Monaco Sculpture Trail: Public Art for the Huddled Masses
| | |

Monaco Sculpture Trail: Public Art for the Huddled Masses

Here is one point that even the grumpiest visitor of Monaco must concede: the principality is not stingy with its wealth. It provides spotlessly clean and ultra-safe streets (with police officers at every other corner and a dense array of high-tech CCTV systems), while lifts and escalators help the tired huddled masses of visitors along…

Waltzing Through the Streets of Vienna City of Music
| | |

Waltzing Through the Streets of Vienna City of Music

If Paris is the City of Light, then Vienna must be the City of Music. Every day, the Austrian capital hosts music performances for 10,000 people – and a grand total of 15,000 musical events per year. But Vienna is the City of Music in another way, too. There is no other place on earth…

Discovering the Romanesque Churches of Cologne
| | |

Discovering the Romanesque Churches of Cologne

Why is Germany such an uncool travel destination? One reason, I suspect, is that most of her major cities come across as rather charmless. Not that they lack historical interest or scenic spots. The problem is that any such attractions have been buried in mundane urban fabric and that you have to look for them…

Breath of Fresh Air in Skulptur Projekte 2017 Muenster
| |

Breath of Fresh Air in Skulptur Projekte 2017 Muenster

Art in the public arena: this has been the overriding topic of all Skulptur Projekte exhibitions in the West German town of Münster since 1977. Every ten years – the event coincides with every other documenta at Kassel, modern art’s most famous regular showcase – cutting-edge sculptures are put on display across the historic Old…

Marl Masters Modern Sculpture in Public Spaces
| | |

Marl Masters Modern Sculpture in Public Spaces

This week, the latest edition of the Skulptur Projekte will be opening in the northwestern German city of Münster. This open-air art exhibition is staged once every ten years and scheduled to coincide with that year’s documenta, the world’s foremost showcase of modern art. The Skulptur Projekte is narrower in focus than the documenta (which…

The Writers Quarter of London – Literature and History in Bloomsbury
| |

The Writers Quarter of London – Literature and History in Bloomsbury

Legendary towns have legendary streets and quarters. I have never lived in New York City, but I know what everybody knows: that Madison Avenue is a by-word for the country’s (and the world’s) advertising industry, that Broadway is the home of live entertainment and that Wall Street is the place from where the gangsters operate…

Salute the Fame of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge
|

Salute the Fame of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge

Of all the combat actions and hostile encounters that together make up the Battle of the Bulge, the struggle for Bastogne in eastern Belgium is the one you are most likely to have heard about. One reason for the fame of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge is the undoubtedly great psychological importance that…

A Remembrance Hike
|

A Remembrance Hike

The Liberation Route Europe (which follows the movement of the Allied advance through northern Europe in the latter stages of WWII) is complemented by a wide range of shorter memorial trails around towns and villages, which are often laid out as circular walks to commemorate local events. One of the most famous and interesting of…

Liberation and Remembrance are What This Route is All About
|

Liberation and Remembrance are What This Route is All About

Over the years, we have introduced you to a large variety of hiking trails: trails in the mountains, trails by the sea, trails through wild forests, trails through parkland and so on. This time, however, we are going to tell you about a trail that is still very much in the making. Liberation and Remembrance…

What to See on the French Riviera’s Inaugural Festival des Jardins
| | |

What to See on the French Riviera’s Inaugural Festival des Jardins

No long-winded openings today: there is no time to lose. Six more contestants in the French Riviera’s inaugural Festival des Jardins are waiting for our visit! (The first four are here!) First, we are going to Antibes, or – to be more precise – to Antibes’s beach resort suburb of Juan-les-Pins, where – at Pinède Plage,…