James Anderson-Pole

Travel recommendations

Australia

Cockatoo Island, NSW
National Pass, NSW

Czech Republic

Germany

Berlin Nordbahnhof: Train station with exhibition on Berlin's ghost stations.
Berlin TV Tower
East Side Gallery Berin

Malaysia

Netherlands

New Caledonia

Amedee Island: Recommend booking with MaryD.

New Zealand

Mount Kaukau, Wellington

Samoa

To-Sua Ocean Trench

Singapore

Battlebox: 1942 Malaya Command Headquarters
Changi Chapel and Museum: World War Two Prisoner of War camp.
Former Ford Factory: Here the British surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. There is an exhibition on World War 2.
Rail Corridor: I recommend the Central Section if you are short on time.
Reflections at Bukit Chandu: Historical World War 2 site.

Thailand

Thai Labour Museum

United Kingdom

Bletchley Park

United States

~~Newseum~~: Was an excellent musuem but sadly closed at the end of 2019.

Travel Plans

Germany

Baden-Württemberg — 10 days

Heidelberg — 1 day
- Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma: documentation and memorial-focused museum on the persecution of Sinti and Roma, including the Nazi period.
- Friedrich-Ebert-Haus: birthplace museum of Germany's first democratically elected president, with strong Weimar-era political context.
Sinsheim — 1 day trip from Heidelberg
- Technik Museum Sinsheim
Stuttgart — 5 days
- Birkenkopf
- Das Leuze: full-day activity (mineral bath and sauna complex).
- MineralBad Berg: can be paired with one nearby half-day activity.
- SoleBad Cannstatt: combines well with Straßenbahnmuseum Stuttgart as a half-day spa activity.
- Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg
- Memorial at Hotel Silber
- Straßenbahnmuseum Stuttgart
- Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
- SWR Fernsehturm Stuttgart
Baden-Baden — 2 days
- Base: TRIBE Baden-Baden
- Caracalla Therme: modern thermal spa day with indoor/outdoor pools and sauna areas.
- Friedrichsbad: Roman-Irish bath house and historic thermal spa experience.
Bad Wildbad — 1 day trip from Stuttgart
- Palais Thermal: historic thermal bath with spa-palace architecture.

Bavaria — 11 days

Berchtesgaden — 2 days
- Base: ibis Salzburg Hauptbahnhof
- TODO: explore the Salzburg area while based here.
- Dokumentation Obersalzberg
- Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest)
Dachau — 1 day trip from Munich
- KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau
Erding — 1 day trip from Munich
- Therme Erding
Munich — 2 days
- Base: ibis Styles München Hauptbahnhof
- Deutsches Museum (Munich)
- Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism
- Olympiaturm (Munich) — 181 one eighty restaurant
- Viktualienmarkt
Nuremberg — 3 days
- Base: ibis Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
- DB Museum Nuremberg
- Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds
- Kaiserburg Nuremberg
- Memorium Nuremberg Trials
- Museum for Industrial Culture (Nuremberg)
- Museum für Kommunikation (Nuremberg)
- Nazi Party Rally Grounds (Nuremberg)
- Weißgerbergasse
- Zeppelin Field / Congress Hall
Schwangau — 1 day trip from Munich
Zugspitze / Garmisch-Partenkirchen — 1 day trip from Munich
- Kristall Spa at the Zugspitze
- Zugspitze

Berlin

World War Two
Cold War / GDR
Queer / LGBT history
- Eldorado memorial plaque: marks the former queer nightclub and Nazi persecution site
- Magnus-Hirschfeld-Ufer: queer cultural promenade along the Landwehr Canal
- Nollendorfplatz / Motzstraße: historic heart of Berlin’s gay district
- Schwules Museum
Technology / science
- Computerspielemuseum
- Futurium
- Deutsches Technikmuseum: includes the Deutsche Telekom Science Center Spectrum interactive exhibit; also check out the Bahnpark railway museum section
General / urban experience

Brandenburg — 5 days

Brandenburg an der Havel — 1 day trip from Berlin
- Brandenburg-Görden Prison Memorial: former prison memorial covering Nazi and post-war political repression
- Memorial to the Victims of Euthanasia Murders: documentation site on the Nazi "euthanasia" killings at Brandenburg an der Havel
Eisenhuettenstadt — 1 day trip from Berlin
- Museum of Utopia and Everyday Life
Oranienburg — 1 day trip from Berlin
- Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen: major former concentration camp memorial site
Potsdam — 2 day trips from Berlin
- Cecilienhof Country House: site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference
- Glienicke Bridge: Cold War prisoner-exchange bridge between Berlin and Potsdam
- Leistikowstrasse Potsdam Memorial: former Soviet/KGB remand prison in the early Cold War period
- Lindenstrasse Memorial: former prison and courthouse memorial documenting political persecution under Nazi, Soviet, and GDR rule

North Rhine-Westphalia — 4 days

Bonn — 1 day trip from Cologne
- Deutsches Museum (Bonn)
- Haus der Geschichte (Bonn)
Cologne — 1 day
- Base: ibis Köln Hauptbahnhof
- NS-Documentation Centre (Cologne)
Kalkar — 1 day trip from Cologne
- Wunderland Kalkar
Wuppertal — 1 day trip from Cologne
- Schwebodrom: multimedia exhibition
- Wuppertal Suspension Railway

Rhineland-Palatinate — 8 days

Ahr Valley — 1 day trip from Koblenz
- Ahr-Thermen: thermal spa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, ideal for a half-day wellness stop.
- Government Bunker Documentation Site: Cold War continuity-of-government bunker museum
Koblenz — 1 day
- Base: Mercure Hotel Koblenz
- DB Museum Koblenz: railway museum branch focused on historic rolling stock
- Rhine Valley Scenic rail/boat journey: train Koblenz to Bingen (sit on the left side for the best river views), then boat Bingen to St Goar through the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley, then train back to Koblenz.
Luxembourg City (separate country) — 2 days
- Base: ibis Styles Luxembourg Centre Gare
- Luxembourg City
- Luxembourg City History Museum: city-focused museum on urban development, fortifications, and modern historical context.
- Musée Dräi Eechelen (Fort Thüngen): museum and fortification site covering military history and strategic context.
- Luxembourg City memorial walk: Nazi occupation, resistance networks, deportation/persecution, liberation, and post-war remembrance.
South Luxembourg (separate country) — 1 day trip from Luxembourg City
- Luxembourg Science Center: interactive science center in Differdange
- National Resistance Museum: museum on resistance, occupation, and human rights in Luxembourg
Remagen — 1 day trip from Koblenz
- Peace Museum Bridge at Remagen: museum on the 1945 Ludendorff Bridge battle and its aftermath
Speyer — 1 day trip from Heidelberg
- Technik Museum Speyer: technology museum with major aviation and transport exhibits.
Trier — 1 day trip from Luxembourg City
- Karl Marx House Museum: birthplace museum on Karl Marx's life, work, and legacy

Saxony — 5 days

Bautzen — 1 day trip from Leipzig
- Bautzen Memorial: former prison memorial and museum-style site
Chemnitz — 1 day trip from Leipzig
- Karl Marx Monument
- Museum of Industrial Culture: industrial history and socialist-era context
Dresden — 1 day trip from Leipzig
- Kulturpalast
- Soviet War Memorial: memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Dresden in 1945
- Zeitgeschichtliches Forum
Leipzig — 1 day
- Base: ibis Styles Leipzig City for a practical stay near Leipzig Hbf.
- Runde Ecke: Memorial Museum
- Stasi Bunker Museum: former Cold War bunker and museum-style site
Torgau — 1 day trip from Leipzig
- Memorial Site Torgau: former prison and memorial site

Saxony-Anhalt

TODO: review whether to merge this section with Saxony or keep it as a separate state section.

Halle-Neustadt
- TODO: work out whether to stay there or make this a day trip from elsewhere.

Contact details

Email: james@pole.net.nz