Dividing Germany’s capital city, Berlin, for nearly three decades, the Berlin Wall divided not only land, but a people between two contrasting ideologies. Is it East versus West, or Regan versus Gorbachev? Berlin was at the battlefronts of the Cold Read more…
“Näschte Halt, Alexanderplatz, übergang zur U2, U8, zum Regionalverkehr, zur S-Bahn mit verbindung zum Hauptbahnhof, und zum Bus mit verbindung zum Flughafen Tegel. Change here for bus service to Tegel Airport.” ~ U5 announcement for Alexanderplatz Station I’ve been on Read more…
Open air concerts, fireworks, meeting Benjamin Franklin in the flesh, and having huge hot dogs for lunch, all this means the 4th of July in Washington, D.C. I’ve only watched movies about Americans having barbecues and setting off fireworks on Read more…
Theres a running joke among my Canadian friends that even though I was born near Vancouver I seem to have more friends in Toronto, even though I haven’t been to Toronto until I turned 19. When I did visit, I Read more…
“Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.” ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca I love Vancouver and its beautiful blue sky because it is my own. There are always these surreal cotton candy clouds Read more…
Cold, very cold, especially in winter when temperatures dropped to -35C at night. Well it was night almost all the time. The journey began with a Skype call with Seth, a friend of mine who was living in France at Read more…
Constructed for the 1936 Summer Olympics, the Olympiastadion in Berlin was the largest stadium in the world when it was built. This gigantic 100,000 seat stadium was Hitler’s showcase to the world and he wanted to be take seriously. Built Read more…
Olympiastadion – Germania and Beyond This was the first bit of serious research I’ve done looking into the history of Nazi Germany and how its architectural styles reflect its ideology when I was in Berlin. It’s not very long so Read more…
Authoritarian Themes of National Socialist Architecture in Berlin When I was studying in Berlin, I enrolled myself in an architecture and art history course out of pure curiosity. Being a foreigner in a prominent university in Germany, I took full Read more…
Just before I started university, mother thought it’d be a splendid idea to visit Paris. Me being me, I made the most out of this trip by suggesting a day trip to Brussels. Mother was very careful with money, but Read more…