it an emotional sensory experience. Beethoven’s beautiful Moonlight Sonata is playing over a speaker, and the projection shows…