One Giant Step

I Want To ‘Go With Oh’ to Berlin!

Some of the fondest memories of our RTW trip are the five days we spent in an apartment in Berlin. I was already head-over-heels in love with Germany – its cleanliness and orderliness, its undeniable history and steadfast resolve to overcome it, its attention to detail, and its beer….oh, the beer!! Staying in an apartment, [...]

Monday Moment: Berlin U-Bahn

I used to have a somewhat recurring dream as a teenager. Hearing the drone of engines overhead I look up to see a pattern of bombers heading towards me. The first wave of bombs drop just as the leading line of planes block the sunlight overhead. A heartbeat later the  second wave drops. Then another [...]

Prost! Here’s To Schnaps!

Without doubt one of my favourite traditions in Germany is the welcoming of guests with schnapps and, as we were guests with family during our time there, we were welcomed with open arms…and bottles. Schnapps, as we know it in North America, doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal. Here it is syrupy and [...]

I LOVE German Beer

Into The Warm Embrace Of Family

With warm and welcoming hugs Jasons’ family welcomed us into Germany and showed us all their favorite places in this fabulous country. It was nice to stay in a family home, eat home cooked meals and have the planning done for us…we relaxed right into it and enjoyed it thoroughly. First stop was Hanover where [...]

Berlin…More Than It’s Past

Berlin is a vibrant, youthful, energetic, evolving city. It is more than its past and, although history looms large here, it is redefining itself and moving forward quickly into the future. We settled in here quickly, once again finding an apartment in a neighborhood outside of downtown. A place where we could get a sense [...]

Memory Studies

Memory studies is a new, and upcoming, branch of history concerned with how people, countries, and cultures remember the tragic events of their past. In the past, history has been written by the winners. Memory studies challenges this approach and places emphasis on all perspectives being remembered rather than just that of the victor. Being [...]

Culture Change

Compared to the South American countries we have visited, Germany is small. There are no 8, 10 or 15 hour bus rides…trains whisk us where ever we want to go within just a few short hours and with the beautiful countryside whipping by, well, there is just no time to write. And so it has [...]