November 2015 Though I wouldn’t consider Berlin an architecturally beautiful city given its history of, well, frankly being flattened by the ravages of World War II and then subsequently rebuilt in a utilitarian post-war government fashion with cheap, blocky concrete monstrosities echoing the clean, modernist style of the Bauhaus movement (call me […]
Berlin in Black & White
November 2015 Checkpoint Charlie First set up in August 1961 when communist East Germany put up the Berlin Wall to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the democratic West, the famed Allied sentry post named Checkpoint Charlie acted as a way station for officials traveling from one side of the wall […]
Photo Diary: Feeling Festive at Berlin’s Christmas Markets
Dan and I had so much fun last year celebrating the holidays with Dan’s parents while wandering through Bavaria’s famed Christmas markets picking up unique traditional Christmas ornaments and sipping on festive holiday drinks that we decided to head to Germany again to get feel that Christmas magic! Over our […]
Holiday Cheer at Bavaria’s Kristkindlesmarkets
December 19th-22nd, 2014 What better way to get into the festive Christmas spirit than at Bavaria’s famed Kristkindlesmarkts! As soon as Dan and I knew for certain we would be moving to London, Dan’s parents had expressed the desire to come out for Christmas and revisit the area and the […]
Photo Diary: Neuschwanstein Castle
December 23rd, 2014 After saying goodbye to the storybook village of Nuremberg and her delightful kristkindlesmart in the morning, we drove south toward Fuessen and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration behind Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. The castle was overcrowded (as evident by the insane amount of people crowded on […]
The Rhine Valley Route: Cologne to Chur
The next morning we awoke bright and early and after checking out of our hotel (conveniently located inside the train station!) we hopped on the southbound train that would take us to Switzerland via the Rhine Valley. As we chugged south from Cologne, snaking along the Rhine River until Mannheim, […]
Cologne: Currywurst and the start of the Great Rail Holiday
With warm (ok lately more cold and rainy) spring days upon us and the promise of a gorgeous summer on the horizon, Dan and I packed up our suitcases again in pursuit of Switzerland’s famous alps, the azure blue waters of the Italian Lakes, and the lagooned canals of Venice. […]