lavandula

Germany is very careful with memorials of WWII - there is a law which does not allow glorification of war, so that you don't get veneration at memorials. This is one reason why Hitler's bunker was done away with promptly, so that you wouldn't get new generations of people coming to 'worship'.

Memorials also have to come with some explanation. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe has a documentation centre underground beneath the stelae, so if the message was lost on you (and it is an abstract work which is somewhat unsettling), there is no chance that you won't understand the message by the time you have finished there. Documentation centres seem to be the recent solution to troublesome social problems. For instance, for many years the community of German minorities that were driven out of other parts of Europe after WWII have been vocal for a memorial (people died for various reasons as a result of the expulsions), but the only political leaders who would take this on were the far right. Well, now there is a documentation centre treating displaced people. A memorial would have brought unwanted political activity and perhaps reawakened some nasty stuff. This documentation centre treats all displaced people and it is a kind of information centre, where you can go to learn. That community has been heard, but the response has also been diffused (or "defused").

Lavandula

taylormartin3353

Thanks everyone for your advice. We are back to the drawing board. Based on our interests, your feedback and the fact that the Olympics are in Paris (which would have been a grievous mistake), we have decided to forgo Paris and Scandinavia and focus on Germany and MAYBE Amsterdam. Stay tuned for my next post, lol.

AlessandraZoe

I read this thread with interest and some frustration, taylormatrin3353, because I did not know where to start with helping you. It seems that others have convinced you to SLOW it down, and I'm happy you are now OK with that.

You mentioned WW2 history and that you now probably will do Germany and perhaps Amsterdam. That got me to thinking--why not look up professional tours as an idea of an itinerary? I "steal" itineraries all the time in designing our family trips. Sure, I tweak them, but collecting those give me outlines to combine and to edit.

I just did a search for "ww2 tours" and immediately found a website "Beaches of Normandy Tours" No, you are not going to Normandy (although I loved exploring that area myself), but you could look at their "3rd Reich Tour" and their "Battle of the Bulge Tour" for some itinerary ideas. You get the drift, I'm sure.

Good luck planning--I know the most frustrating thing in my travel planning was working around school calendars. My off time never coincided with my husband's---EVER.
AZ