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November 12, 2009January 20, 2017

Karneval’s Toll

The official start to Karneval is 11:11, on the morning of 11Nov, but the drinking began much earlier than that. Celebrants in costumes ranging from interesting (a giraffe) to ridiculous (smurfs, and fire hydrants) piled out of the subways and marched across the Roncalli Platz to find a brew–a morning elixir to make their dreams come true.

But this tangible inebriation came not without a price, and the Altmarkt (Old market) stood as a beer-soaked ruin.

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October 17, 2009January 20, 2017

Underway, the Kölner Way

When many Americans talk about seeing Europe, the bulk of these people can be divided into two groups: the tour bus or backpacking crowds. Some folks spend their hard-earned dough on a blitz-offensive of Europe like the kind seen in “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” rushing city to city in an attempt to “experience” Europe in an insanely tight time frame. Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, fly back home. Others try to backpack through Europe, and spend a lot of time in hostels. This is a fine option for younger folks, but not everyone.

But our troupe doesn’t fit into those categories. We are European veterans, having taken our time to see the on- and off-the-beaten-trail sites. And with a baby, and no car, the list of “Crazy things we have done in life” has just gotten longer.

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September 14, 2009January 20, 2017

Bavaria, Baroque and Religion

Religion is one topic many journalists won’t touch with a ten-thousand foot pole. Religion is complicated, people are passionate, and when one is working on deadline, a complicated and polarizing issue like religion doesn’t do good things for the blood pressure.

I’ve been cutting back on the coffee, though, so my blood pressure can take a subtle dose of religious analysis after a long few days in Munich.
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September 9, 2009January 20, 2017

A Taste of German Law and Order

If you’d ask someone what Karlsruhe was known for, the person would probably think you were joking–Karlsruhe doesn’t have the kind of tourist-money-attracting sights as its neighbors. The city is an hour or so from Stuttgart and decidedly separated from other major cities in Southern Germany. And this fact was a perfect reason to place one gem in Karlsruhe, the constitutional court, or Verfassungsgericht.

There’s nothing in Karlsruhe…but good old fashioned law and order.

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September 3, 2009January 20, 2017

A Day at the Wannsee

It’s not a short trip to Wannsee, especially with the city’s commuter rail system still lagging. From Schmargendorf, one must head north to Theodor-Heuss-Platz to catch the 218 bus toward Pfaueninsel, Peacock Island. It takes more or less an hour, along curved, wooded roads, before the lake comes into view. It’s serene, and beautiful–two descriptors which make Wannsee’s historical identity all the more troubling.

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August 15, 2009January 20, 2017

A Change in Perspective

There’s a certain comedy to attending language classes in a tourist zone. First, there’re tourists everywhere. And though I hate to generalize, tourists seem to all follow the same m.o. They all seem to have expensive Canon Digital SLR or Nikon Coolpix cameras. They all seem to push aggressively down the sidewalk heading somewhere…until they stop in the middle of the same sidewalk, and ask each other where they’re going.

Tourists also tend congregate in safe zones: monuments, cathedrals, shopping centers, etc. But fortunately tourists tend not to ride the city bus to the end of the line, and that’s where our troupe found itself earlier this week.

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August 14, 2009March 16, 2024

Behind Stasi Bars

I’m not sure what one would expect to see at a prison that didn’t officially exist. On maps it was simply a grey block, and until one is right upon it, the prison fits into the surrounding apartments and factory buildings nicely.

But once a person takes a few more steps toward Genslerstraße, past a grocery store and pay parking lot, the feeling in the air is noticeably unheimlich: strange and unsettling. Entering the complex with an unsettled feeling highlights an irony of this terrible place. The Ministerium für STAatsSIcherheit (State security) provided anything but true security for its visitors.