Fasnacht, Basel’s Carnival celebration, starts the Monday after Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday. Carnival in Rio, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnival in Venice, and the overwhelming majority of Carnival celebrations end on Fat Tuesday with the start of lent on Ash Wednesday. Why then does … Continue reading
Belgium was unable to form a government for 541 days! What? How can they have been governmentless for so long? There was an ethnic standoff in Belgium’s parliament. The French and Flemish (Dutch) speaking communities* were divided and were not … Continue reading
Please come visit Sorry I didn’t post yesterday, it was a very busy day. I had my German lesson and went to Swisscom to get a phone (I waited so long that I got to watch a good part of … Continue reading
The Battle of Verdun was one of World War I Western Front‘s first major battles. For 11 months in 1916, the German and French armies fought it out on the hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse (unsurprisingly located in north-eastern France, near the Champagne region). I … Continue reading
Switzerland has many large beautiful lakes surrounded by mountains. Even though it is a landlocked country, the Swiss can sail. They had a team, Alinghi, win the America’s Cup in 2003 and 2007. They sail on Lac Leman, the lake … Continue reading
Located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, Estonia has a coastline of 3700 meters. Surprisingly, the Baltic is not very salty and rather shallow, so it is warmer than you would expect. I’m not saying its bath water warm, but it’s … Continue reading
We saw some pretty cool sights in Estonia outside of Tallinn. The Soviet’s had large air base in Estonia. Between the base and the cluster of buildings that formed the town servicing it, a cemetery is located back in the … Continue reading
Learning about Tallinn’s history I heard a phrase I haven’t heard since my high school Western Civilizations class, The Hanseatic League. Huh? What does that have to do with anything? Learning about it was pretty cool. The Hanseatic League was middlemen/traders. … Continue reading
Suomenlinna Fortress is one of the islands in the Baltic Sea that surround Helsinki‘s harbor. When we told a Finnish gal that we were going there, he said “it a great place to shoot Russians from.” Historically, there has been more than a little … Continue reading
At Vaxholm (in Sweden), we spent an hour picnicking and watching cars embark and disembark from the ferry boats that connect the islands in the Archipelago. We listened to the waves in the Baltic Sea and watched the process. This … Continue reading
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