What I liked best about Dresden, Germany was how few tourists cluttered up the great sights. Of the languages I heard, almost everyone spoke German. A few Russian. And a few spoke English.
Early or late in the day — or, especially, in the rain — I had the huge plazas nearly to myself even at the end of August.
Unlike Florence which is swarming with tourists at all times, my photos were mostly unpopulated.
For fun I decided to experiment with editing in black & white (Noir filter) and see if I could capture a feeling of the old East Germany.
I had quite a bit of time there as the police made ALL cyclists take their bikes off my train leaving town. Apparently some had argued with the conductor — so we ALL had to leave. And wait a couple of hours for the next train. 😀
Bamberg is quaint. It was crowded on a summer day.
For sure my highlight was the Old town hall (1386), built in the middle of the Regnitz river, accessible by two bridges.
Beautiful.
It’s sometimes called Klein-Venedig (“Little Venice”) … and there are some pretty canals.
The Curies announced the existence of an element they named “polonium“, and of a second element, which they named “radium“, from the Latin word for “ray”. In the course of their research, they also coined the word “radioactivity“.
The Brits famously broke the Enigma machine code at Bletchley Park. Gordon Welchman, who became head of Hut 6 working on that project, admitted they wouldn’t have been successful without consulting cipher-breakers Poles who had cracked Enigma in 1932.
It would take hundreds of hours to look at all 28,000 exhibited objects in the Deutsches Museum.
I downloaded the app and took a “highlights tour” with audio. Recommended for the first time visitor to the museum.
In 2018, Lonely Planet named Oslo one of the ten best cities in the world to visit, citing the Norwegian capital’s “innovative architecture and unmissable museums alongside cool bars, bistros and cafés“.
I learned about Gerd Vold Hurum, the secret 7th member of the Kon-Tiki expedition. She was key in organizing the expedition on shore. But never got famous. After all, Gerd was only a woman. 😕
Norwegians were the most successful of the Arctic and Antarctic explorers, I’d say, because they were smart enough to learn from native peoples. And understood the importance of dogs in crossing snow and ice.
Roald Amundsen’s team was the first to reach the South Pole on December 14th, 1911; five weeks later the polar party led by Robert Falcon Scott was second.
Amundson was a dedicated explorer. Life long. Arrogant and competitive.
Despite his hard man exterior, those who knew him well found a humorous, self-deprecating storyteller.
The word quisling has come to mean a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for traitor.
I was surprised to learn his wife Maria lived in Oslo until her death in 1980. Never charged with any crime, despite the fact that she spent a lot of money supporting their opulent life style.
Rick McCharles 