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On Being a Jew in Poland
It was a very strange experience to be a Jew visiting Krakow. Obviously I knew that a devastatingly large number of Jews lost their lives here, but the German destruction in Poland was so much worse than that (if such a thing is even possible), and it is sad to see that Poland is still…
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Brussels
I read somewhere that Brussels was chosen as one of the centers for the European Union because it had no strong identity of its own. It lacks the concert halls of Vienna, the imperial history of Rome, or the cultural cache of Paris. Brussels is just itself, lacking famous cathedrals, works of art, or historical significance.…
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F***ing Bruges
One of the funniest things about the movie “In Bruges” is how amazing Bruges looks and seems to everyone–both other characters in the movie as well as the movie-watching audience–and yet Colin Farrell’s character hates it with a passion. He illustrates this hate quite elegantly throughout the movie: “Prison… death… didn’t matter. Because at least…
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Bruges in pictures, both moving and still
Second stop on the tour d’Europe was Bruges (aka Brugge). I read somewhere that Bruges was like ‘fucking Disneyland’, referring to the fact that the city’s medieval charm is due to very intentional rehabilitation and renovation. In a couple ways, I think that forgotten critic’s claim is more or less accurate. It feels a bit…
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Food, Food, Amsterdam, and Food.
I can think of no better way to kick-off my first foray into the blogging world than with a post about the most important thing on this trip: The. Food. Now, I hate watching cooking shows because you never get the satisfaction of actually tasting the amazing things you are looking at. And when you…
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We aankwamen!
We made it! The jet lag has taken its toll on our productivity, however, and I’m writing this from Bruges (more on that later). We had a pretty smooth flight from Dulles to Iceland, and then on over to Amsterdam. We were very tired, though, and had to crash for a few hours before rousing…