Reading and Roaming
Although I left Berlin sometime ago, I can’t seem to leave it behind. While in London, I bought a first novel about a German couple in Berlin during the Second World War. This soldier and his “mail order” wife are on the German side ; the novel portrays the brutal conditions of the fighting on the Russian front …
Continue reading “Booknote: WWII Berlin in fiction and diary”
I did not fall in love with Berlin at first sight–but I’m warming up to it and it’s growing on me. We are staying in the eastern part of the city and upon arrival at our hotel, I initially thought we were in the middle of nowhere and I wasn’t particularly impressed with the architecture either. …
Continue reading “Berlin: History & Rebirth”
One of Jeff Hobbs’ roommates at Yale was a young black man from outside Newark, NJ. He was smart and personable, but kept to himself. He also dealt drugs the entire time he was a science major. Robert Peace lived a bifurcated life; he grew up on poor and mean streets without a live-in father …
Continue reading “Booknote: Robert Peace”
This is my first visit to Amsterdam and we arrived by train from Brussels. Oh, the bicycles! Exiting the train station, I was immediately struck first by the 3-level parking garage for bikes and then the people on bicycles everywhere! You see more bikes than cars and they go whizzing along seeming as if they will never …
Continue reading “Amsterdam: City of Bikes”
