The contrast between the streets of Barcelona and those of most other major Spanish cities is stark, and not just for the architecture. The flag of Spain, commonly hung from balconies all over the country, is not visible here anywhere near to that extent, except on federal buildings. Rather, the red and yellow stripes of…
The United States is the only home I've ever known, outside of a few months here and there in other locations. I was born here, grew up here, largely live here still, and though I'm also a German citizen as of last December, I still identify almost solely as American. Nearly two years ago exactly,…
"Not so long ago, three things were forbidden at Chilean dinner tables: politics, religion and football. Now, there is so much talk of politics that even if we wanted to talk religion or football, we wouldn't have time." My buddy Gert and I are chatting over a terremoto (also known as an earthquake, it's a…
Editor's note: I knew when I made a new friend in the British Museum, bonding over the Elgin Marbles and their story, that Kathryn just had to write for The Royal Tour one day. That day is today. Right now, she is taking a year to explore the world - inspired by me, so she…
Aljube retains few of the characteristics of its brutal past as a political prison. There are heavy bars on some windows, and a few small (two meter long) cells remain as exhibits in the Portuguese Resistance Museum, but this now airy building in Lisbon's Alfama district defies the past. This is where political dissidents were…
This could be Miami. The thought hits me for at least the hundredth time since I arrived here in Panama City, Panama. Blue waters, green parks, and tall glass buildings blend together in, if not harmony, at least a reasonably peaceful understanding. It stands in sharp contrast to most other major Central American cities I've…
This morning, in a private no-frills ceremony at the Consulate General of Germany in Los Angeles, I got to do something that most Jews have only dreamt of. I got to - in my own small way - give the middle finger to the ghost of Adolf Hitler on behalf of myself and my family.…
It is nearly 10:00 AM, and the excitement is building. I wait among dozens of other eager museum-goers, glancing down at our watches and up at the doors, still closed. We know what is on the other side of these simple wooden barriers, standing in stark contrast to the magnificence of the building that puts…
Nationalism movements are all the rage these days. Kurdish in Syria and Iraq grabs headlines, while Catalan demonstrations in Spain have eclipsed the formerly grandiose Basque independence movements. Here in the United Kingdom, Scotland only barely remained after a referendum failed, and talk of another is looming in the face of Brexit. Wales, however, is…
On June 23, 2016, a very small majority of British voters decided to change the course of the UK and of Europe. In a popular referendum initiated by then Prime Minister David Cameron, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union behind. This British exit of the EU, or Brexit, has been at the…