Destination: Berlin

World Travel Watch: Hundreds Killed in Phnom Penh Stampede, Dutch ‘Coffee Shops’ Closing to Tourists

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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World Travel Watch: Tube Strikes Looming in London, China’s Epic Traffic Jam and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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From the Ostalgia Files: Vita Cola

We’ve been covering the ostalgia phenomenon for awhile now, and it’s still going strong. Atlantic food blogger Lauren Shockey has the latest entry in the field, a thoughtful post about her search for GDR-era food brands and products in present-day Berlin. It’s a good read.


Photo You Must See: Ice Bike in Berlin

Photo You Must See: Ice Bike in Berlin REUTERS/Christian Charisius

An ice-coated bicycle leans against a wall in central Berlin.

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Video You Must See: Parkour in Berlin


Travel Song of the Day: ‘Looking for Freedom’ by David Hasselhoff


The Day the Wall Came Down

The Day the Wall Came Down iStockPhoto

The wall fell 20 years ago today. Stefanie Michaels visited Berlin recently to hear a personal recollection.

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Photo You Must See: Where the Berlin Wall Once Stood

Photo You Must See: Where the Berlin Wall Once Stood Photo by geraintwn via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by geraintwn via Flickr (Creative Commons)

A line marks the path where the wall once cut through the streets. It’s been twenty years today since the fall of the Berlin Wall.


An Aging Continent Grapples With Immigration

Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act

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Berlin’s Currywurst Gets the Museum Treatment

Berlin’s Currywurst Gets the Museum Treatment Photo by WordRidden via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by WordRidden via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Berlin staple may not have set Alison Stein Wellner’s head on fire when she went looking for the world’s hottest foods, but it remains one of Germany’s favorite sausage variations. And now, currywurst—diced sausage doused in ketchup and curry powder—is getting a museum of its very own.

Some of the weirder details, from Reuters: “An array of interactive exhibits guide visitors along a ‘sauce trail’ through the history and variety of the beloved dish ... A spice chamber scents the air with curry powder as guests relax on the giant ‘sauce sofa’, shaped like a squirt of ketchup while an eco-alley assesses the environmental impact of fast food.”


Odd Jobs: The Grill Walker

David Farley meets a guy in Berlin who sells sausages from a grill strapped to his body

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Paying for Passport Stamps

Paying for Passport Stamps Photo by lilit via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by lilit via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Over at Jaunted, blogger JetSetCD has opened up a conversation on those oh-so-tempting, oh-so-corny souvenir passport stamps.

You know, the ones from places like Checkpoint Charlie, Machu Picchu and so on. And then, beyond the stamps from major tourist sites, there are the just-so-I-can-say-I-was-here countries—Liechtenstein, San Marino and the like—that charge for their entry stamps, too. So, Jaunted asks, are novelty passport stamps worth their price? Or are they just as bad as “buying those horrific gift spoons”?

I have to admit, I’ve never actually been faced with the question before. But I love my passport stamps, and I can’t see putting a set of fake East/West Berlin markers into the mix. On the other hand, though it would irk me to pay, I’d probably want proof that I crossed Liechtenstein’s borders. What about you?


The Secret is Out on Secret Dining

The Secret is Out on Secret Dining Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)

I met a woman at a party a few months ago who, when she witnessed my eyebrow-raising eating prowess, revealed she knows of a few secret dining spots: places only known by the covert band of dining cognoscenti, a cabal of eaters who fetishize the idea of eating in places that no one else knows of. I know, it’s exciting. I tried to extract the information from her that night with the grace of a tooth-pulling dentist, but she wouldn’t budge.

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An Aerogram From Berlin

An Aerogram From Berlin Photo by Evan Rail

Evan Rail laments the slow demise of ready-to-mail aerograms

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The Book Bench: ‘Let’s all Move to Berlin’

The Book Bench: ‘Let’s all Move to Berlin’ Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)

I’ve had a longtime fascination with the Parisian expat writers of the 1920s. Books like “A Moveable Feast” or “That Summer in Paris” never fail to make me wish I was sitting in a Left Bank cafe, making a cup of coffee last for hours while I wrestle with a short story or pause to chat with other struggling writers who’ve wandered by.

Of course, Paris is hardly the place for impoverished creative types anymore, but—say the New Yorker’s Book Bench bloggers—there’s a viable European alternative if I ever decide to attempt a modern-day recreation of my Hemingway daydreams: Berlin.

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