Japan

Osaka, Japan.

For nearly half a year in 2005, I fulfilled a dream and lived in Japan. People always ask me what my time there was like. If there was ever on spot in all of my travels which defies description it just might be this distant island. I have tried to portray it as a trip into the future, where solutions existed to problems that you never knew you even had, such as toilets with speakers that concealed the coarse sounds of their human users or street-corner vending machines selling entire bottles of Suntory Black Jack whiskey.

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Limes Germanicus

For years I had been trying to get to Rome. I wanted to see all the temples, ruins, the roads and the walls. Man, the big walls where the Romans fought their enemies to protect their glorious city. Rome is a long way away, even from Germany. I was frustrated. I was also wrong. Continue reading “Limes Germanicus”

Berlin Now and Then-Part One: Unter den Linden

Around the middle of the 16th century the Elector/Prince of Brandenburg, Berlin at the time, had a horse path connecting his residence to his royal hunting grounds in what is today the Tiergarten (Animal Garden). Unter den Linden (Under the Limes) got its name in 1647 when Elector Frederick William lined the avenue with lime trees. Since then Unter den Linden has become one of Berlin’s greatest attractions. In the past it was home to a royal residence, military buildings and arsenals. Later large churches, opera houses, national libraries and a university were added. In more modern times, Unter den Linden was a government district, where you could find all of the most important embassies in the world. Today, the avenue, which runs on an east-west axis through the middle of the city starts at Alexanderplatz and goes all the way through to the Brandenburg Gate. Here you can find some of Germany’s most recognizable landmarks as well as enough History to fill many pages. Not surprisingly, during the Second World War, Unter der Linden was the spot for parades, demonstrations as well as the target of bombs and some of the fiercest fighting of the Battle for Berlin. Continue reading “Berlin Now and Then-Part One: Unter den Linden”

German Russian Museum Karlshorst, Berlin

On May 8, 1945 the Nazis surrendered to the Allies in Reims. However, at the time the Soviet Union’s Supreme Command was not included in the proceedings.This outraged Stalin, he believed the official surrender should occur in Berlin, the lair of the Fascist Beast, not in newly liberated France under the Western Allies’ authority.

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