You may not expect to find a tourism attraction at at Catholic monastery, much less one in suburban Georgia. But in Conyers, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit has become a must-see location for groups touring the area.

A group of Trappist monks from Kentucky established this monastery decades ago, living in a barn and doing farm work in the nearby fields. Over the years, the monastery grew to include a church, workshops and more comfortable living quarters. Several years ago, the monks decided to embrace tourism as a means of creating some revenue and giving the public a look into their interesting lifestyle.

Today, the monks have created a first-rate visitor experience. The old barn in which they once lived has been transformed into the Monastic Heritage Center, with a great museum-style exhibit that details a day in the life of a monk. Visitors can see an example of the brothers' early sleeping quarters, some of the clothes that they wear, and the different trades that they ave learned to help make the monastery as self-sustaining as possible. The exhibits also outline the monks' daily schedule, from their first prayer service at 4:15 a.m. through their community meals and nighttime rituals.

After an introduction in the museum, group members have a number of options. They can visit the monastery's abbey — a sparsely decorated church by Catholic standards — and even join in a mass or prayer service if one is in session. They can also tour the gardens, where some of the brothers have honed their skills as master bonsai sculptors, or visit the on-site bookstore. A cafe adjacent to the bookstore sells deli sandwiches and other snacks, and gives diners an opportunity to have a peaceful, reflective meal.

It's funny to think about tourism and monastic life working well together. But at the monastery of the Holy Spirit, the brothers seem to have struck the perfect balance.

Monastic Heritage Center

A display of historic monks' habits.

The abbey's colorful, geomtric stained-glass windows.

There are few places in the United States so impacted by the Civil War as Atlanta. The city famously burned after Union general Sherman captured it in 1864. Today, nearly 150 years later, the events are still a striking part of the Atlanta story.

There are plenty of places around the city that shed light on the Civil War battles that happened here and the scars that they left. But for visitors who want to get a broad overview of the war, its causes and effects, the best place to start is the Atlanta History Center. This museum has a variety of exhibits that deal with Atlanta's past, including a large section called "Turning Point: The American Civil War Experince."

"This is one of the one of the largest collection s of Civil War memorabilia on display in the country," said Brandi Wigley, the museum's senior manager of community initiatives. "It tells the human side of the Civil War."

The exhibit has all of the common display pieces that you would expect to find: guns, uniforms, cannons, maps, photographs, etc. But it also does a great job of distilling the major causes and movements of the Civil war into easy-to-understand pieces. Visitors begin in a section calld "War of Ideals," that deals with the motivations of each side that led to the outbreak of war. As the experience progresses, displays mark the turning points that took place in each year of the war, and mark the important shifts in strategy, economy and national attitude that eventually led to the Union's victory.

I really appreciated the way that the museum made the war easy for me to understand. And the artifacts on display helped to illustrate some of the realities of the conflict that aren't apparent simply from reading a text pannel. One of the most striking images I came across was a collection of "war ordinance" -- dozens of shells, mortars and cannonballs that were used in battle. The small ones were the size of a grapefruit; the larger ones could be twice the size of a modern bowling ball. The size and number of these weapons helped me to understand just how scary action on the battlefield must have been, and how much bravery was displayed by those who fought.

The exhibit ended with a poingant discussion of reconstruction, reconcilliation and the legacy that the war left on Atlanta and the nation. Many of the issues at play in the mid-19th century still affect us today. But great, moving exhibits like this can help us all to understand just how far we've come.

The exhibit showcases both artifacts and attitudes.

War Ordinance

Re-creation of a Confederate encampment

As readers are likely aware, Washington is a fascinating city, filled with a huge variety of things to see and do, including the varied museums of the great Smithsonian Institution.  However, there are also a large number of very significant attractions that are frequently omitted from a standard tour itinerary simply because there is inadequate time to include everything. 

In the scores of times that I have been to our nation’s capital since my first visit back in 1966, I have been fortunate to be able to explore many of these gems that may not immediately come to mind when planning a group’s itinerary. One is The Phillips Collection, just a short walk from centrally-located Dupont Circle, and which bills itself as “America’s First Museum of Modern Art.” What a fine place it was to spend a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon during my most recent trip to D.C.!      

Similarly, any artistic or educationally oriented visitors to the city are sure to enjoy The Phillips Collection. First, this is a human-sized venue, housed in the boyhood home of the founder with two connected buildings and the adjacent Carriage House, so it does not require nearly the time nor the stamina to discover the riches within, as is the case with some of Washington’s popular but sprawling museums. When it was opened in 1921 by Duncan Phillips (1886-1966), heir to a Pittsburgh steel fortune, the entire collection of 237 paintings was displayed in just one room. Today, the complex holds a growing, world-class collection of nearly 3,000 works of modern and contemporary art, hosts internationally-acclaimed temporary exhibitions, and offers a wide variety of programs for adults and students. An extensive Sunday chamber concert series is also presented in the intimate setting of the Music Room, located in the original 1897 Phillips House.    

The collection itself features 19th, 20th and 21st-century European and American Art. It is noted particularly for important works by such impressionists as Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh and Degas, as well as others by Picasso, Bonnard, Braque and Klee. Such Americans artists as Milton Avery, Alexander Calder, Arthur Dove, John Marin and Georgia O’Keeffe are represented, as well as photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz and Brett Weston. On display until early May, the featured (and fascinating) temporary exhibit I explored was Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard.

Antique grandfather clock and staircase

Paintings from The Migration Series (1940-41) by Jacob Lawrence

As an individual who thoroughly enjoys exploring the places I visit on foot, and enthusiastically recommends the same even for tour groups, I have written an article on group day hikes for groups in The Group Travel Leader that will appear later this year. However, on my recent East Coast trip, I was again reminded what a great opportunity is available to everyone visiting the “City of Brotherly Love” by simply heading out to spend a few hours wandering the streets of the historic downtown area. This allows you to take in some of the numerous impressive sights that simply cannot be seen (adequately or at all) from the windows of a motorcoach. 

First, it is important to note that walking in the historic district is safe, there are no hills to climb as it is quite flat and the entire area is very compact. A tour group visiting Philadelphia is likely to include a standard city tour with a “step-on” guide in its itinerary, so the walk I am suggesting as a supplement can easily be accomplished independently within a couple hours of free time, although it could easily consume up to a full day if the visitor pauses to see virtually everything along the way.

Maps of the area are readily available, as are walking tour guides to create a more formalized experience, but I’d recommend just setting out individually and pausing to explore the points of interest that particularly grab the attention of the traveler. Using the impressive and impossible to miss City Hall as a starting and reference point, I’d suggest heading east towards the Delaware River and making a “loop” to arrive back at or near where one began the walk. 

Just a few of the things to be seen en route will include:
• The famed Wanamaker Organ, the world’s largest pipe organ, in Macy’s Department Store
• All types of fresh and prepared foods, as well as gifts, in the historic Reading Terminal Market
• Philadelphia’s colorful Chinatown, another attractive alternative for a tasty lunch
• The National Constitution Center, U.S. Mint and African American Museum
• The site of Benjamin Franklin’s home, his final resting place, and the nearby Betsy Ross House
• Such historic houses of worship as the Free Quaker Meeting House and Christ Church
• Elfreth’s Alley, a particularly charming Colonial-era residential street
• City Tavern, Carpenters Hall and the First and Second Banks of the United States
• Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, “mother” church of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination
• The Liberty Bell, storied Independence Hall, and adjacent Congress Hall
• The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldiers in Washington Square

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers of the Revolutionary War, Washington Square

Historic Wanamaker Organ, the world's largest pipe organ, and atrium in Macy's Department Store

Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York City are typically seen on group itineraries of the East Coast. However, each of these cities has amazing attractions that don’t always get as much attention.

New York City has far more to offer the visitor than can easily be accommodated in a relatively brief tour stay. Among the lesser-known but still very worthwhile and uniquely “Big Apple” attractions is the Museum of the City of New York, across from Central Park on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, north of both the great Metropolitan Museum of Art and the unique profile of the Guggenheim Museum. 

The traveler is sure to find the ongoing exhibitions to be of interest, including the six furnished rooms of New York Interiors (1690-1906), a 25-minute Timescapes multimedia portrait of the city, displays of antique transportation toys and an exquisitely crafted dollhouse. However, the real focus of the museum is on presenting ever-changing temporary exhibitions, frequent lectures by a variety of experts on life in the city and student/family programs.

During my visit, one featured exhibition was Police Work, a collection of Leonard Freed’s stark black-and-white photographs of life on the city’s streets during the 1970’s. They depict the time when the city was not only nearly bankrupt, but beset by high crime rates and social disorder.

A second major exhibit, Cecil Beaton, the New York Years, illustrated the life and New York career of the famed British fashion photographer.  However, the primary attraction is currently is The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan 1811-2011, which celebrates the 200th anniversary of Manhattan’s renowned street grid and how it has been implemented over the past two centuries. A related exhibit, The Unfinished Grid: Design Speculations for Manhattan, presents eight proposed (and fantastic) designs for the future. Without question, the Museum of the City of New York is the place to whet the appetite of anyone with a particular interest in America’s largest and most storied city.

Bob Hoelscher, CTC, CTP, MCC, CTIE, is a longtime travel industry executive who has sold his tour company, bought a motorhome and is traveling the highways and byways of America.  He is a former chairman of NTA, and was a founding member of Travel Alliance Partners (TAP).

Well-known in the industry as both a baseball and symphony aficionado, Bob is also one of the country’s biggest fans of our national parks, both large and small.  He has already visited more than 325 NPS sites and has several dozen yet to see.  He is currently traveling the country to visit as many of those parks as possible.  His blog, “Travels with Bob,” appears periodically on The Group Travel Leader’s blogsite, “Are We There Yet”.  

Bob is available for contractual work in the industry and may be reached at bobho52@aol.com or by calling (435) 590-1553.

Room setting re-creation in New York Interiors (1690-1906)

Police Work...Photographs by Leonard Freed 1972-79, and entrance to Timescapes, a 25-minute multimedia portrait of New York

So far, I've written a lot about China's history, its imperial dynasties and how that heritage shows up in modern Chinese life. Today, though, we took a welcome break from history lessons to explore the Shanghai Museum, a free public institution that houses some of the best of Chinese artwork.

Beautiful art is among China's greatest contribution to the world, and the exhibits at this museum follow the development of various media from pre-history to modern times. One large gallery traces jade carving in China, from 3.000-year old simple ceremonial tools to elaborately carved jewelry worn by royalty in the early 20th century. A gallery on currency showed the fascinating artistic touches in ancient Chinese coins and more modern paper bills, and a clothing gallery highlighted the traditional costumes of many of the ethnic minority groups in the country.

Among my favorite were the painting and calligraphy galleries. There is an art form in Chinese writing that we in the West can little understand. Masters of calligraphy are considered artists here in China, and their best works are presented on long scrolls in the museum's display cases. Many of the paintings, also presented on scrolls, used black ink or soft water colors to create idyllic natural scenes reflecting the diverse beauty of the Chinese countryside.

Many visitors will also enjoy a visit to the porcelain gallery, which explains how Chinese craftsmen created a new kind of pottery that grew to become a world-famous art form. Some of the finest porcelain works on the planet are on display in this museum, and guests come to realize how fine porcelain pottery came to be known as "China" in the Western world.

Our group spent about an hour and a half in the museum, and at the end of that time, I found myself wishing for much more. If I ever find myself in Shanghai again, this museum will be at the top of my to-do list.

Ancient stone carvings in the sculpture gallery.

A world-class example of Chinese porcelain art.

A Tibetan ceremonial mask.

It’s hard to miss a 30,000-square-foot ship-shaped structure replicating half of the original Titanic vessel along Pigeon Forge’s main parkway. The eye-catching size of the museum grabbed my attention immediately and easily held it throughout my tour.

Right after entering, I was handed a Titanic boarding pass with the biography of one of the actual passengers on the ship. My guide told me that I would learn the fate of my assigned passenger at the end of the museum, which gave the tour a personnel touch.

Just opened this year, the museum brought the experience of the ship to life with scaled replicas of the third class rooms, first class rooms and the Grand Staircase Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio walked down in the movie Titanic. Photos, interactive exhibits and over 400 artifacts told engaging stories from the fateful night.

To recreate the frigid experience felt by those not so lucky as to board a lifeboat, one exhibit kept the air temperature at 32 degrees. The exhibit also kept some water at 28 degrees to simulate the feel of the ocean that night. After only a minute my hand began to hurt acutely. The horror of the thousands that perished that way became all too real.

At the end of the tour, I was happy at least that my assigned passenger had survived against all odds. It was a reminder that stories both heartbreaking and inspiring came from the tragedy of the Titanic’s sinking.

Pigeon Forge Titanic Museum

I had breakfast at the Old Mill Restaurant

Future pepper shakers at the Old Mill Pottery

All photos appear courtesy of and copyright Anne Frank House/Anne Frank Fonds.

A walk through modern Amsterdam is a charming way to spend a morning or afternoon.  The city’s famous canals and pedestrian-friendly streets can create a feeling of perpetual peace. But we must not forget that Amsterdam has seen its darker days as well.

Today I visited the Anne Frank House, which is one of the city’s most important historic structures. The world knows Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl originally from Germany, from the famous diary she wrote during her family’s hiding from the Nazis in the early 1940s.

Because there was no bombing in Central Amsterdam during World War II, it is easy to forget that this city ever saw the scourge of war. Anne Frank’s father Otto moved his family here from Germany in 1940 to flee Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime in their native Germany. But by 1942, the Nazis had taken over the Netherlands in a five-day blitz, and began to round up Jews in Amsterdam and send them off to concentration camps.

Four employees of Otto Frank helped the Frank family and four other Jews to hide in a secret apartment behind the warehouse and offices where Otto worked. They managed to stay sequestered for more nearly two years, and Anne, a 15-year-old girl, kept detailed, moving diaries about the family’s time in hiding. Unfortunately, the “Secret Annex” was eventually found, and the Franks sent off to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister Margot were later sent to camp Bergen-Belsen, and died there of illness, one month before the camp was liberated by the Allies. Of the eight people who had been hidden in the "Secret Annex," only Otto Frank survived.

After his return to Amsterdam, Otto received Anne’s diaries from Miep Gies, one of the helpers and had them published. The work presents a moving portrait of the struggle and fear that the family faced, and helps readers to understand the grim realities of the times. Later, Otto established a museum at the former company, where today visitors can walk through the hiding place and learn about Anne’s life there.

The Diaries of Anne Frank became an worldwide bestseller, and the Amsterdam museum is equally popular. When I toured the house this morning, it was packed with visitors. We saw the small rooms where the families were forced to spend their days behind blackout curtains, without ever peering out into the streets below. In video exhibits throughout the museum, friends and contemporaries of the Frank family tell their stories about Otto, Anna, and surviving the Nazi regime.

Whenever you visit a place like the Anne Frank House, or another site associated with sweeping human atrocity, it can be difficult to process – sometimes, it’s simply too much to take. Your emotions begin to shut down, as a defense mechanism. But the images you see will remain with you, and in the coming days and weeks, they will come out of your subconscious in new thoughts and feelings.

I’m a firm believer that when we travel, we must take time to visit these difficult places. These visits are not fun, but they are important.  These experiences sow the seeds of compassion, understanding and, oddly enough, hope – the hope that one day, we may reap a harvest of peace.