A very sunburnt and soon-to-be-drunk 22 year old me at the Hofbrauhaus in 2008. I visited Munich for three days back in 2008 and I LOVED it. I'm shocked that I loved it as much as I did because I consumed a crazy amount of beer while I was there (to say I probably don't remember a lot of our first night is an understatement). To that end: it's a miracle I remember any of it at all. But as I've gotten older and smarter and learned more about history, Munich has been up there with Berlin and ... VIEW POST
Five Things I Want To Visit in Munich, Germany
A Memorial in Berlin: Bebelplatz
For my last post about Berlin for a while (probably!). The more and more I was looking at my photos from my (very short, too short) time in Berlin in 2008, the more I think, "Damn, I have to go back!" So, who knows, maybe that's a trip I should plan in the future. But anyways, this post is about Bebelplatz and the Nazi book burning ceremonies. The photo above is of the memorial to the burning of Jewish books in the square known as Bebelplatz. Bebelplatz is a large thoroughfare near the State ... VIEW POST
Visiting the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe (Berlin, Germany)
Nestled in the city next to the Tiergarten, you'll find this immersive and overwhelming Holocaust memorial called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe. The memorial was constructed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold in 2003-2004 and officially opened to the public in 2005 on the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. When we got there, our tour guide explained to us that it was designed so that when you walk far enough into the memorial, the sounds from outside are ... VIEW POST
Paying a Visit to The Reichstag in Berlin
One of the first things we did after we arrived in Berlin in June 2008 was head straight to the Reichstag in the center of Berlin. The word Reichstag means to "connote a diet (or assembly)," thus the Reichstag was built in 1894 to house the German diet. It was used for this purpose until it was badly damaged in a fire in 1933 one month after Hitler was elected as Chancellor. Known as the "Reichstag fire," this was a pivotal moment in the Nazi Party taking over Germany. They instilled fear in ... VIEW POST
Visiting the Berlin Wall in Germany
What would a jaunt around western Europe be without a few days in Berlin? I went to Berlin for a few days back in 2008 before it became filled to the brim with hipsters and it's such a cool city. I'd forgotten how many amazing things I saw until I was going through my photos from my time there recently. And, of course, I saw the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to divide the city of Berlin but also East and West Europe after World War II when the continent was divided ... VIEW POST
Learning About the White Rose Memorial in Munich, Germany
When I visited Munich, Germany for a few days in 2008, the lot of us went on a bike tour around the city and one of our stops along the way was the White Rose Memorial. The White Rose movement in Germany was a nonviolent, intellectual resistance opposing the Nazi party during World War II. The group was started and led by a professor from the University of Munich, Kurt Huber, and his students, siblings Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Christoph ... VIEW POST
