Kristallnacht, also known as "The Night of Broken Glass" began November 9, 1938 in Germany. On that night, Germans began attacking Jews in full force.

Over the course of two days, synagogues were burned, and Jewish businesses, cemeteries, hospitals and schools were ransacked and destroyed. Jewish homes were also trashed and looted and many Jews were killed.

The morning after these pogroms, the round-up started. Thousands of Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

This day would have slipped past me if I hadn't been listening to the radio last night when a local radio personality mentioned it.

As a commemoration of this horrible time in human history, here are seven places I've visited that have left me feeling somber and reflective. Each are places I think should be on a list of must sees. Feel free to add your own based on where you have been.

Here at Gadling we'll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each -- maybe you'll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you'll think that they're good songs.

Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the Comments and we'll post it at the end of the series.

WEEK 4: "King of the Road" sung by Roger Miller

When my brother and I were young, our parents gave us Hummel figurine music boxes. His figurine was a small boy sitting on a fence with a bundle tied on a stick that rested on his shoulder. When the key was wound, the melody "King of the Road" played while the boy turned.

My figurine was a girl feeding chickens. Although, I dearly loved my music box-- the girl looked like Heidi, that independent lass who lived in the Alps with her grandfather, I was drawn to my brother's more. There it sat on his chest of drawers in a spot within reach.

Even before I knew the lyrics, the title of the song was enough. King of the Road. What could sound more grand?

The lyrics, though, said it all. Hitting the road without cares or worries--the thrill of being in control with each step towards the horizon. A life spent enjoying simple pleasures as long as a person can keep moving and make connections with folks along the way.

Never mind that I happened to be female--and at the time, one of the only known female travelers who got much press was Amelia Earhart--and we know how that turned out. I come from a line of women who have wandered.

These are not great economic times, and they're taking a toll on the travel industry. Icelandic-owned and Denmark-based Nordic budget airline Sterling announced today that it will file for bankruptcy, halting all of its aircraft. The slowdown of the travel market and rising oil prices put financial strains on the airline a year ago, but now with the fall of the Icelandic economy, and hence the funds of the airline's owner, Sterling had no choice but to call it quits.

And although things are obviously bad for the airline, things aren't any better for its passengers: the halting of flights has left thousands of them stranded at airports across Europe. Sterling announced that tickets purchased online at the Sterling website would not be refunded, nor would return flights be honored. Coming to the rescue, rival airline Scandinavian Airlines announced that it would offer Sterling passengers and crew members seats on its flights to Copenhagen, depending on availability. But that will only help a small handful; all in all, an estimated 40,000 customers are said to be affected by the bankruptcy.

Election day is next Tuesday and Americans are poised to make one of the most critical decisions in US history. With Obama leading in many polls, Democrats have allowed themselves to be cautiously optimistic. As such, you probably haven't heard as much of the "If the Dems lose I'm moving to Canada" chatter that emanated from the blue states in 2000 and 2004. In a recent review of Phil Zuckerman's "Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment," Salon columnist Louis Bayard discussed why potential expatriates might shift their glances towards Scandinavia if McCain wins.

Zuckerman's book, as well as Bayard's column, focus less on Scandinavians' high life expectancy, healthcare, economies and social mores and instead channel their energies on religion and faith. Scandinavians live in predominantly secular cultures. Bayard notes that,

As few as 24 percent of Danes and as few as 16 percent of Swedes believe in a personal deity. (In America, that figure is close to 90 percent.) In Scandinavia, belief in life after death hovers in the low 30 percent range, as opposed to 81 percent in America. Some 82 percent of Danes and Swedes believe in evolution, while roughly 10 percent believe in hell. Their rate of weekly church attendance is among the lowest on Earth.

Ideally, people who are disenchanted with the outcome of the election will remain in The States and help fight for their causes. If I was inclined to leave my homeland, however, I don't think I'd head to Scandinavia. I loved my visits to Iceland and Sweden but I'm not so sure that a long, dark Nordic winter would soothe my soul should the American electorate let me down. And Scandinavia's suicide rate is twice that of the United States'. I wonder if that has anything to do with their high rate of alcoholism.

No, I think I'll stay here and be part of the solution if things don't go my way. Or head south. I'm a warm weather guy. Hmm, maybe I should check out the tax laws in Chile.

Would you leave the States based on the outcome of the election? Where would you go? Drop us a line in the comments.

Transparency international released their annual numbers on corruption around the world, and would you believe it, Denmark edged Zimbabwe out by 165 places to clinch the number one spot.

Each year the organization dedicated to fighting corruption compiles data from a variety of sources to publish this list as a means to raise public awareness and point to the rampant corruption around the globe. Despite the ongoing failures on Wall Street and among the upper ranks in the financial sector, this year the United states is ranked at number 18, surprisingly just above Japan. The five least countries in ascending order were:

• Denmark
• Sweden
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Finland
  

while the lowest in descending order were:

• Afghanistan
• Haiti
• Iraq
• Myanmar
• Somalia
  

Incidentally, the most corrupt countries are also those with the least stable governments, poorest infrastructures and poorest economies. Funny how those things go hand in hand, isn't it?

You can check out the wealth of statistics and better explanations of the system over at transparency.org, including a dandy corruption map and complete list of nations and their ranks.

As I was searching out shots of Denmark in the Gadling Flickr photo pool (they're not many), I came across this one. Kronborg Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site is in Helsingør, the town of where I lived one semester in college. This is one place I'm planning to take my daughter to in December when we head her for an off-the-cuff, it-just-kind-of-came-about-trip. Yeah!

It's the central location of Shakespeare's Hamlet. You remember the line, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." In my case, plans to go here are very sweet.

Septembergurl6 framed the building well in order to highlight it's elegant lines. I particularly like the contrast between the mustard yellow of the bricks and the nuances of the sky.

Send your shots our way to the Flickr Photo Pool and they might be picked as a Photo of the Day.

Back in April, Catherine posted about Denmark being ranked the world's happiest country by the University of Leicester in England, which published its so-called Map of World Happiness.

Well, just in case you doubted that institution's findings, another study, this one released last week by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, has also ranked Danes No. 1 in terms of happiness and life satisfaction.

The Michigan study's overall conclusion: Happiness is on the rise worldwide.

It's perhaps no surprise that Denmark tops the list, since it is a perennial favorite in any survey of this ilk. There is just something about life in that Scandinavian country that is apparently better than anywhere else. But a few other countries in the top 10 do surprise...at least me: Puerto Rico. Colombia. Northern Ireland.

The 10 happiest countries in the world:

1. Denmark
2. Puerto Rico
3. Colombia
4. Iceland
5. N. Ireland
6. Ireland
7. Switzerland
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Austria

The U.S. comes in 16th on the list, not too shabby given the sad recent years we've lived through.

This is the 26th edition of the U of M study, which annually surveys around 350,000 people worldwide, asking them, well, just how happy they feel.

The 10 unhappiest countries in the world:

1. Zimbabwe
2. Armenia
3. Moldova
4. Belarus
5. Ukraine
6. Albania
7. Iraq
8. Bulgaria
9. Georgia
10. Russia

Not many surprises there.

Check out the complete U of M rankings here.

In the traveler's world it's been a bit of drama this week. Plus, there have been lessons in traveling with a wider perspective and an open heart.

On the drama end:

• Iva reported on passengers in China refusing to get off a plane because the flight was canceled.
• In his Letter from Albania series, Jeff presented an intimate look at blood feuds through the experiences of people he has talked with in his travels there.
• From Anna we heard about the drunken Swede who tried to row back home from Denmark
• Grant told us about British Airways passengers who thought the smell of curry meant there were terrorists

On the wider perspective and open heart end:

• Read Part 3 of Jerry's "Talking Travel with Patricia Schultz," the author of 1000 Places to See Before You Die. As she says at the end of the interview, "Life is short--get off the couch."
• And, after you're off the couch, pick up a copy of Sacred Places of Goddess,108 Destinations by Karen Tate who specializes in openness.

Partying while traveling certainly has its perks; for starters you get to meet new people and test out the local drink of choice. Often drunken escapades turn into great stories -- "this one time at a bar in [insert country] I..." -- but sometimes things get a little too out of hand. That's what happened to a 78 year old man who was preparing to board a ferry at Helsingør, Denmark to cross the straight back home to Swede. When the man opened his wallet he realized that he had spent all of his money at the bar, and could therefore not pay for the ferry ride.

Wanting to get home, the man stole a rowboat and headed in the direction of Sweden. Tired and slightly inebriated, the man passed out in the hopes that the currents would get him across the 4 kilometer straight. Eventually he was found by the Danish Coastguard. When he sobered up he was put on the next ferry home; no news on how he paid for the ticket.

Travel moral of the story: always keep some extra emergency cash stashed away in an inner wallet pocket so that you don't find yourself in this kind of a situation.

Scandinavia is known for being liberal; universal health care, government funded secondary education and open immigration policies are the first things that come to mind when thinking about Denmark, Norway and Sweden. But when it comes to advertising, the Scandinavian countries are a little more at odds.

Sweden recently decided not to put a ban on sexist advertising, something that is strictly regulated in Denmark and Norway. Sexist content used to sell a product has been banned in Norway since 2003. "Naked people are wonderful, of course, but they have to be relevant to the product. You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car," said Sol Olving head of Norway's Kreativt Forum.

In Sweden however, the government cited concerns that such a ban would conflict with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. "I don't want to infringe on fundamental human freedoms and rights for a legislation the efficacy of which I question. This is not the way to win the fight for gender equity," said Gender Equity Minister Nyamko Sabuni.

Basically if you want half-naked photos of Scandinavian hotties, better make your way to Stockholm and not Oslo.