Jaunted - Tag: History Travel

Atlanta: A Layover History Lesson at Atlanta Airport

juliab — 2011-08-17T11:42:07-05:00

As the world’s busiest airport, ATL can be pretty stressful. And, on one of the tightest connections we’ve ever had, a couple of weeks ago, we were feeling that stress ourselves.

That was until we walked out onto concourse E and saw this small exhibit about Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s life, containing photographs and items including King’s radio, the robe he wore when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize and the suit he wore to meet Lyndon Johnson.

Sadly, because of our tight connection, we didn’t get to spend enough time looking at it, but from the airport’s website, it appears that it’s a long-term loan from the King Center, and part of ATL’s Airport Art Program. Other exhibits include an astronomy gallery and a 30ft dinosaur in the main terminal atrium. Because there’s nothing like getting your adrenalin pumping with thoughts of Jurassic Park before catching a flight, right?

Beat that, Amsterdam.

[Photo: Jaunted]

Just What We Need, Another Hitler Tourist Attraction

Jennifer Kester — 2011-01-31T13:16:17-05:00

Ukraine is obviously needing a little help in the tourism department. First, it has the bright idea to give tours of Chernobyl, and now the country is banking on a Hitler attraction to bring in the tourists.

Plans are in the works to turn Wehrwolf, Hitler's Eastern Front military headquarters near Vinnytsia, central Ukraine, into a museum. The facility is scheduled to open May 9, the anniversary of Victory Day over Nazism.

Oxford: Brush Up on Your Beatles Knowledge With Summer School at Oxford University

Jennifer Kester — 2010-02-02T12:22:19-05:00

You'll get schooled in the Beatles at Christ Church in Oxford.

While smarty-pants head to Oxford for serious academic study, you can go to become a Beatles scholar.

The University of Oxford's Continuing Education Department's 20-year-old Oxford Experience program will offer an intensive class on "The Beatles, Popular Music and Sixties Britain" from July 4 to 10. It may not sound like the rigorous courses that one would expect from the hallowed halls of Oxford, but this won't be a class you can sleep through—especially since classes don't have more than 12 students in them.

Plymouth: Back Where Thanksgiving Began: Plimouth Plantation

juliana — 2009-11-24T17:49:32-05:00

If you ever wanted to go back to a simpler time of Thanksgiving without the hassle of planes, trains, automobiles and WiFi, say to the time of the very first Thanksgiving, then Plimouth Plantation may be the right place for Thanksgiving 2010. (Or Thursday, if you find yourself in the New England area with no concrete dinner plans.)

The heritage site, where the first Thanksgiving is believed to be held, does Thanksgiving dinner every year. Er, we should call that dinners as there are multiple dining options from a buffet to a Victorian Thanksgiving dinner to an all-day Thanksgiving celebration. But this place is also way more than Thanksgiving dinner. Plimouth Plantation has done its best to recreate the time and living conditions of 1621 when pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving here.

Fortunately, Plimouth doesn't gloss over the lives and stories of the Native Americans that inhabited the land long before English settlers showed up. The Wampanoag Homesite actually tells the story of the English settlers arriving from an Indigenous point of view.

New York: Discover President Obama's Lost Years on a Tour of His New York Haunts

Victor Ozols — 2009-11-21T14:07:58-05:00

President Obama is most closely associated with the city of Chicago, but he spent five years in New York as a student and community organizer, and a local actor has created a walking tour that shines a light on what he calls Obama's "lost years" here. The AP introduces us to Jeremiah Miller, whose two-hour "Obama's New York" tour takes visitors to some of the places the 44th president spent time during his 1981-1985 stint in the city.

In Russia, Seven Wonders Find You

Victor Ozols — 2009-11-14T14:20:12-05:00

Russians do not like to be dissed, so when the so-called Official New 7 Wonders of the World list came out recently without one Russian wonder, the great bear sprang into action. More than 26 million people cast their online ballots for the most amazing wonders of Russia, and we can now debate whether any of the Seven Wonders of Russia belong on the global list.

Nikumaroro: Only the Coconut Crabs Really Know Where Amelia Earhart Is

Victor Ozols — 2009-10-24T11:42:09-05:00

Just as a biopic of her life is released, a group of researchers claim to have found the spot in the western Pacific where Amelia Earhart disappeared on an attempted round-the-world flight in 1937. As the Discovery Channel points out, the awkwardly-acronymed The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) said it has evidence that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, made a forced landing on a coral atoll called Nikumaroro - part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati - and became castaways and eventually succumbed to disease, thirst, hunger, or injury.