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!
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by egw
Visitors to modern-day Germany are almost 20 years late to catch the Berlin Wall in action. But the structure that divided the city for 30 years and served as a symbol for the Cold War for both sides is visible thanks to the government's GPS tour of where the wall used to be.
Like an art museum audio guide, a "Walk the Wall" device can be picked up at several locations--like the Brandenburg Gate and popular crossover Checkpoint Charlie--and rented by the hour to dispense history lessons at various points where the wall used to stand.
Because it uses GPS, the guides can also tell you if you've strayed too far from the wall and how to get back on track. An iPod tour can't do that!
Related Stories:
· Walk the Wall [Berlin.de]
· iPod Audio Tours Taking Over New York [Jaunted]
· Berlin Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: burnblue]
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A brand-new visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park opens today. The building, designed to look like a 19th-century barn, brims with multimedia presentations, a feature film "experience" and hundreds of thousands of Civil War artifacts.
The new 22-minute film is narrated by Morgan Freeman and focuses on both the battle and its important aftermath. (While the fighting only lasted three days, it took four months for Abraham Lincoln to visit the site and deliver what came to be known as the Gettysburg Address.)
The visitor center will also house the Gettysburg Cyclorama. The 360-degree painting is currently being restored, but should be back on view by September. And of course walking the battlefield itself is still the main draw.
Interestingly, the new visitors center is LEED-certified as a green building, so you can count this as both a learning holiday and green travel.
Related Stories:
· Gettysburg National Military Park [Official Site]
· New Visitor Center Opens at Gettysburg [NPR]
· National Parks coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: JonnyJonJon]
On March 22, 1933, the first Nazi concentration camp opened in the German town of Dachau, just north of Munich. Today, 75 years later, the grounds of the camp are a memorial to the hundreds of thousands of people imprisoned there until its liberation in 1945.
Among the many people who have gone to see the historic site was James Shiels, who was a 19-year-old Army private when his division rolled into Dachau. He recently spoke with NPR about the decision to go back:
My son is really... He was the one that got me going... He asked me one day if I'd like to go back there, and the more I thought of it... I thought it was the greatest idea and we found a tour.
Other places in Europe also have Holocaust memorials, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora and Berlin.
Related Stories:
· Remembering the Horrors of Dachau [NPR]
· Amazing Race at Auschwitz-Birkenau [Jaunted]
· Visiting the Anne Frank House [Jaunted]
[Photo: domake.saythink]
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by benh
Ah, Presidents Day. Nobody really knows what it's about, but everybody likes a day off. Since we're feeling a little patriotic today, we've rustled up some presidential sites worth seeing.
There's lots of George Washington stuff all over the country, including Mount Rushmore. (If you didn't have the day off for a presidential trip, check in with Washington on that quarter in your pocket.) And since he's been trying to horn in on Presidents Day, we've gone ahead and tipped our stovepipe hat to Abraham Lincoln.
Related Stories:
· GW Took the Oath of Office at Federal Hall [Official Site]
· Carpenters' Hall Hosted the First Continental Congress [Official Site]
· G-Dubs Distilled Lots of Booze at Mount Vernon [Official Site]
· Valley Forge Is Now a National Historical Park [Official Site]
· Lincoln Spent Most of the Civil War at His Cottage [Official Site]
[Photo: midweekpost]
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by pbb
The New York Giants celebrated their Super Bowl upset today with a ticker tape parade through lower Manhattan. Office workers were hanging out their windows while rabid fans lined Broadway to cheer on game MVP Eli Manning, David Tyree, Justin Tuck and the rest of the team.
While today's was the first ticker tape parade in the city since 2000, they used to be an almost-every-day occurrence. To take a walk through history, you can hike down the Canyon of Heroes, between City Hall and the Bowling Green. Set into the sidewalk are black granite strips with the dates of parades and the people they've honored.
Among the famous folks who've had multiple parades are Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, John Glenn and Amelia Earhart. Adventurer Richard Byrd managed to earn three events with his exploits at the North and South poles. For a full guide to all the history in the area, hit up the Downtown Alliance, which publishes a guide to the Canyon of Heroes.
Related Stories:
· Canyon of Heroes [Downtown Alliance]
· Super Bowl XLII coverage [Jaunted]
· New York Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Swifty]
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There are some standard Vienna sightseeing haunts: anything to do with Mozart or any high culture like an art gallery or two. And then you have to remember that Empress Elisabeth once graced these cobbled streets.
Better known as the beloved Sisi, the nineteenth century pin-up princess graces many of Vienna's hotspots, and the best place to get to know her better is at the Kaiserappartements and Sisi Museum. Take the free audio guide and wander through the overindulgent rooms where Sisi lived, check out her silver collection (she definitely didn't shop for cutlery at IKEA) and follow her life story and tragic assassination in the museum exhibits. A recent bonus: the empress's bathroom is now open to visitors, but only to look, not to use.
[Photo: denkrahm]
Related Stories:
· Messing With Mozart [Jaunted]
· A House Amok at MUMOK[Jaunted]
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by amandak
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