Great Swiss Railway Tour: Day 9
Synopsis Play Date in Zurich: No finalized plans, but strongly considering an interactive chocolate tour at the Lindt factory in Kilchberg just outside of Zurich. As I write this, no…
Great Swiss Railway Tour: Day 10
Synopsis Return home: an early morning flight from Zurich to Schiphol followed by a non-stop back to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Hoping for uneventful travel as we'll likely be tired, drained, and…
Meandering Thoughts #58
Nicolas Jackson was loaned by Chelsea to Bayern Munich. In the draw for the Champions League, Bayern hosts Chelsea on Match Day 1 in the Champions League. The question: can…
What Is Democracy?
The victorious allies met in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945 to discuss the substance and procedures of the peace settlements in Europe after V-E day. Stalin was the sole remaining…
Citizenship
Citizenship [is a] relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection. Citizenship implies the status of freedom with accompanying responsibilities. Citizens…
Random Learnings #60
I knew that the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact split Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. I knew that post-war Poland's eastern borders moved west, the Soviet Union demanding the…
Polish Brand of Communism
In February 1977 Tomasz Strzyżewski, censor no C-36 of the Kraków Main Office for Control of Press, Publications and Public Performances, boarded the ferry to Sweden at Świnoujście, Poland, for…
When Name Recognition Is Not Good
The Netflix show Five Came Back: The Reference Films consists of twelve government-sponsored propaganda films. The first episode is Nazi Concentration Camps is about the well-known and appalling conditions the…
The Treaty of Versailles and Germany
The Treaty of Versailles held Germany (a.k.a Germany Empire), and Germany alone, responsible for World War I: not Serbia who planned the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand; not the Austrian-Hungarian Empire…
Hurtigruten Excursion #1: Ålesund
The first excursion selected for our northbound Hurtigruten Coastal Express was the Art Nouveau Walk in Ålesund, Norway. Ålesund is known for the art nouveau architecture during the town's reconstruction…