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Aug 27, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

Belfast....We saw a castle and recently bombed out homes on the same street. The tour guide described it as "a little trouble last week." We drove through divided streets between the Catholics and the Protestants. But in the town square, they were having a big community festival.

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Aug 27, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

This seems rather obvious but when I visited East and West Berlin the differences couldn't have been more extreme. From the cultural and bustling island of West Berlin to the dark, drab Communist East Berlin, I found that black and white film best depicted East Berlin. Lines for bread in 1978 were a foreign sight to me in more ways than one. The one obvious difference was the Brandenberg Gate and its hopes of freedom. I have not been back since the wall came down and look forward to seeing the eastern side of the city reunited.

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Aug 28, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

Chris, while in Croatia, vist Rovinj on the Istria Peninsula. Spent nine days there in May. Loved it. I heard they are making plans to bring in cruise ships. I was sad to hear that.

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Aug 27, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

New Delhi or pretty much any city in India. You step out of a nice hotel and see people living under tarps. Including the cows.

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Aug 27, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

Chicago.

Great place to visit. Great shops, theater, events, and food.

Won't go back due to the traffic and increasingly, crime.

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Aug 27, 2022Liked by Christopher Elliott

Frankfurt, and in fact most cities in Germany. Frankfurt has a small historic region but is mostly a modern commercial center. Nürnberg is a wonderful city in the traditional medieval style, but if you get to the outskirts, you see the remnants of the Nazi era (such as the gigantic stadium where Hitler held his rallies). Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) contains a huge concrete bust of Marx in front of a building decorated with quotes from the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. The bust of Marx overlooks a pedestrian shopping mall containing, among other things, a Karlstadt departments store, a Starbucks, a Burger King, and a McDonald's. He will have to look at the failure of his system for all eternity. How fitting.

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Reno, Nevada. On the surface, it’s known for three things: a facsimile of Las Vegas, divorces, and its proximity to Tesla’s Gigafactory. But parts of Reno are picturesque and charming. There’s a good food scene, some lovely homes, a decent university, beautiful rolling hills, and it is close to Lake Tahoe. I wouldn’t mind visiting again.

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Everyone should take a fall color tour at least once. But skip New England, and go to Upstate New York. The Finger Lakes are beautiful. The crowds drop in Cooperstowm and you can spend time in Seneca Falls. Saratoga is fantastic - a shame to miss the racing season, but your reward is in the architecture. Go to Hyde Park, have a nice meal from the students at the CIA. Tour around the Catskills.

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