Other Lives

— Photo by ML

You could smell the stench as soon as you entered the house. Then, immediately, you saw the filth and chaos. People had lived here until recently, and some of the residents had had pets. A dog had even been left behind for several days until a neighbor was able to let him out.

We had been looking at properties in North Philadelphia when we came across this former boarding house. It was an ordinary 3-story brownstone in a fairly intact city block in a part of town where many buildings are boarded up, burnt out, or torn down often leaving weed strewn empty lots. I had seen a few boarding houses before, but they were all empty. For whatever reason, this house, however, still held some of the belongings of its former residents, and, while walking though the house, I got a glimpse of how life can be when you have little or nothing.

Paderborn, Germany

— Photos by ML

I am one week into a two-week training and conference trip to Germany, and I thought it was time to share a few observations. But before I continue, you should know that if you're looking for an insightful tips-n-tricks article for traveling to Germany, please stop reading now.

[don't worry, I will wait while you type in a new URL and/or click on a different link]

Now, one more warning: the opinions expressed in this post are highly subjective (it's my blog, dammit!), poorly researched (if at all), and most likely affected by high levels of caffeine (at least 3 cups of espresso just today).