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Category: Australia

Cruising - Regent Seven Seas Mariner
2 weeks ago December 8, 2018December 10, 2018sarahnicho

Seven Seas Mariner revamp …

November 20, 2018November 20, 2018sarahnicho

Brissy’s 2018 hotel boom …

April 2, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Refresh for Alice Springs address …

March 29, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Canberra in 2018 …

March 27, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Byron Bay YHA update …

March 26, 2018July 31, 2018sarahnicho

Local tips for​ visiting Victoria …

March 23, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Qantas unveils new Perth lounge …

March 20, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Freycinet’s new Coastal Pavilions …​

March 14, 2018August 8, 2018sarahnicho

Holiday Inn Melbourne on Flinders refurb …

December 15, 2017March 10, 2018sarahnicho

Christmas 2017 in Melbourne …

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017sarahnicho

Melbourne’s Adina update …

October 30, 2017March 10, 2018sarahnicho

Cruising the Australia coast …

October 6, 2017November 22, 2017sarahnicho

Sydney’s swanky new Sofitel …

September 4, 2017October 29, 2017sarahnicho

Sydney’s Sheraton receives refit …

July 27, 2017March 11, 2018sarahnicho

Travel tips from top photographers …

July 19, 2017March 3, 2018sarahnicho

Accommodation for Adelaide Airport …

July 18, 2017March 15, 2018sarahnicho

Cool and quirky QT Canberra …

July 15, 2017October 29, 2017sarahnicho

AVANI coming to Queensland …

January 27, 2017March 10, 2018sarahnicho

Where to stay on Victoria’s MP …

January 23, 2017March 24, 2018sarahnicho

… strolling through View Street history …

November 24, 2016October 29, 2017sarahnicho

Four Points makes it to Melbourne …

October 23, 2016March 11, 2018sarahnicho

New to Aussie travel in 2017 …

October 19, 2016October 29, 2017sarahnicho

The big Kimberley catch …

September 20, 2016March 24, 2018sarahnicho

… spying the flag of the Southern Cross …

July 31, 2016November 25, 2017sarahnicho

Australia, after the stars …

May 9, 2016October 31, 2017sarahnicho

Port Stephens glamping …

April 30, 2016March 16, 2018sarahnicho

Little corner of France …

April 26, 2016March 11, 2018sarahnicho

Sydney’s Surry Hills …

April 14, 2016October 31, 2017sarahnicho

Sand-side dining …

April 13, 2016March 6, 2018sarahnicho

… The Yarra River …

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About me …

My name is Sarah and I’m a travel journalist writing features and news for a swag of Australian newspapers, magazines and websites.

This is my website, the place I post words and pictures gathered as I gallivant around the globe.

So enjoy the news, reviews, updates, random thinking and regular snapping – photos, that is – assembled here.

And hopefully you will find inspiration for your next trip far, near or here …

© Sarah Nicholson 2018

Recent Posts

  • Expert travellers top travel hacks …
  • DC gets some Moxy …
  • … Buchenwald Memorial …
  • Seven Seas Mariner revamp …
  • Fiji cruise for solo travellers …​

What's new on Instagram ...

... visiting one of Berlin’s famous places. . . . #visit_berlin || @visit_berlin
... the bygone beauty of the Heckescher Markt S-Bahn station in Berlin. . . . #visit_berlin || @visit_berlin
... admiring (East German) architecture a stone’s throw from the Hackeschermarkt station in Berlin. . . . #visit_berlin || @visit_berlin
... the Berliner Dom, an imposing structure when photographed from across the Spree. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... a soy latte and apple tart at Coffee Fellows in Berlin. . It’s not the menu but the location that’s notable here as there’s something significant about enjoying coffee and cake close to Checkpoint Charlie just inside what was once East Berlin. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... welcome to Berlin, back in one of my favourite cities for some serious exploring. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... old Stasi surveillance photos, snapped secretly of people crossing the border between East and West Germany before the Berlin Wall came down, at the Stasi museum in Leipzig. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... this might look like a very scruffy room stuck in a bad 1980s time warp. . And while your right about the 1980’s thing there’s actually a sinister story behind the decor. . This is a room inside Leipzig’s Runde Ecke, the former Stasi headquarters, in the heart of this Germany settlement. . The Stasi were the East German secret police, the ruthless and relentless force charged with keeping the East German population in line during the long years of the divided Germany. . When the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989 a force of locals stormed the notorious building to prevent Stasi files being destroyed. . That group not only saved the files that explained so much of what happened behind the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989 but have maintained the building much as they found it that first night. . So this dated decor is actually a Stasi snapshot showing what the much-feared headquarters looked like when thousands of agents were working at keeping the population under the Soviet thumb. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... admiring architecture in Leipzig. . I have long wanted to visit Leipzig, the Germany city roughly halfway between Berlin and Dresden, because it played such a significant part in reuniting the divided country at the end of the Cold War. . Back in 1987 East Germans that had applied to leave the communist land and move to the west would attend “Monday prayers” in a Leipzig church. . They offered each other support, plotted and schemed, and even started printing anti-Communist material with the Stasi hesitant to storm a church chasing the agitators. . The movement grew in late 1989 and by September or October there were Monday demonstrations being held in cities and towns right around the old East Germany. . The movement gave East Germans seeking freedom the confidence to continue protesting at the end of an era where even telling a cheesy political joke could see you interrogated by the secret police. . While I was ready marvel at history coming to life in the places the protestors gathered — St Nicholas’ Church, the Runde Ecke which was once Stasi headquarters, Leipzig marketplace — I didn’t expect to swoon over the architecture. . But this German city, which fell into such disrepair during the 28 years the Berlin Wall stood it was considered to be the GDR’s most-polluted city for a time, is home a so many elegant abodes. . Art Deco, Art Nouveau and even Belle Époque structures line the streets around Peterstrasse with the neighbourhood I strolled looking as good as the day it was built. . Leipzig reminds me of Vienna and Prague, not a dishevelled settlement in a once-tired corner of the old Soviet sector. . And with so many addresses like this one, apartment buildings that remind me of the designs favoured by those creative that were once part of Vienna’s Secessionist Movement, I wonder if the influences of Gustav Klimt and his contemporaries extended this far from the Austrian capital. . Will be needing to google that... . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... looking across rooftops in Meissen. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... and it’s not just the porcelain that’s lovely at the Meissen factory, look at this damask wall fabric in the museum. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... did you know Europe’s oldest porcelain factory was in Germany? . Meissen’s famous porcelain has been around since the early 1700s with the factory’s museum showing a great collection of past products including these 19th-century plates. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... found another building for my favourite-old-buildings file in Meissen. . This glorious and apparently-abandoned buildings sits in a main road opposite the porcelain factory perfectly lit by the low wintertime sun. . Meissen, which is about an hour from Dresden, sat behind the Iron Curtain for the long years of a divided Germany with that era obviously impacting on this weathered address. . Old, tired, neglected, and worn out but still elegant. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... the king’s castle - or was it the duke’s palace - in Dresden. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel
... looking up at the dome inside Dresden’s Frauenkirche. . . . #simplytrafalgar || @trafalgartravel

What’s new on Twitter

  • Eclairs for days at #KaDeWe’s glorious 6th floor food court, worth paying a visit to this iconic #Berlin department… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 10 hours ago
  • Soy latte and an apple tart at the Coffee Fellows right by Checkpoint Charlie in #Berlin ... something ironic about… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
  • My #Trafalgar group had a stop in #Leipzig, just long enough to indulge my interest in modern German history by vis… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 days ago
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