The theme for this week’s Photo Friday is castles. We toured three medieval castles in a day last year on our trip to Germany. Above is Schloss Rochlitz, notable for its dark history. Once a royal residence for Saxon princes, Rochlitz also served as prison, a Third Reich stronghold and, under...

Here’s the thing: As much as I enjoyed our recent trip to Berlin, I’m not sure I’d rank it as a top romantic destination.There’s just too much depressing recent history. Sure, we could have concentrated on the city’s modern art and design scene, opting to spend our time...

I didn’t expect too much from Leipzig when we arrived for the second portion of the SATW convention.After all, Dresden had been such a delight – and we had very little time to see it all. And while Leipzig has some cool historic buildings, such as the Altes Rathaus (town hall) above, they...

After viewing the colorful murals of the Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery, we tackled the task of visiting two of the city’s museums dedicated to die Mauern: The Topography of Terror and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.The Topography of Terror consists of two parts. The open air portion of...

I am a hotel whore. No, not that kind of hotel whore. But in my years on the road, I’ve noticed that there are two types of travelers. Some people don’t care where they lay their heads, preferring to spend all of their time and money on activities, food and souvenirs. And others want to bed...

The German state of Saxony, tucked away in the southeast near the Czech border, may not have the country’s most famous castles (that honor probably belongs to Bavaria’s Schloss Neuschwanstein, the inspiration for Walt Disney’s faux castles).But the seat of various powerful kingdoms,...

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the Berlin Wall, which divided East and West Germany during the Cold War, has fallen. Which means that there’s a whole generation out there that doesn’t remember the city split into two by the dreaded Mauern, or the Wall.But the...

      Visiting Dresden proved to the biggest surprise of our week-long trip to the cities that had been a part of the former East Germany.           I knew that Dresden had been considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe before World War II – which is allegedly one...

We were in luck this week that our visit to Berlin coincided with the city’s annual Festival of Lights.Now in its sixth year, the Festival features colorful light shows on more than 60 landmarks, hotels and other buildings during a two-week period in October.The festival seemed popular with...

Walking around Berlin, few blatant signs remain as reminders of the German capitol’s divided past. One that does: the beloved Ampelmaennchen, the hatted characters that appear as pedestrian guides on Berlin’s traffic lights.Also known as Ampelmann, the characters were introduced in East...