Germany rules!

I just got back from a week's extended Easter holiday in Germany. We spent a couple of days in Berlin, then went to Dresden for a couple of days, and then came back to Berlin again. I've never really traveled in Germany before, so this was a bit of a new experience for me… and damn, what a nice country!

The highlights of the trip were a performance of Parsifal (an epic five-hour opera by Richard Wagner) at the Semperoper in Dresden, and a variety show at the Wintergarten theater in Berlin — "Die Sagenhafte Varieté-Show mit Meret Becker". Both were incredibly good, although pretty much each other's polar opposites in every other way.

The food was delicious (although I could've used a little less Speck, thank you very much), everybody was super-nice, super-polite, and super-helpful: e.g. someone spontaneously asked if we need help when we were studying our tourist guide and map in Berlin, which doesn't usually happen in big cities (except if they're pickpockets, which I'm pretty sure the nice elderly gent in question wasn't). And everything just worked, which definitely has a charm of its own.

We only got yelled at once for not following the proper procedure, on the pedestrian ferry across the Elbe river (even though said procedure was posted perfectly clearly in two sheets of dense small type, right at the entry to the ferry), which was also great because we were sort of expecting that to happen. (On the other hand, the folks running the Ku'damm 195 snack bar seemed surprised and genuinely pleased that we did follow the proper procedure with regards to waste disposal and return and recycling of dishes and bottles, respectively, although it wasn't posted anywhere — we just looked what everyone else did, and did the same.)

I'm feeling a bit bad about neglecting Germany as a travel destination so long. It moved up on our list many notches, and we definitely want to go again. The "cultural" format — i.e., booking those opera and cabaret tickets ahead of time — worked out really well too, giving the trip a structure that it would otherwise have missed.

I especially liked Berlin. What a marvelous city, with such a huge variety of urban landscapes, features, attractions, things to see and to do. It also seemed to be remarkably free of congestion for something as big as it is. As far as cities go, it went right to the top group of my favorite list, with Paris, Rome, and San Francisco. I also decided to try to find a way to get my German into acceptable shape — I understand it relatively well, having taken a total of five years of it at high school and University, but I really can't speak worth a damn, which is a waste.



(More snapshots here [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/primejunta/sets/72157623662752849/ ] and here [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/primejunta/sets/72157623662897017/ ].)

Very nice snapshots - the weather was fine.

The people of Berlin can be very nice, but they can also tease (*) someone pretty much. If you are too slow for their urban mind and/or a country bumpkin.

(*) with the famous "Berliner Schnauze"

I think most big cities tend to be like that--of course, some are ruder than others. New York doesn't have a 'schnauze,' but it is famous for something called 'the Bronx Cheer.'

Very nice pictures, though the currywurst looked a bit scary, like it was bathed in blood instead of what I'm sure was some totally appropriate sauce or condiment. Looks like a beautiful city, and now I want to buy a beret.

We got some of that, I think, but it seemed very good-natured to me.

And yeah, we were lucky with the weather, only one rainy day, and we spent much of that indoors, in the Reichstag and the Jüdisches Museum. We even managed to find a way to avoid the queue at the Reichstag: they give lectures there, and if you sign up for one, you get to bypass the queue altogether. The lecture was pretty interesting, too, and it got us into the visitors' area of the plenary hall, which was something I didn't expect.

@Mags: the Currywurst was very tasty, but heavy as a brick, especially if you don't eat all that much meat. The scary-looking sauce is curried ketchup; the sausage itself was an excellent smoked-pork one. I'm mildly bummed that we missed the Thüringer Rostbratwurst hot dogs in Dresden -- they looked seriously tasty, but we were always either too hungry or not hungry enough to grab one at one of the stalls. Ate some other hearty Saxonian food there, though -- a really nice potato soup with leeks and bits of sausage, something called Sauerbraten which was like a very tender roast beef, and a crispy leg of duck.

I love Sauerbraten and the variety of sausages (and beer, of course). To me, half of the fun of visiting a new country is trying all the local cuisine.

I'm mildly bummed that we missed the Thüringer Rostbratwurst hot dogs in Dresden — they looked seriously tasty, but we were always either too hungry or not hungry enough to grab one at one of the stalls. Ate some other hearty Saxonian food there, though — a really nice potato soup with leeks and bits of sausage, something called Sauerbraten which was like a very tender roast beef, and a crispy leg of duck.

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Sauerbraten is about the only German food that's widely known around here. We have a great place in OKC for all the wursts and streusels called Ingrid's Kitchen and some of the smaller towns here have an old-time German immigrant base which along with the Czech one, means you can find some excellent food if you're willing to travel around a bit. I remember eating at The Berghoff back when I lived in Chicago—first place I ever ate pate and oysters on the half shell. Great Rhine wine, too.

Not Berlin, of course, but proof that good food travels everywhere even if you can't.

While I agree that Germany is a great place to visit; Munich is one of my favourite cities in the world, I still prefer Austria for its scenery and food. Pity I don't understand a word of German, but luckily most Germans understand English!!

magerette said:

Sauerbraten is about the only German food that's widely known around here. We have a great place in OKC for all the wursts and streusels called Ingrid's Kitchen

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I hate Sauerbraten.

The menu at Ingrid's Kitchen is quite interesting. First thing that caught my eye is that everything is much more complicated than it would be in Germany. Most of our food is inherently simple - you have a few defining components (sometimes only 1!), add a filling side dish and that's pretty much it.

If you want to see the waitress at Ingrid's sweat, ask her if their Wiener Schnitzel is a real Wiener Schnitzel (that would be veal fried in a lot of extremely hot oil) or a "Schnitzel Wiener Art" (= Schnitzel Vienna Style), which is pork, somehow made look golden brown. The stuff mentioned in the menu didn't sound convincing.
A typical combination would be: Wiener Schnitzel, a slice of lemon (-> squeeze out on top of the flesh, but be careful ), some potato based side dish (potato salad, fries), mustard and of course a beer. Franziskaner Weissbier would be a solid choice. The Wiener Schnitzel should be paper-thin and bigger than the plate. Simple and delicious, and due to the simplicity mistakes cannot be hidden.

Apologies to our Austrian friends for borrowing their national dish for a post about German food.

btw., I'm missing one of the most typical - and best - German dishes of them all:
Potato pancakes ("Kartoffelpuffer") with apple puree. That's a gift from the gods - and 100% diet incompatible.

Sauerbraten? *blech* Horrible stuff!

Austrian food is great too. We happened on an Austrian café/restaurant in Kreuzberg; I had some Saftgoulasch with a couple of Semmelknödel, and Joanna had a Wiener Schnitzel which I'm pretty damn sure was the genuine article. They had a very nice Apfelstrudel too, with what I'm pretty sure was homemade vanilla sauce. It was very good, only the waiter was completely in the clouds and kept either forgetting what we had ordered, or trying to bring it to some other table.

I also used to think that I hate Black Forest cake; the ones I'd had were pretty much like a big slab of chocolate and cherry flavored butter. Now I had one that was so light it melted on the tongue. And I don't even much care for cake!

Oh, by the way: we're also happy to report that we found Public Enemy #1: he's running a flea market stall in Berlin.

Haha, Bin Laden sells junk in Germany!

Yeah, the parts of Germany I've seen are all very nice, and most people are friendly.

If you want to learn to speak German, it's pretty easy. Since you have a solid base it would probably be enough to go there for two-three months, avoid hanging out with English-speaking people, and take a few German classes.

That's how I learned it. I only studied it four years from 6th - 9th grade, forgot everything, then took a quick refresher course in university and went as an exchange student for three months. I lived with people who preferred not to speak English, which meant I had to practice my German all day long. Tough to not be able to express myself properly for a long while, but as the three months passed it came easier and easier to me. I became good enough to have a normal conversation without too much trouble.

And how was the beer?

@VPeric: do you need to ask?

Prime Junta said:

I also used to think that I hate Black Forest cake; the ones I'd had were pretty much like a big slab of chocolate and cherry flavored butter. Now I had one that was so light it melted on the tongue. And I don't even much care for cake!

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You've just learned lesson 1 in Old European cooking: Let the Austrian do the dessert!

The quality differences in these kinds of Torte are enormous. It's one of the things were small bakeries clearly beat the mass market. As you wrote, the good stuff is light and melts on the tongue.

Oh, by the way: we're also happy to report that we found Public Enemy #1: he's running a flea market stall in Berlin.

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For those who didn't get the joke:
"Laden" is German for "shop" (noun).

Prime Junta said:

@VPeric: do you need to ask?

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Of course: how does it compare to the Czech variety?

I think the Czech are the only guys we accept as "in the same league" when it comes to beer.

Gorath said:

You've just learned lesson 1 in Old European cooking: Let the Austrian do the dessert!

The quality differences in these kinds of Torte are enormous. It's one of the things were small bakeries clearly beat the mass market. As you wrote, the good stuff is light and melts on the tongue.

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Black Forest cake is best in the Black Forest. Period. I should know, thats where I grew up. Don't let the Austrians near it! Of course there is plenty of absolutely awesome Austrian desserts, no contest.
Glad you enjoyed your trip, its nice to see something so positive about Germany. For most of the world it always seems its still just the ugly and somewhat dangerous stepchild of europe...

Thanks. enjoyed the pics.

VPeric said:

Of course: how does it compare to the Czech variety?

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A bit less hoppy and a bit lighter, and minus the hint of caramel malt.

Yes, Berlin can be great.

I know it for … oh, is it about 20 years already ? I came thre for the first time nort too long after the "Muerfall", because my father went to building up a police school to meet west-germany's standards, north of Berlin. He has been working there since then.

I've been witnessing the overall development. The first really striking thing in Potsdam shortly after the Wende was the bsolute absence of advertisements. Nothing. At. All.

Can you imagine that ? A world completely without any advertisement banners ? it was like paradise to me.

Unfortunately this has changed throughout the course of the time.

Things have changed … a lot has been built since then, especilly the complete "Potsdamer Platz", which hs been probably Europe's biggest construction site for years.

Most of the older buildings look better now, much better. New ones have been erected. Repais have been done.

I have seen shops disappearing. Most notably a few RPG-related and some comic shops I used to know.

Berlin is great, but also needs a LOT of time, imho. Munich, in contrast, can be seen in its glorious core much faster, imho. Munich is like more "condensed", that's how it appears to me (I have been there the weekend around Palm Sunday).

Since a few years my favourite place in Berlin has become the Humboldt park, with its "hill".
Its "hill" actually consists of a HUGE bunker, from which you can have a great sight over all of Berlin ! The better the weather, the better the sight, actually !

Berlin is also a place of history. You just cannot escape it. The oldest buildings like the Reichstag still bear signs, craters and scars of ammunition that had exploded there. If you look really closely, you can still fing those old, scarred buildings bearing marks of the WWII.

The history museum not too far away from the Reichstag is the most creepiest museum I have ever visited. With original clothes from people who have been in some Konzentrationslagers. REAL nazi stuff, showing how insane that time really was. The agony and the pain can be almost felt - by simple clothes lying there in cabinets made of glass.

The parks of Potsdam are so great, they'd need one or two full days to relish them. In 2004, I fell in love with the castle parks of Potsdam.

I could write much, much more, but I don't want to.

I have never been in Dresden, by the way. In Dresden AMD has a few manufacture plants, by the way.


Edit : Browsed through the pictures. Nice ones. Your photography style is similar to mine. You can see my own pictures here (among wich are some of Berlin and of Potsdam, too) : http://my.opera.com/akrproject/albums/