When Athens’s shiny new Acropolis Museum opened a decade ago visitors could see the sculptured decorations of the Parthenon on display in their entirely for the first time since the 19th century. The frieze – which depicts some 360 human and divine figures and more than 250 animals […]
Athens means luxury…No future…Survival guide. These are the depressing sounding titles of a stack of books weighing down a miserable looking boy contemplating the realities of life. For the city that gave birth to modern democracy – the subject of another volume he sits on – things should […]
The podium on the outskirts of Nuremberg where Adolf Hitler addressed thousands at rallies in the 1930s remains intact. Clamber up the Zepplin Grandstand and you can see the very spot where the Nazi leader presided over an array of parades, military demonstrations, lavish productions and other events […]
When I was in New York last year and stopped at Trinity Church – just a stone’s throw from Wall Street – most visitors only seemed to have one thing they wanted to see. It wasn’t inside the building itself, but a grave at side of the churchyard […]
Lincoln Park in Chicago is a great place to relax on a sunny day. Bigger than New York’s Central Park, it boasts ornate gardens, open fields, ponds, zoo (free, but with a decent array of animals including lions and tigers) and beaches dotted along the edge of Michigan […]
In 1893 America and the world came to Chicago. An incredible 27 million people – nearly half the country’s population at time – visited for celebration of four centuries of progress since Christopher Columbus landed in this continent. The World’s Fair, as it became known, put the city […]
Anyone working near French Market in Chicago is spoiled for choice when it comes to sizing up lunch options. The 30 or so food stalls under one roof serve up everything from Vietnamese noodle soup to Italian smoked-meat sandwiches. It’s a gastronomical dream. Established in 2009 next to […]
“For the wind is in the palm trees, an’ the temple-bells they say: ‘Come back you British soldier, come you back to Mandalay!’” Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘Mandalay’ is probably one of the most famous things ever written about Burma, but some will be disappointed to know that he […]
Western mass tourism may be in its infancy for Burma, but a well-trodden route is quickly emerging. After exploring Yangon – the country’s biggest city – for a couple of days many head to Bagan for its spectacular Buddhist temples, then the former royal capital of Mandalay for […]
“Welcoming the new guard,” the state-run newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar splashed in November 2015 after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won 80% of seats in both of Burma’s parliamentary houses. Observed by the international community, it was the first “proper” election […]
Past In The Present 