Results tagged “Germany” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Our colleague Lynn Ackerson recently flew through the Munich airport, where she encountered two odd, futuristic-looking cubes in Terminal 2. Intrigued but exhausted, she curled up across a few chairs in the waiting area during her layover and said she'd investigate after her nap. Too bad she didn't look first.

The gleaming white boxes are in fact Napcabs, and have been installed in the airport for about a year now. The winning design from the Technical University of Munich's 2007 Innovation competition, these two cubes let you have a private nook to yourself for awhile, where you can sleep, check email, and escape the stresses of the airport. They're outfitted with Wi-Fi (though some reports have said it can be spotty), a bed, electrical outlets, and ambient lighting. They cost about 15 Euros an hour and you can use your credit card to swipe yourself in and out.

Um, we want one?

First there was Knut, the adorable polar bear rejected by its mother in the Berlin Zoo. Now, another mother at Germany's Stroehen Zoo wants nothing to do with her new tiger cub, only this time, instead of zoo employees coming to the rescue, relief comes in the form of (what animal is more appropriate?) a dachshund.

Bessi the dachshund has been taking care of the yet-to-be-named tiger cub, nurturing it and protecting it, ever since the cub's first adoptive parent (also a dachshund) died unexpectedly. For more adorable pictures, check out the L.A. Times. I can't wait to see what happens when the tiny, cute cub turns into a very big tiger, and whether the two mammals will still be friends after that.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

It might have seemed impractical to give ourselves only two weeks to visit France, Germany, and Italy on this trip, especially since we were on a one-year journey and could theoretically allocate a lot more time for each (or go to fewer of them). But these were places we definitely wanted the boys to see, so we just decided to be well thought-out with where we'd go. Besides, when you compare this to the amount of time a typical American can allot for a vacation, this didn't seem like such a stretch.   

We left France after spending three days in Paris and two in the countryside. Euro Disney was not on our agenda. Instead, we opted for the real-life place that in part inspired Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty castle: the Neuschwanstein Castle, nestled amid the stunning landscape of southwest Bavaria. The traffic was extra light on Easter Sunday, so we got to the German border relatively quickly, but not after having to dish out over 60 euro (about $90) in tolls that covered only about 200 miles of roadway. Then I was forced to break my vow not to use any GPS on this trip, not because I wanted to, but because our rental car had it installed. This proved not to be such a bad thing since the roads around the Alps are tricky and one wrong turn could end you up in a different country. Furthermore, reading a map while trying to negotiate hairpin turns wasn't the best idea.    

After choosing one of several pleasant outdoor restaurants for lunch along the bustling shores of the Bodensee (Lake Constance), we got back in the car and followed our trusty new navigation assistant straight to the castle.  Arriving without any prearranged accommodations (which is inadvisable in the busy summer months), we discovered that the Akzent Hotel Muller right at the base of the castle had a family suite for the same price we'd pay for two modest B&B-type rooms found in town. Even though it's catered specifically for tourists, which is something we generally try to avoid, it was a treat to be within easy walking distance of the castle and not have to spend any time in the car the next day, so we booked it.

Friend of IT Hunter Braithwaite braves the winter doldrums to find the best bookstores in Berlin.

The Pro QM bookstore in Berlin

A few months after the publishing world gathered in Frankfurt for the annual book fair, I went to Berlin to catch up on my reading. Northeastern Germany in January seems closer to martyrdom than a vacation, but if authentic travel has taught us anything, it is that you have to take the bad with the good. Food, accommodations, even the weather are best experienced as locals do. And in the winter, Berliners stay inside and read. The resulting tide of bookshops keeps one busy for weeks. Guessing that this blog is read mainly by Anglophones, I'll only list those with English titles. After that, a brief mention of the one sport that you can do in Berlin this winter (with the obvious exception of competitive döner-eating).

Start in hip Prenzlauer Berg at Saint Georges Bookshop (Wörtherstrasse 77, off the M2 Marienburgerstrasse).  The shop carries standard literary fare and boasts an impressive used books collection. When I went they had taken in a local street cat that was trying with all its might to escape whenever someone walked in through the front door. In the back room you can sink into a chesterfield sofa and read a used copy of Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz or a collection of Philip K. Dick's stories. They also do a movie night on Tuesdays. The 2-euro admission comes with a glass of wine or a beer. Saint Georges is open 11-8 p.m. during the week, 11-7 p.m. on Saturday, and is closed on Sunday.

While not technically an English Bookstore, Pro QM (+49 (0) 30 247 285 20) shouldn't be missed.  Located at Almstadtstrasse 48-50 (U8, Weinmeisterstrasse), the shop manages to stay hidden in the heart of popular shopping district Mitte. One way to classify bookstores is by how they apply order to chaos. Though the Pro QM stocks thousands of books that range from urban planning to philosophy to typography to environmental politics, the shop itself is spacious, beautiful, and organized with a ruthless German efficiency. Most of the titles are in English, and while some can be a bit expensive, just browsing makes you smarter. Pro QM is open Monday through Saturday, 11-8.