The Great Castles of Germany

Did you ever wonder where Disney's magical castle - you know the one that's so intertwined with the Disney kingdom - came from? Why, the German castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria, Germany! Germany has castles the way Venice has canals, or Tibet has stupas, or Thailand has wats, or the Netherlands has windmills.

Germany is of course Europe's wealthiest country, with a great deal to offer the visitor, but a tour of at least one or two of its "great" castles should be on everyone's itinerary. After all, how else would you see the Burg Eltz with its 20 flushable toilets that date back to the 15th century? Or the Wartburg where Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German? Or the 750-year-old Festung Konigstein? Or Germany's most famous ruin, Schloss Heidelberg? Castle tours usually range from 5 euros to around 8 euros per person. There's some good information on the Great Castles of Germany to be found here.

Balzac vs Zola

This from a new-found friend in Brussels, Belgium:

"I like to read a lot but I prefer Zola to Balzac (among the french readers it's well known that there are the ones who like Balzac and the ones who like Zola. They are a little like the Beatles and the Rolling stones!)."

What a wonderful confluence of classic French writers and large-as-life British rock stars! :D

Of course, for fans of Balzac, who's really a drag to read (and I offer my apologies to Balzac lovers with that statement), there is a title, The Black Sheep (La Rabouilleuse in French), which is a veritable page-turner, and I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who has their doubts about French literature.

Favs...

Some favorites here:

Favorite City:

My favorite city to not just visit but to live in is San Francisco - yes, ahead of even Amsterdam and Barcelona and Rome and Salzburg - and this despite the fact that SF summers are anything but summery most of the time. The city is a collection (as opposed to a melting pot) of ethnicities unlike any other city, and the ultimate liberal bastion of the world, where mayoral contests are held not between the traditional two, Democrats and Republicans, but rather between the Greens and Democrats. Read my published piece here.

Favorite Book:

Without a close second, the Cervantes classic, Don Quixote. It has all the ingredients of a realtime blast - adventure, travel, humor, classic, literature, saga - and it's as fresh today as it must have been when it was first published in 1604 (and one can only imagine!).

Good news: it's possible to trace the steps of Cervantes' legendary character in Toledo, Spain, complete with a driving itinerary, and you can get some info here: In the Path of Don Quixote.

More favs to come...

Traveling solo

"A man said to the universe:

'Sir, I exist!'

'However,' replied the universe,

'The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.'"