INDIA 2025: WALKING TOUR OF AMRITSAR

 November 22, 2025

Our guide in Amritsar, Roop, was a devout Sikh, complete with a pale lilac turban and a long beard. He was great. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of his face, but here is a great picture of his turban.

Amritsar is the spiritual and cultural center for Sikhs, much as Varanasi is for Hindus, and is considered a holy city in Sikhism. It was established in 1574 by the fourth (of ten) Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das. Situated in the state of Punjab and only 17 miles from the border with Pakistan and with a population of about 1.5 million, it is also an important economic and political location. 

Roop picked us up from our hotel and took us to the historical area of town, which was, like other large cities in India, crowded, noisy, and jam-packed with fascinating things to see. I think I would enjoy walking up and down the main streets every day just to see what was going on.

Note the sign for international drink of choice: 
Coca-Cola

A sword-wielding man riding a horse perched atop an elaborately carved base dominates what is known as "Heritage Street," a pedestrian promenade that runs between Town Hall and the Golden Temple (see next post). This is Ranjit Singh, the founder and first maharaja (prince or king) of the Sikh Empire, who ruled from 1801 until 1839. He is revered for uniting the Punjab province and for leading a cultural and artistic renaissance. A few interesting facts about him are that he lost an eye to smallpox as an infant, was short and unattractive, and was basically illiterate.

Another interesting fact is that for the last 26 years of his life he owned (and often prominently displayed on the front of his turban or as an armlet) the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. 

UGANDA: LAST DAY IN KAMPALA

 July 26, 2025

Our last day in Uganda was spent on a walking tour in Kampala, the capital city. Let me say up front that it was very hot, that we walked and walked and walked until we were completely worn out, and that our guide was not the best at listening to us and/or discerning our needs. In fact, he ranks among our Top Ten Worst Guides.

That said, we still had a very interesting (in spite of being exhausting) experience in the city that rounded out our other experiences in the rural areas of the country.

Just walking to our first destination was educational. This shop, for example sells fresh flowers packaged to be placed on graves during funerals. I've never seen arrangements quite like these before! 

 

Our first stop was a craft market, and unfortunately I did not take any pictures, but Ella and I both bought several items--woven bracelets, a cloth bag, etc.

Just outside the market there were several artists selling their work. Much of it was too dramatic for me, but then, Uganda is a dramatic country!

I looked for Frida, but I couldn't find her. Uganda is one of the few countries we've traveled in where I didn't see her.

I kinda love this one and wish I'd bought it.

UGANDA 2025: DOHA, QATAR

 July 17, 2025

Qatar is a tiny country in the Middle East that pokes out like a thumb from the Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf. It comprises 4,471 square miles (slightly smaller than Connecticut) and has a population of about 3.2 million (slightly less than Connecticut).  Unlike Connecticut, 80% of its population is centered in one place, the capital city of Doha.

We arrived ini Doha at around 6:00 p.m., and by the time we got through immigration, it was beginning to get dark, which means the city was beginning to come alive. Our guide, Dharma, was a man in his early 40s from Nepal, of all places. He was friendly but very difficult for us to understand and misinterpreted many of our questions.

Doha is a visual paradise, and it quickly became apparent that the city is all about architecture. One of the first things we saw was Stadium 974, built in 2022 for the FIFA World Cup. Its name comes from the fact that it was built with 974 shipping containers.

Our first stop where we actually got out of the vehicle and stepped into the sweltering heat was the National Museum of Qatar, opened to the public in 2019. 

GERMANY: HITLER'S MUNICH

 May 25, 2025

Our very last joint activity on our family trip to Germany was a guided tour of Hitler's Munich. But before I get to that, I just have to throw in this photo of a silver lion that we passed in the Old Town square. Munich has several statues of lions, once a symbol of Bavarian strength. Besides the Old Town Square, they can be found flanking the entrance to the Munich Palace, on the top of the triumphal arch, and at the Lowenbrau Brewery. My high school mascot was a lion, and I'm a big fan of the books The Wizard of Oz and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, both of which prominently feature a lion, so I am always drawn to statues of lions. This one looks powerful. I like it!

Munich is considered the birthplace of the Nazi Party (aka National Socialism or NSDAP), and a visit to Munich is not complete without seeing a few of the sites involved with the Nazi Party, especially in the 1920s and 1930s.

Our first stop on the tour was the Hofbrauhaus, a historic beer hall that started as a supplier for the Bavarian court. 

Our guide took us up a long stairway . . .

. . . to this dining hall. It was here in February 1920 (so early!) that 30-year-old Hitler, the propaganda chief of the National Socialist Party, announced the party's official program to a gathering of about 2,000 people. Seventeen months later, on July 29, 1921, he was elected to be the head of the Nazi Party here.

GERMANY: DACHAU

 May 25, 2025

We visited Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria in 2012 and Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp and Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland in 2019, so we assumed we were more or less prepared for a visit to Dachau. However, I learned that you can't actually be "prepared" to face horror on the scale of a concentration camp.

Historians believe over 1.1 million people perished in Auschwitz during its less than five years of existence, 800,00 to 925,000 Jews were gassed in Treblinka in just over a year, and 90,000 to 120,000 people were killed or died from the horrific conditions at Mauthausen during its seven years of operation. In contrast, "only" 41,500 or so people died in the Dachau concentration camp and its extensive subcamp system, and that was over a period of twelve years. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka existed primarily as extermination centers--the "final solution to the Jewish problem." Mauthausen started as a labor camp, but eventually became an extermination center as well. Dachau was a prison camp--a place in the beginning for the Nazis to intern their political opponents; then groups regarded as criminals such as Jews, Romani, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses; and finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded.

We arrived in the city of Dachau by train, and I was kind of surprised that there was a city--I had only heard of the camp. A map at the station highlights "Historic Old Town," "Dachau Palace," and  ways to experience nature near the town of 50,000. The last thing on the list is a "Place of Learning and Commemoration"--the concentration camp.

We had a private guide who showed us a map of the major concentration camps in Germany itself--most of which I hadn't heard of--along with the subcamps and Aktion T-4 centers. There are so many.

Grafeneck, where our grandfather was murdered on May 21, 1940, is on the map.

It was gloomy and rainy at Dachau, appropriate weather for the experience.

The Dachau concentration camp was opened by Heinrich Himmler in 1933, the first concentration camp established by the Nazi Party and the longest to be in operation, from March 1933 to April 1945 when it was liberated by American forces.

GERMANY: MUNICH

May 24, 2025

Munich, the third-largest city in Germany (after Berlin and Hamburg), has a population of 1.6 million and is the capital of Bavaria. However, strolling around in the Old Town area (below left), we didn't feel like we were in a huge city as there is a lot crowded into a very walkable area. 

The most dominant building in the Old Town square is the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus,  or New Town Hall (below right).

 It is called the NEW Town Hall because it replaced the 14th-century OLD Town Hall (seen below) in 1874.

The New Town Hall has an impressive 400 rooms.

But what it is best known for is its mechanical Glockenspiel, which twice a day uses 32 life-size figures to re-enact scenes from Munich's history. See my four-minute video of part of the action here.

GERMANY: MAULBRONN MONASTERY AND NYMPHENBURG PALACE

May 24, 2025

Maulbronn is a small town of 6,700 people in southern Germany about 12 miles north of Pforzheim. Legend has it that in the 12th century, wandering monks followed a mule looking for water into the valley. (The name Maulbronn means "mule fountain.") Finding a beautiful lake, the monks settled here and established a monastery. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the monastery draws about a quarter million tourists every year.

For being so old, it is in amazing condition and is, in fact, one of the best-preserved monastic sites in Europe. It's also surprisingly large.

Half-timbered building near the entrance

Granary building, early 13th century

GERMANY: A RECEPTION, NEW (OLD) COUSINS, AND A STOLPERSTEIN CEREMONY

May 23, 2025

One of the few buildings that was restored after the February 25, 1945, bombing was the Old Town Hall. It was originally built in 1911-1912 in the Art Nouveau style but was burned out in the air raid. It was repaired and expanded in 1999-2001. A plaque on the wall states, "As a lasting reminder, the Old Town Hall commemorates the destruction of old Pforzheim." 

This is the building where there was a reception for the Stolpersteine families that we--and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our grandfather and his first wife--had been been invited to attend. We had known our grandfather was married before he was married to our grandmother, but we knew nothing of his life with the first wife or if there were living descendants. Alex, our incredible researcher, found their names, and my brother Dave used Facebook to track them down. They too were invited to the Stolpersteine events.

It turns out there were three children of that earlier marriage, two of whom survived to adulthood, and one of whom married and had two children (born in 1948 and 1951) who would also be grandchildren of our grandfather. We met the widow of the oldest son (who died in 1981) and the second son himself, who is still living and is our half-first cousin. Between them, those two children had five children. We met three of those children, who are our half first-cousins once removed. One of them brought her 11-year-old daughter, our half first-cousin twice removed.

We got there a little early, nervously checking out every small group of people who came in. We had not seen photos of any of the relatives, and as far as we could tell, each person that entered could have been a cousin. When you don't know what you are looking for, you see similarities in every smile, every nose, every setting of the eyes.

While we waited, I admired this powerful metal relief that portrays Pforzheim's streets and buildings in the Cubist style.

GERMANY, NUREMBERG: AROUND TOWN

 May 19, 2025

After a heavy morning touring sites relevant to the days before and after World War II, we were ready for a change of pace. 

Today's Nuremberg is a large city of over a half-million people. Its roots are in the 11th century, and by the 14th century it had become one of the three most important cities of Germany. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was the center of the German Renaissance, a central city of the Holy Roman Empire, and a significant center of science and the arts.

Extensively damaged during World War II, much of medieval Nuremberg was subsequently restored, including its historic city walls and its impressive castle. Although many people, myself included, tend to connect the city to the Nuremberg Trials, there are a lot of sites to see that are unrelated to the war. 

We had already seen the old town area around the Market Square, so it was time to venture a bit farther out. 

On the left is a doorway dating to the late 16th century that served as an entry to the Fleischbrücke, or Meat Bridge--hence the steer on top. This bridge is one of the few structures that survived the bombings of WWII unscathed. Dancing Peasants (1980) is based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer from 1514. The cute photobomber is married to me.

GERMANY: WITTENBERG

 May 17, 2025

About 50 miles northwest of the sleepy little town of Torgau and also positioned on the Elbe River is Wittenberg, a somewhat larger city with 45,000 inhabitants. A university was established here in 1502, which attracted two important luminaries to its faculty line-up: Martin Luther and his friend and fellow reformer Philip Melanchthon.

Luther's and Melanchthon's portraits were painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder,
the most famous German portraitist of his day, who painted at least ELEVEN portraits
of Luther and over THIRTY of Melanchthon..

Wittenberg is a typical charming German town, maybe even more charming than most because unlike many other German cities of any size, it was spared destruction during World War II. Its religious history protected it from the Allies' bombs. However, it was occupied by the Soviets after the war and became part of East Germany in 1949.

Germany has their own version of "George Washington Slept Here." Two windows in this pretty building are marked with this information: Karl August (1757-1828), who was the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, visited the city in 1820, and Napoleon I, aka Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), King of France, slept here in 1806 and 1813. 

INDIA, AGRA: THE ITIMAD-UD-DAULAH OR "BABY TAJ"

 December 27, 2024

Between the Agra Fort and our next destination, we passed a few interesting things on the street, including this man on horse back (left) who I think is Shivaji I, a 17th century Indidan ruler. The guy in the right peering in our van window is a bit scary, don't you think?

I think that is a mechanic's shop on the left with it's very own domed verandah. It's hard to believe that the "Hotel Alleviate" (right) could offer anything better.

This little roadside stand selling water and cigarettes had a sign that said "Try unmatched quality." It also had monkeys on the roof.

We saw more monkeys on a roof and in a tree when we got to our destination the Itimad-ud-Daulah, locally known as the "Baby Taj."