Showing Tag: "germany" (Show all posts)

A Walking Tour of Dresden

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, January 9, 2012,

A damp clung to my bones. It was mid-afternoon and the morning's fog stuck in the air as a fine grey mist. I took refuge in a hotel close to the famed Frauenkirche - a restored version of its grand predecessor destroyed in the Allied firebombing

of Dresden at the end of World War II. I had spent the previous two hours walking the reconstructed cobblestone streets around it admiring the architecture and was not tired and cold. But the afternoon and my walki...

The Ghost of Christmas 2011

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, December 26, 2011,

I had a fantastic year of travel. It was probably one of the best ever for me. And with it came recognition as one of the best travel blogs of 2011 by Washington Flyer. To sum up my annual adventures in a single story is like writing about your own year,

everything that has happened to you - all of the ups and downs and round and rounds - in just a couple of pages. It isn't easy. But for that opportunity, looking back on my year, I am most certainly thankful.

A tr...

Exploring Berlin's Museum Island

Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, November 17, 2011,

I stood at the top of the steps to Berlin's Altes Museum. Before going in to view the museum's collection of classical antiquities, I paused for a moment to admire the impressive view at the end of Museum Island. It was just as inspiring as all of the amazing works I had already seen, particularly those in The Renaissance special exhibition in the Bode Museum.

There was not enough time to see all of what Berlin's Museum Island had to offer on my RIAS Berlin Kommissio...

Traveling to Stasiland

Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, November 10, 2011,

Twenty-two years ago this week, the Berlin Wall fell. Thousands of people danced around it and straddled the top, celebrating the demise of one of the most significant symbols of oppression and division ever. In an instant the gates were open and the Berlin Wall, still sprawling for miles in either direction throughout the city, was just that - a wall. The oppressors, the East German Ministry for State Security - also known as the Stasi - still remained, though.

It...

Recalling History at the Berlin Wall Memorial

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, November 7, 2011,

I stood in a tower in what was once the French sector of Berlin. From the metal perch I could see a preserved section of the Berlin Wall; guard towers, a lighted sand field - once known as the de

ath strip - and the wall itself were all there. It was almost twenty-two years to the day - November 9th, 1989 - since the wall was opened between East and West Berlin and a domino effect transpired. The Iron Curtain was falling under Moscow's principles of glasnost and perestroika, ...

Walking Through History on Berlin's Grand Circle

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 24, 2011,

I stood on the roof of the United States embassy in Berlin talking with Greg Delawie, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Germany. From that vantage point, our RIAS Berlin Kommission group enjoyed an impressive view of history; we could see the Brandenburg Gate, the German capital building – the Reichstag – and the lush, green Tiergarten. The area is the heart of Berlin, if not all of Germany, and it is the hub of what I like to call Berlin’s ...

Germany ~ 1999

Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,

My second international trip brought me to my third country: Germany.

I'll never forget this trip for so many reasons. From almost breaking out in nervous tears at the Minneapolis airport as my brother dropped me off to head out on my own on this all expenses paid fellowship from the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) to running into a room late, while still tying my tie, for a meeting with former chancellor Helmut Kohl, I certainly have some interesting stories to tell.

But, t...
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