European Christmas markets have enchanted me since I bought my first carved wooden nutcracker at one in Nürnberg in 1962 while teaching in Germany. Since retiring, I have gone six years in a row to these festive markets, which are open during the Advent season. On a “Rhine Winter Voyage” aboard AmaCello, Dec. 2-14, 2011, I was there with AmaWaterways (Chatsworth, CA; 800/626-0126).
The completion of the interior of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, in 2010 increased the number of people visiting the church by over 40% to more than 3.2 million in 2011. After a review of the traffic congestion, the city council set up an exclusion zone for group-tour buses around the church. Except for school buses and buses for mobility-impaired groups with reservations made at the Sagrada Familia ticket office, all tour buses must park at least five blocks away.
I wrote about amenities at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport (AMS) a few years ago (June ’08, pg. 61). In April-May 2012, I passed through Schiphol four times in the space of three weeks and each time found it more interesting.
AMS is well organized, and signs in English aid you in reaching your destination. It may take 20 minutes or more to reach your gate, even with the moving walkways, but that’s not unusual at a large airport.
REPORT ON NORTH KOREA
You don’t know till you go.
Starting in the Renaissance, European royalty began assembling Kunstkammers, collections of “curiosities and wonders” from both the natural and man-made worlds.
Want to see a model of the Tower Bridge made of 264,345 matchsticks? How about the Beatles sculpted in chewing gum? Or Marilyn Monroe’s makeup case, a Mini-Cooper covered in more than one million Swarvoski crystals or a maze of mirrors to meander through? These and hundreds more objects, from the wacky to the disturbing, can be seen in London at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (The London Pavilion, 1 Piccadilly Circus, London W1J 0DA, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 20 3238 0022), one of Ripley’s 30 “odditoriums” worldwide.
The last operating section of Latvia’s historic Stukmaņi-Valka narrow-gauge train line, which opened in 1903, runs through picturesque countryside between the towns of Gulbene and Alūksne. Departs Gulbene daily at 1 and 6 p.m., reaching Alu¯ksne at 3:25 and 7:55 p.m., respectively. 2.40 lats ($4.30) each way. Purchase tickets on board.
In Berlin, the Reichstag closed its dome to visitors in 2010 due to terrorist bomb threats. The dome reopened in April 2011, but every visitor must register a few days ahead. As of March 2012, registration cannot be done by phone and must be done on the Internet or in person.
The dome is open 8 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. Admission is free, and a self-guided, 20-minute tour of the building and dome (using a free audio guide) begins every quarter hour.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Nefertiti bust at Akhetaton, the exhibit “Amarna 2012 — 100 Years of Nefertiti” will be held in Berlin’s Neues Museum (Bodestrasse 1-3, 10178 Berlin, Germany; phone 030 266 42 42 42), Dec. 7, 2012-April 13, 2013.
An exhibition on the Antikythera shipwreck is being held in Athens at the National Archaeological Museum (44 Patission St., Athens 10682, Greece; phone +30 210 8217724) until April 28, 2013.