Berlin baby, yeah!

Erik decided that his vacation would begin the minute he had his first German beer. After many Heinekens both at the airport and on the airplane, he was finally able to relax with a delicious German beer Friday night before dinner. You can imagine his priorities, when the first thing he checked at the hotel was the bar menu.

We landed at Berlin’s Tegel airport on Friday evening, and made it easily into the centre of the city. Our Holiday Inn Express was conveniently located close to Potsdamer Platz, and was another Hotwire find—three stars, and at $55 US a night, it was practically free. We dropped of our luggage, and headed straight out to wander around and have a drink before dinner.

We were a little surprised at the snow. I guess we live in a bit of a bubble here in Paris. We had checked the weather, but neither of us were really expecting there to be snow, and ice, actually ON the ground. When the weather says that it’s going to snow here in Paris, it actually means white coloured rain, and temperatures usually above zero.

We wandered around the Gendarmenmarkt, and found an outdoor patio, complete with heaters and blankets. We settled in to enjoy the atmosphere as our appetites got ready for dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Lutter & Wegner. A restaurant we realized later was a chain, but would never have guessed based on the atmosphere, and most importantly, the food. We were given a nice table by the window, and started the meal with their strawberry punch, an odd combination of strawberries and sparkling wine, sort of like sangria, but not as nice. After fishing the final strawberries from our glasses, our entrees arrived, apple and lentil salad with sauerbraten for me, and Berlin style potato soup for Erik. My salad was delicious, a nice combination of textures and flavours, both salty, sweet and sour. Erik’s soup was the perfect thing for a cold night, great flavour, with big chunks of sausage.

I had weiner schnitzel with warm potato and cucumber salad for my main course. The schnitzel was huge, and perfectly fried with a nice crispy crust. The salad was also quite good, and the cucumbers were a surprisingly welcome ingredient. Erik enjoyed bratwurst with horseradish mashed potatoes, definitely the star of the meal. Incredibly flavourful sausages complimented by equally delicious potatoes.

For dessert we settled on a fried cake thing, whose name I can’t remember, served with vanilla ice cream and conserved plums. We had to wait twenty minutes for it to be prepared, but it was worth the wait. It was a not too sweet, and slightly crunchy, very satisfying way to end a wonderful meal.

After dinner we wandered happily past Checkpoint Charlie on the way back to the hotel, busily planning our agenda for the following day.