Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a cute medieval town in Germany that is the perfect place to spend a day or two. Rothenburg has a lot to offer visitors, including photo-perfect medieval views, tons of shopping, a few interesting museums, a spectacular 500-year-old wood carving, and one of the funniest one-hour walking tours in Germany. Rothenburg is also the place to go if you want to get into the Christmas spirit as it hosts one of the most popular Christmas markets in the world. So if you are planning a trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, we’ll provide you with a good general guide of how to plan a day in Rothenburg, give you our top seven things to do in Rothenburg, and provide tips based on our own visit to Rothenburg. Basic Information about Rothenburg ob der Tauber How to Get Here? You can arrive and depart via car,… Read the rest
Archives for November 2013
Computer History Museum: A Museum for Geeks Located in the Heart of Silicon Valley
The Computer History Museum contains the largest international collection of computer-related artifacts in the world and the museum’s exhibits guide you through the past 2,000 years of computing history. Depending on your background, that sentence may either get you excited or have you wondering why on earth someone would pay to see a collection of outdated computer hardware. However, whether you are interested in computers or not, this is a first-class museum that contains an amazing amount of artifacts and information. It is also not all about mainframes and supercomputers, but has exhibits about computer games, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, and robots. At what other museum can you learn how to do calculations using Napier’s bones, play Pong, see models of the earliest computers, hear the personal stories of the foremost innovators in the technology industry, and learn the role that computers have played in almost every aspect of our… Read the rest
Tea in Paris: Afternoon Tea at Mariage Frères
A cup of tea from Mariage Frères always reminds me of Paris, France. Interestingly, for most people tea does not come to mind when they think of Paris. People generally imagine Parisians at cafés chatting over coffee and wine (and maybe even absinthe à la Hemingway) rather than sitting down for afternoon tea. It’s true, Paris isn’t London or Beijing, but tea has been gaining popularity in the City of Lights over the last few decades and tea rooms and afternoon tea services have been popping up all over Paris. We’ll take you on a quick tour of the oldest tea company in France, Mariage Frères (translated: Mariage Brothers), which was founded in 1854. We love their teas and we were excited to finally make it to one of their tea salons for a cup of tea and some pastries during our last visit to Paris. Some Basic Information about… Read the rest
17-Mile Drive Visitor Guide: Scenic Drive in Pebble Beach California
The 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, California first opened in 1881 to horse-drawn carriages and has since become one of the most famous scenic drives in the world. 17-Mile Drive is a privately owned 2-lane road that winds its way along the Monterey Peninsula through the Del Monte Forest, along the rocky Pacific Coast, and alongside several popular golf courses, including the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links. Even if you don’t have the money to spend on the expensive shopping, dining, and golfing at Pebble Beach, you get still get some million-dollar views of Monterey Bay, rocky beaches, cypress trees, marine animals, birds, exclusive homes, and famous golf courses by taking this coastal drive. We’ll provide all the basic information you need to know to take the 17 Mile Drive, share some tips and advice so you can get the most out of your trip, and tell you about… Read the rest
Travel Blogging: The Importance of Your Physical Blogging Space
As I have been travel blogging for several months now, I have begun to realize how important my blogging space is to me—by which I literally mean my physical blogging space. This past week, I have been trying to write posts from a hospital as Ethan has been recovering from surgery this past week (he was born with a congenital heart problem), While I thought that having hours and hours to sit around each day would allow me to still blog, I haven’t written a single post this past week. In addition to the obvious stress of the situation, the hospital is not a place I can work with bustling healthcare professionals, loud beeping sounds, blinking lights, and constant interruptions. I recently wrote a guest post on Kate’s Diary of an Essex Girl blog about physical blogging space after a recent move, and this last week trying to work in a… Read the rest
Thomas Cook History: The Tale of the Father of Modern Tourism
Do you know who Thomas Cook was and what contribution he made to the history of travel? Perhaps you have heard the name, seen it on the travel agencies that still carry his name, or maybe you’ve even taken a Thomas Cook tour. But my guess is that, like me, you don’t know too much about the man or how he fits into the history of travel. Thomas Cook was a passionate man who was born into a world where most working class people worked long 6-day weeks and never traveled more than 20 miles from their home towns. Thomas would begin work at age 10, laboring in a vegetable garden for 1 penny per day; but with a lot of determination and hard work, this working class man would eventually build one of the largest travel companies in the world. This post is dedicated to the memory of Thomas… Read the rest
Visiting the Deportation Memorial on the Île de la Cité in Paris
While almost every visitor to Paris comes to the Île de la Cité—the island home to some of the most famous sites in Paris—most visitors miss the Deportation Memorial or the Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation. It can be easy to overlook the Deportation Memorial on the Île de la Cité given all the blockbuster historical sites—Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie—as well as the flower market and loads of souvenir shops that fill up the island. But if you are looking for a more serious, quiet place of reflection, I would recommend a quick visit to the Deportation Memorial, which is a memorial to the 200,000 French citizens who died in Nazi concentration camps. We’ll share everything you need to know to visit the memorial and tell you about our own experience visiting the Deportation Memorial in Paris. Basic Information on Visiting the Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation Where? The Deportation Memorial is located at… Read the rest