We eagerly awaited the posting of the 2016 tours on the Rick Steves website, and poured over the exciting itineraries. So many wonderful options--which to choose? Both of us are very interested in World War II history, so The Best of Berlin, Prague & Vienna (BPV) naturally shot to the top of the list. Although the beaches of Normandy are on our "must see" list, the rich cultural and historical sites offered by these three cities is tough to beat. We decided the D-Day beaches would have to wait and booked BPV with plenty of time to get the early bird discount. We then began planning in earnest. We like to be at least somewhat informed about the places we're visiting before we go, as we feel it enhances our experience of actually being there. Below we have listed some of the books we read and programs we watched to help prepare ourselves for our trip. We have enjoyed looking at the scrapbooks created by others, and have found them very helpful for deciding places we'd like to go and things we would like to see. Plus, it's a lot of fun traveling vicariously through others! We hope that you find our scrapbook helpful and entertaining.
Click here to see details of the BPV itinerary on the Rick Steves website. Additional information about the places we visited can be found on the photos themselves. Click to open the photo albums found on each page. Please contact us if you have any questions. Happy Travels!
"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."
BERLIN
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Novel: City of Women by David R. Gillham. Fictional account set in Berlin near the end of WWII.
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Novel: Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon. Cold War Berlin.
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Documentary: Berlin Calling. We watched this through Amazon Instant. A woman's quest to find out what happened to family members during the Holocaust. She also visits Terezin, where her father was imprisoned as a child. Very powerful and moving.
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Nonfiction: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Fascinating account of William Dodd, appointed U.S. ambassador to Berlin in 1933 after Hitler became Chancellor. His concerns regarding the rising violence and persecution of Jews fell on deaf ears back home.
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Documentary: Hitler's Children. We watched through Amazon Instant. Interviews with descendants of high ranking Nazis, including Goering, Himmler and Hoess.
PRAGUE
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Nonfiction: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War by Madeleine Albright. A fascinating story and very educational for us.
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Nonfiction: Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968. The author's account of being sent to camps during the war and the uneasy resumption of life after the war.
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Documentary: Holocaust: Theresienstadt. We bought this DVD from Amazon. "Theresienstadt" is the German name for the Terezin concentration camp, which we visited on this trip.
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Fiction: Lost and Found in Prague by Kelly Jones. A mystery involving the Infant Jesus of Prague, which resides at the Church of Our Lady Victorious.
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Documentary: Howling with Angels, about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Not a lot of narration, so if you don't already have good knowledge of this history, you might be lost.
VIENNA
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Nonfiction: The Lady in Gold by Anne Marie O'Connor. Fantastic story of the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, stolen by the Nazis and recovered by the family. Lots of detail about Adele, the artist Gustav Klimt, turn of the century Vienna, the Anschluss and life under the Nazis. The movie "Woman in Gold" is worth seeing, but nowhere near as comprehensive as the book.
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Nonfiction: A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 by Frederic Morton. This book focuses on Crown Prince Rudolf and his contemporaries.
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Nonfiction: The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. An account of the author's Jewish family and what happened to them following the Anschluss. One of Sherri's favorite books of all time. de Waal is an exquisite writer.
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Documentary: St. Stephen's, The Living Cathedral. Watched through Amazon Instant. Interesting look at St. Stephen's as its own ecosystem. Some amazing camera work.
Please Contact us with Questions!
The only down side to traveling is leaving our doxies, Cooper and Steffie. But they have a wonderful pettsitter, Auntie Joyce, who spoils them rotten!
In an attempt to soak up some culture before visiting Vienna, we attended the performance of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Mahler No. 5, not to be confused with Mambo No. 5). Mahler was an Austrian composer, more famous for his work as a conductor during his lifetime. He was director of the Vienna Hofoper from 1897-1907—he converted from Judaism to Catholicism before being given the appointment. His music was later labeled “degenerate” and banned by the Nazis. His fifth symphony is said to be a love letter to his wife Alma (who had exchanged passionate kisses with the artist Gustav Klimt as a teenager). Alma had her own dreams of becoming a composer, but her husband said “Nein!” He informed her that as a married woman her only vocation was to make him happy. Hardly a wonder that they had a stormy marriage, which resulted in Gustav spending time on Sigmund Freud’s couch. One of us enjoyed the performance more than the other, who had a hard time staying awake. We will leave you to guess who was who.