Jaunted

Civil Rights Travel / Airports / ATL / Museum Travel / History Travel / → All Tags

A Layover History Lesson at Atlanta Airport

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]

Thanatourism / Ukraine Travel / History Travel / Nazi Travel / War Travel / Death / → All Tags

Just What We Need, Another Hitler Tourist Attraction

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.

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Beatles Travel / Summer Schools / Oxford / History Travel / → All Tags

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

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.

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Thanksgiving Travel / History Travel / Plymouth / Pilgrims / → All Tags

Back Where Thanksgiving Began: Plimouth Plantation

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.

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Barack Obama / History Travel / Political Travel / Walking Tours / → All Tags

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

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.

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Seven Wonders of the World / Seven Wonders of Russia / History Travel / Huge Statues / → All Tags

In Russia, Seven Wonders Find You

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.

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Amelia Earhart / Mysteries / Movie Travel / History Travel / Aviation / Aviation Travel / → All Tags

Only the Coconut Crabs Really Know Where Amelia Earhart Is

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.

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Revolutionary War / American Revolutionary War / History Travel / Dangerous Travel / The British Are Coming / Getting Shot by a Cannon / Historic Reenactments / → All Tags

Revolutionary War Drags On as British Soldiers Blast Dude With Cannon in Upstate New York

Most people think the American Revolutionary War ended with the surrender of General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781, but there appear to be a handful of British holdouts still battling from a fort in in upstate New York. As msnbc.com points out, an American tourist and his wife were recently shot by a British cannon as they enjoyed a picnic lunch on the southern shore of Lake George.

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Ostalgia / Cold War Travel / History Travel / Communism / → All Tags

Tour the Secret Escape Tunnels Under the Berlin Wall

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.

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Music Travel / Beatles / Abbey Road / History Travel / → All Tags

Beatles Fans Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Abbey Road Photo

The iconic photo of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road that graced the album of the same name was snapped 40 years ago today, drawing hundreds of fans to the famous north London street to mark the event with songs, tributes, and other remembrances. As the AP explains, on August 8, 1969, police held up traffic while photographer Iain Macmillan stood on a stepladder and shot photos of the band walking back and forth across the crosswalk. The shot that made the cover depicted Paul McCartney barefoot and out of step with the others, launching countless conspiracy theories that Paul was dead and an impostor had taken his place in the band.

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History Travel / History / Big Ben / Parliament / Bongs / → All Tags

Great Bongs of the World: Big Ben Turns 150

The London bell known as Big Ben turns 150 years old this year, giving writers around the world license to use the word bong in dozens of news stories. After all, bong describes the sound this famous bell makes throughout the day, striking the musical note E every hour. Four other bells strike G sharp, F sharp, E, and B on the quarter hours, broadcasting the song Westminster Quarters throughout the Parliament grounds and beyond. How about those bongs?

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Dan Brown / Literary Travel / Freemasons / History Travel / US Capitol / → All Tags

Dan Brown's 'Lost Symbol' Cover Reveals The U.S. Capitol

It's been five years since Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown put out his last book and the world has been anxiously anticipating a follow-up featuring the symbologist Robert Langdon. But (not surprisingly for a man who writes about secrets), he hasn't made it easy for us.

Indeed, the details of new book have been kept as fiercely guarded as anti-matter or the scandals of the Vatican. There has been no hint as to what the new story is about or where it will take place. Pretty much all we can legitimately assume is that Robert Langdon is back and he will probably find some PYT to uncover some age-old mysteries with. What mysteries those will be, we aren't sure of but with the release of the cover for his new novel, The Lost Symbol, due out in September, we think it may have something to do with the freemasons.

The U.S. cover version shows a lit-up U.S. Capitol building and a giant red wax seal which has symbols embedded in it. The U.K. version has a larger picture of the capitol building and instead of a wax seal, a key that looks, to our untrained eye, to be a masonic key.

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