Berlin is the city that makes my heart skip a beat. The buildings and streets define and narrate my lifelong obsession with my ancestral home (Germany) and its history like an interactive storybook. First, Berlin was the cultural center of the Weimar Republic era (between WWI and WWII) when the painters, filmmakers, musicians, architects, scientists,…
Tell me if you’ve heard this before: “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul and faith. And I was round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain, Made damn sure that Pilate washed…
A kremlin, the fancy Russian word for fortress, is not an entirely rare sight across Russia but only one has the distinction of being THE Kremlin. Moscow and its Kremlin were founded in the 12th century. Prior to the 1900s many people lived inside the Moscow Kremlin walls just as they would in any village. Soviet…
In the Heart of Transylvania is Harghita County, home of the Szekelyfold. The Szekelers are a group of Magyar/Hungarian origins who formed a battalion of frontier guards that defended the land against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages.
Something bit me in Transylvania, and that is no joke. I kept a close eye on the painful new swellings and watched for any strange symptoms but they have healed, and now… I guess I’m fine now. Before I begin, I found a video on Youtube that someone else filmed of Sighisoara that truly shows…
Countless Overhill Cherokee towns are buried under water in East Tennessee. The history of this region and its native people is still full of mysteries and surprises even after decades of extensive archaeological projects. The modern town of Vonore is a historically and culturally-rich, prominent archaeological site just a few miles south of Historic Loudon,…
Depending on who you ask, Loudon County is comprised of Loudon (City), Lenoir City, Tellico, Philadelphia, Greenback, Dixie Lee Junction, parts of Farragut, and Unitia. It was not until today that I even heard of Unitia; a small Quaker-established community near Friendsville that was rather lively from the 1790s until the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded…
Bad Kötzting is a town in Chem of Upper Bavaria, Germany near the border of the Czech Republic. After an extremely short visit, this place remains elusive in my memory. It was dark already as we left München, but there was just enough light from the moon, stars, and snow on the mountains to illuminate…
Recently I learned that Palmetto Cheese, the only commercial brand of pimiento cheese I like (and how), comes from Pawleys Island. I attribute that primarily to the fact that I had not heard much of Pawleys Island before I was invited to visit. Not as recently, we’re talking two months straight, I’ve had “Reach the…
Georgetown, South Carolina was founded in the early 1700s as a colony settlement, named after King George II of England. Being positioned right at the convergence of the two rivers Great Pee Dee and the Waccamaw made it a high profile seaport, especially in the 1800s and 1900s. Today its Port of Georgetown is the…
George Gershwin composed his classic opera Porgy and Bess while staying on Folly Island Beach in the 1930s, and Glenn Miller performed live right on the Pier. People from all over the world have kicked up their feet in this small beach community for decades. My brain turned into a recalcitrant montage of beach-themed 80s music…
Mark Twain wrote about Heidelberg, “I have never enjoyed a view which had such a serene and satisfying charm about it as this one gives” in his book A Tramp Abroad and it still rings true. In the heart of Germany, Heidelberg rests over the Odenwald mountains divided in two by the Neckar River. Germany’s…
The Asamkirche is Munich’s most unique church. Known formally as the church of St. Johann Nepomuk, this tiny late Baroque gem was built by the brothers Cosmas and Egid Asam over the period of thirteen years. For this entry I chose Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” for obvious reasons. Before the brothers began building…
There are endless ways to explore Dallas but this itinerary is tailored to those of you are more interested in culture vulturing, in-depth history, and quick no-hassle meals.
Uptown is a glitzy newer neighbourhood in Dallas, freshly made up of the lower parts of other neighbourhoods closest to downtown. It was created and named solely to attract real estate developers to revitalize it, plowing over all the real culture and leaving this new creature with the natural historical richness of swimming pool. That…
Imagine a mashup of Greenpoint-Brooklyn, New Orleans’ French Quarter, and Atlanta’s Little Five Points, before L5P became so dilapidated that you could kick trash up like fall leaves.
quite an adventure here in this land of bbq, brisket, boutiques, bars, bookshops, and surprise Balkan Brass…
