Too Square to be Hip
A narcissist's guide to travel and culture
Dominated by the Albrechtsburg and its looming cathedral towers, the small market town of Meissen cuts an impressive figure. Yet outside of this grandiosity, the picturesque old town streets and market atmosphere will easily charm you, to company your awe. This was the prime city of Saxony in the medieval period before the emergence of …
Sitting in a lush green valley in the Austrian Alps, Berchtesgaden’s pristine appearance as the model alpine town can be deceiving. A Nazi stronghold, crowned by the famed Eagles Nest – a home owned by that damned political party – its beauty is complicated by this sordid tale of political adherence. Yet a visitor to …
An easy daytrip from Dresden, the Elbe Valley’s eastern extents approaching the Czech border is magnificent. Tall soaring rock formation intersect with historic villages, railways and towns all the while the ancient river flows by them, knowing that it will outlast them all. This is the touristic hear of the Saxon region and a must …
Once filled with life, the palace Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, stands elegantly above the waters of the pond that surrounds it. Once filled with boats, the pond surrounding the Saxon House of Wettin has not seen its family since it was pried away from the during he Soviet occupation. …
As I child I remember seeing a photograph of Dresden in ruins. Taken from above, one could take in the breathtaking devastation imposed on the city, debris filled streets lined with crumbling walls were all that remained of once lively homes, as if they were unburied carcasses in a pilfered cemetery. On a nearby building, …
