This large mural in the entrance hall of the Gare de l’Est (East Station) in Paris shows soldiers in August 1914 saying goodbye to their families and boarding a train to go into battle at the beginning of the First World War. The mural was painted in 1926 by an Read More …
During the Second World War, the Nazis mis-used the excellent railway infrastructure at the Frankfurt wholesale produce market for the deportation of Jews from Frankfurt and vicinity to the extermination camps in eastern Europe. There is now a memorial to the murdered Jews at the eastern edge of the European Read More …
The Villlemin Garden (Jardin Villemin) is a public park in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, between the East Station (Gare de l’Est) and the Canal Saint Martin. It is named after Jean-Antoine Villemin (1827–1892), a French army physician who was the first to demonstrate that tuberculosis is an infectious disease. Read More …
On the official Paris pedestrian map, the last block of rue Cujas (with the house numbers 16 through 29) is now shown as a solid green line, meaning a public pedestrian space (espace public piéton). Although this is less than a quarter of the street’s total length, it reduces traffic Read More …
After going on an excellent Jewish guided walking tour of the Marais district in the morning, I was ready for some Jewish entertainment in the evening. Fortunately, the historic Théâtre de l’Œuvre, in the 9th arrondissement, was showing a musical called Le Chat du Rabbin (The Rabbi’s Cat). Several years Read More …
Some time ago, on a whim, I typed “7 rue des Rosiers Paris” into Google Maps, just to see the building where I had lived for two months in 1962 and for a month and a half in 1966. I was surprised to find a listing at this address for Read More …
This house in the Marais district of Paris is where I lived for two months in the autumn of 1962, and again for a month and a half in the autumn of 1966. I learned of this place from a handwritten notice that was taped to a light post nearby. Read More …
“On the lower reaches of the Rhine, where the banks of the great river start to lose their smiling countenance, where hills and cliffs with their audacious ruined castles rise defiantly exuding a wilder and sterner dignity, there lies, like an eerie legend from a bygone era, the gloomy and Read More …
Friedberg is one of the few places in Germany where there is a well-preserved Mikwe (or Mikveh), meaning a Jewish ritual bath from the Middle Ages. The Mikwe in Friedberg was built starting in the year 1260. It is like a large square well, five and a half meters wide Read More …
The Transportation Museum (Verkehrsmuseum) in Nürnberg is now officially called the DB-Museum because it belongs to the German Railway System (DB = Deutsche Bahn). It documents the history of the railroads in Germany from the beginning (which was right here, since the first line was between Nürnberg and Fürth in Read More …