Jaunted - Tag: Cold War Travel

Berlin: Tour the Secret Escape Tunnels Under the Berlin Wall

Victor Ozols — 2009-10-17T17:29:10-05:00

East Germany must have been a really nasty place to live, because so many people risked their lives to escape to the west. A creepy tour in Berlin provides a stark reminder of the lengths people will go for freedom, with walks through some of the escape tunnels under the Berlin Wall. An interesting AP story points out that about 300 people managed to escape through various tunnels in the years after the wall was built in 1961, with many continuing to work from the west to free family members.

Hike And Bike Your Way Along The Cold War's Most Dangerous Fault Line

Omri — 2009-07-27T16:34:11-05:00

On one hand, the Cold War was kind of depressing. Cf. the Lewis Black clip below, which includes the phrase "nuclear fuck holocaust." On the other hand, there was something charmingly absurd about the whole thing. We knew who the enemy was, we knew what a war would look like, and we knew we would all die. Kids today don't appreciate how refreshing it is to know who you're supposed to hate.

If you fall on the nostalgia side of Cold War reminiscence, the EU has been developing a series of jogging trails and biking paths that might be up your alley. The final route of the whole project just got published in the form of a brochure. The Iron Curtain Trail now stretches from Finland, down through central Germany, along the outer border of the former Czechoslovakia, and between Hungary and Austria. The trail stretches 4,225 miles, winding its way along the old Warsaw Pact-NATO border.

Los Angeles: Germany's Twin Art Movements

EricRosen — 2009-02-24T13:01:10-05:00

You know those studies that finds twins who have been separated at birth and looks at how being raised in different environments affects what would essentially be the same person (genetically speaking, at least)? Well now imagine doing that with an entire nation’s art movements.

That’s the idea behind the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “The Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures,” on exhibit now through April 19, 2009.

Berlin: Paranoia Travel: Get Spied on at This Scary German Bar

egw — 2008-08-06T14:15:05-05:00

Want to know what it's like to live in a country where government surveillance is rampant and your every move is tracked? See how fun it is to be watched at Zur Firma, a new bar in Berlin decorated with East German paraphernalia, including an interrogation table and fake security cameras!