Christmas time in Berlin

When my former landlord from Atlanta Facebooked me saying that he and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choir (ASOC) would be performing in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonie I knew this was a sign that we've got to finally make the trip. I'd been wanting to go for so long but after about 5 years living in Munich, I still hadn't been there (ashamed to admit!)

Despite the even-more-unusual-than-normal cold temps (our windshield cleaning fluid froze on the drive there from Munich) we thoroughly enjoyed our short weekend trip. The highlight really was the impressive Berlin Symphony and equally impressive 185-member ASOC performing a series of three Brahms Requiem performances. The conductor was Donald Runnicles. The acoustics in the Berlin Philharmony concert hall are unbeatable, and definitely worth the pricey 60-euro tickets we purchased online the week before (only 2 pairs of 2 seats left). We rarely, if ever, attend these types of concerts but we were definitely enriched by the experience.

Before the concert we packed in quite a day of sightseeing in -12 to -15 degree Celcius temps (there's no bad weather, only bad clothing right?!) with Earl, my former landlord, his cousin and wife who came from Oklahoma (Ed and Karen). We had so much fun with them wandering around in the cold and drinking Gluhwein at the Christmas markets to keep us warm. We walked to the Berliner Dom, Fernsehen Turm (TV Tower with great views of the city on a clear day), and the DDR Museum (its free and very interesting!), right near Berliner Dom and just a short walk from our Hilton Hotel on Mohrenstrasse 30 (great location on the East side of Berlin, in the rebuilt quarter "Mitte"). The area is also known as the Gendarmenmarket, a lovely historic area with plenty of shops and good restaurants not to mention the adorable Christmas market set up this time of year across the street from the hotel. And its only a short walk to the famous “Unter den Linden” street and Brandenburger Tor.

Of course I have to mention the 'Essen' in Berlin! Some of the restaurants we ate at were (all within walking distance from hotel):

• Goodtime Thai restaurant (yummy Thai food in a pleasant atmosphere- yes, we had a..good time!)
• Maximilian's Bavarian resaurant (can't believe we ate Bavarian in Berlin!)
• Lutter & Wegner German restaurant (very nice, high-quality not your typical german restaurant). I actually ordered the only vegetarian dish on the menu and it was delicious: gnocchi stuffed with goat cheese. Apparently, the Wiener Schnitzel earned the title as the 'Best schnitzel outside of Vienna' by the NY Times and also got rave reviews from others in our party who ordered it.
  

Before we knew it, it was time to drive back to Munich...still with frozen windshield cleaner but warm and enriched hearts from our experiences in Berlin.

No we didn't drive off in this 'Trabbi' this was at the DDR Museum..

Don't forget to obey those pedestrian crossings, particularly the "Ampelmannchen" ("little traffic light man") cuz they're so cute with their little hats on. One of the few authentic features remaining from East Germany to survive the reunification, makes it more fun to cross the streets!

Shalom!

And they really say this on a daily basis! I don't know why I was so surprised, but I wasn't expecting my one word of hebrew to be come in so handy. Shalom doesn't only mean 'peace' but it is a common greeting used in place of a simple hello or goodbye. I loved saying it and hearing it in all the shops!

So I joined my husband in Tel Aviv after his 'work trip' to the Beer Academy event hosted by the largest brewery in Israel (Goldstar) in Eilat last week. Yes, that is what he claimed...that there is this "beer academy" (surprisingly it doesn't come up in my google search, hmm). It was here though that he claims to have presented to ~800 beer 'academics' (bartenders/managers), wearing his traditional Bavarian Lederhosen and making jokes about his own unusual-looking outfit compared to that of another, more famous German who arrived that same day wearing all white and red shoes... but creating a security nightmere for this beer-drinking German who had a more thorough search at airport security than he cares to share.

While sharing and comparing beer stories, Goldstar (who apparently invented this 'Beer Academy' event) threw in a performance by one of Israel's most popular bands, Infected Mushroom - a psychedelic trance band. Ever heard of them? We're not really up on our trance bands, but it's kind of cool how they perform- if what he told me is correct. They use recordings of themselves as well as other musicians when they play/mix live sets. The sound reminds me of Depeche Mode back in the day, or maybe it's just because Depeche Mode seems to be pretty popular in Israel too. Anyway, here's a video clip from this event. My husband is somewhere in the crowd and swears he only drank his German beer, Paulaner. I don't think we can say the same for the others..



I do hope all this talk about beer and mushrooms doesn't overshadow my true purpose here of documenting the trip I took to a such a fascinating, interesting country. I guess that will be in my next post!

J'adore Paris!

It seems natural that my first wanderlust post would be about Paris, as it was my first taste into my adventerous world of independent travelling, beginning at age 19...a really really long time ago! Paris is what made me want to see everything I could in a lifetime, to seek out new places and new people. In this blog I'll attempt to document my travels working backward from present day to as far back as I'm able to track- and that's a ways, especially when I think back to my childhood days of travelling to what were, at the time, remote islands in my dad's small Cessna place as a little girl (throwing up along the way!).
Here goes... my favorite city, and most recent trip notes, Paris!

My husband, a good friend and I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport Friday morning from Munich (I've lived in Munich for about 4 years now with my german husband). Our hotel had arranged for us to be picked up by 'Yellow Van' shuttle service, which was rather late in getting us for reasons unknown to us and cost about 17€/person for 3 people to take us direclty to Hotel Rolais Bosquet, right near Rue Cler (7th arrondisement/district) and Eiffel Tour.. a lovely neighborhood. The hotel was wonderful for the price we paid (130€/night incl. breakfast - we thank Rick Steves for this rate, had we not mentioned him we would have paid 155€ with no breakfast). Here's a photo of our clean, cozy room.


Now, on to the fun stuff...eating! We were so hungry, and grateful that the hotel was surrounded by several good options for great food. We went right to Cafe Bosquet, where both tourists and local french dined together and the waitstaff were friendly. I orded the 14€ menu of chicken and rice in a delicous sauce (sorry, I don't recall exactly what it was!) and it came with a choice of desert- I tried something new: La fromage Blanc avec Miel (literally "white cheese with honey" but was more like a whipped yogurt, something different but quite good and worth a try). The chicken and accompanying sauce was delicious as was the Creme Brule my husband ordered. Cafe Bosquet had a nice selection as well, our friend ordered Noix de St jacques (scallops) and said they were also very good, my husband got schrimp risotto- also good.
For some fair reviews of this restaurant check out http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/France/Ile_de_France/Paris-99080/Restaurants-Paris-Le_Bosquet-BR-1.html

While I'm on the subject of restaurants, I'll post the others we ate at worth mentioning.. like the great little vegetarian restaurant we stumbled upon near Notre Dame Cathedral, "Le Grenier de Notre-Dame" - Metro: St. Michel / Maubert Mutualite. It's small, but friendly service and great vegie dishes (and I'm not even a vegetarian). The others got variations of mixed vegie plates including things like polenta, potatoes, and all kinds of other good stuff (I had the pumpkin soup and small salad of chevre chaud). After lunch we stumbled around this area and worked up a thirst, so we stopped at Cafe Lain where I tried a "Choc n Roll"! Yummy sweet drink of Baileys, chocolate and whatever 'Get 27' is.

The last noteworthy restaurant we slipped into was Le Cafe du Marche, on Rue Cler, and popular among tourists (Americans mostly it seemed) and french alike. Great atmosphere and we were surrounded by locals but when we came in there was a group of Americans waiting. Anyway, the service was good for the amount of people there, our server was very friendly and spoke great English too. For some reviews go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d786720-Reviews-Le_cafe_du_marche-Paris_Ile_de_France.html I loved my Dorade fish on top of green beans and some kind of wonderful sauce on the side. My husbands 'Entrecote boeuf' was a good steak, and I ended up gobbling down most of his yummy potatoes with my sauce. We split a bottle of wine and had my favorite choclate fondant for desert, all for about 38€ - not bad!