Berlin Sweet Berlin

It has been far too long since I told you of my adventures and though nothing hilariously story-worthy occurred in my latest journey up north, I did manage to find one of my new favorite cities in the entire world.  Let me introduce you to Berlin, Germany.

Inside the Dome of the Bundestag (German Parliament)

I fell in love with Berlin because there were an astounding amount of cultural activities.  Museum after museum could be found there and I am confident the city offered something that nearly everyone could find interesting. Besides playing host to Germany's legislature, the Bundestag also had one of the coolest experiences for tourists.  An audio guide played as I walked up the circling ramp telling me all about their city and the sights I saw in the distance.  The architecture alone was worth the visit.  I should also note that if you want to go there, even though it's free, you MUST register online in order to gain entrance.  For more information, visit their website - http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/visits/kupp.html

What made it so cool is that, unlike most museums where you have to plug in the numbers and press play to hear the information, the audio guide used a sensor system based on our location along the ramp to start its next recording.  So once I passed a section which had a clear view of the Brandenburg Gate, I was told to wait there for a moment, look out the window and then I learned all about its importance.

The Brandenburg Gate

 Berlin had a sort of street-punk feel to it.  Some people call it graffiti but others see it as street art.  Though I didn't really notice an abundance of "tags" I would describe as the truest definition of graffiti, there were plenty of public art displays on building walls, restaurant doors and the like.

The street art culture is strong in Berlin

My absolute favorite museum there was the Pergamon, and that decision is based on the fact that I went to a total of 8 different ones.  That's a lot of museum-ing (the official verb for going to museums). I know, it sounds a little crazy, but I had incentive because I was paid to write about most of them. I especially enjoyed this museum because they had three particular rooms which featured exhibits on the grandiose scale like below.  Full size reconstructions are awe-inspiring and there was something magical about standing in front of an original ancient object, like the altar below. It felt like I had been transported back in time more than 2000 years ago and I was about to witness the sacrifice of some poor animal to appease Zeus.

The Altar of Pergamon in the Pergamon Museum

The Berlin Wall played a major role in the history of Berlin.  To relearn all about that and see it up close really put things in perspective.  Can you imagine being forced to live between two opposing governments within the same city? If you tried to get on the other side of the wall, you would have been shot dead if you were caught. It is estimated that 600 of the 5,000 were caught in the act. Disturbing, and yet a little unbelievable that this happened as early as 23 short years ago. The Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1990.

A section of the Berlin Wall and the path it used to cover

Berlin turned out to be a multicultural mecca of cuisine.  Traditional Bavarian cuisine was considered "old-school" and I was ok with it. I saw everything from French to Spanish tapas to all sorts of Asian fusion restaurants. The street food was more like burgers, donor kebabs and curry wurst (sliced sausages in a sauce of ketchup mixed with curry powder). And then there were the amazing pastry bakeries and coffee shops for breakfast.  I also hear Sunday brunch is very popular. For me, let's just say it was nice to have a change up from all the pasta and pizza here in Rome.

In Berlin, the traditional cuisine of Germany gets no respect!

So that was my trip to Berlin in a nutshell. Have you ever been there before?  What did you like most about it?  Share your experiences!

Antwerp, Belgium - City of Diamonds

Stop number one of the Belgian Beer Tour was at Belgium's second largest city if my facts are correct.  Antwerp had a decent number of excellent beer bars according to one of our research sources, www.beeradvocate.com. In addition to bars, it has quite a few attractions including a booming diamond-dealing district.  We thought this city would make an excellent first day to our trip because it was closest to Amsterdam, from which we traveled via train.

It took just 90 minutes on a high speed train, in first class I might add (Tip: Watch for some of those online deals on Thalys' website.  Our first class ticket was less expensive than a second class ticket because we traveled in the middle of the day.)  The free snacks and drinks made the time go by even faster. And the free entrance into the First Class lounge while waiting for the train in Amsterdam's Centraal Station made it even more rewarding.

We arrived on a dreary Sunday.  The clouds hung low threatening to rain.  We were pretty sure rain was headed our way.  Better get out the right shoes.  In my case, the only ones I owned that don't leak or have perforations in them that would allow my feet to get wet were my nice black suit shoes. They were the ones I "pounded the pavement" with, as some would say in the sales industry.  They were purchased for maximum comfort, looked nice with a suit and yet were highly functional in inclement weather. Since I haven't had need for cold calling businesses in quite some time, they would at least get some good use on rainy days during my journey.  And Antwerp offered just that.

Once we dropped off our packs in prison, I mean the hostel, it was time for the first bar of the day.

Time to try some authentic, craft Belgian beer which we had never heard of.

So we explained the Belgium Beer Tour to our waitress.

"Hello.  We are from America.  We are on a mission to try the best beers Belgium has to offer."

"Very good," she said. "What kind of beer do you like?"

"Every kind."

"Oh."

And then to be helpful instead of sassy we went into the styles of beers, colors preferred, tastes, amount of bitter or hoppiness preferred, etc., to help them find their idea of what we are looking for.

And she did great! Two new beers neither of us had tried before!

Luckily, we snacked on a waffle before we had that beer.  True Belgian waffles have sugar pockets mixed into the batter so when you bite into it, ooohhhhhh man are you rewarded with ooey gooey deliciousness. We tried one with chocolate also.  It was too rich for my tongue.

Time to go see the old part of the city.  The section with the large town square.  Maybe a church or two.

The rain came just as we thought.  It encouraged dryer activities such as going to other bars on our list. We showed our list of 100 Belgian beers that were the highest rated to the bartenders.  They were always interested in what we were looking for.  Some even recommended we go to their competitors.

They took their beer just as seriously as we did.  That is when we knew we made the right choice in trips.

Here's what we tasted that day:

1. Grimbergen Blonde
2. Jessenhofke Biere de Garde
3. Noir de Dottignies
4. Trappistes Rochefort 8
5. De Koninck
6. St. Bernardus Abbey Ale ABT 12
7. Duchesse de Bourgogne
8. Boon Oude Geuze
9. Bourgogne des Flanders

Belgium + 1 Week = Beer Lover's Dream

Last week, a good friend of mine who I have known since I was 13 years old met up with me for a planned week away from our families.  For what purpose? To enjoy the fruits of a Belgian monk's labor, so to speak.

Really, that statement is too limited in scope.  Never, ever in our wildest beer geek dreams would we limit a week's worth of beer testing to only the Trappist Abbeys so popularly known for their liquid money-maker all over the world.  Instead, this trip was a specially designed mission to learn about the culture, the history and the people of Belgium... through one glorious week of brewery tours and bar hopping.

You see, my friend is the reason I got into brewing. I remember vividly the first time we brewed a batch in his old St. Louis home.  The art was foreign to me.  It was like an initiation into a sacred ritual, one I came to respect and honor.

I believe to a certain degree my friend views brewing in a similar fashion.  There is something eerily satisfying about watching your yeast swirl around in a 5-gallon carboy (19 Liters) while it eats every available microscopic molecule of sugar, converting it to a much prized alcohol.  Its reaction creates a foam head that slowly bubbles through a safety lock to keep out contaminants.  I believe home brewers gain something from their hard work besides excellent beer.  It's a feeling of content, of happiness that you hand crafted something that can so easily go wrong.

Through their own trials and tribulations at home, home brewers learn that excellent beer is something to be respected and since myself and my buddy had never done one of those "post high-school international trips" to see the world and learn valuable life lessons, we thought, "Why not commemorate our 30th birthdays this year by engaging in a beer tour of Belgium?"

And so we did just that.  Sleeping in hostels, walking several miles around each city each day, brewery tours, sight seeing tours, cathedrals, museums, bars and restaurants.

Amsterdam, Netherlands first.

Then a train ride into Belgium to see Antwerp.

Ghent.

Brugge.

And finally Brussels.

Some days we were victorious.  Others, we were conquered.  That week, we lived a beer lover's dream.

Crepes in Paris

Finding the best crepes in Paris is like finding the best pizza in Rome.  So many places offer them, yet only a few stand out.

On my foodie adventure in Paris, one of the required "must-eats" was a crepe.  While we strolled a Christmas Market looking at all the foods and goodies offered, my expert and I realized we should start our first night out right: eat a Crepes Suzette. We saw this brightly lit vendor ready to create thin pancake deliciousness so we gave them a try.

 She expertly ladled the batter onto the griddle.

 A few circles and the crepe was properly spread out for even cooking.

 When it finished cooking, she moved it to the practice pile and added a little bit of sugar.

Then a little bit of Grand Marnier on the sugar.

 After a couple folds and a powdered sugar dusting on top, we were off with our order.

I must say.  It was absolutely TERRIBLE.  The picture at the top of the post suggests it might be good.  And it DID look good. But I am accustomed to Crepes Suzette being served flambee'd. Thankfully, no one tried to light it on fire while it was in my wife's hands!

I thought it was flambee'd for a reason. Perhaps burning off some of the alcohol is what makes the usually delicious crepe more mellow.  But this one, with its orange flavored alcohol at full power, was overwhelmed.  How sad.

The rest of our trip was dedicated to other foodie adventures so we didn't get a chance to experience any other creperies that were recommended by expert bloggers of the Paris food scene... except for one.

Enter: Breizh Cafe.

As always, we did our research to find one of the, if not the, best creperie in Paris.  And though we couldn't compare it to the other recommendations, our single experience easily stood out as our best meal in Paris.  And we ate pretty well during our three night trip! The staff was courteous and pleasant.  There was no hint of snootiness that I spoke french at the level of a 2-year-old.  Yes.  No. Thank you. More cider please.  You know, stuff a 2-year-old would say.

And the food itself, to die for.  Everything was clearly made with excellent ingredients.  How do you know?  Well, the kitchen is right there in the open next to the front door.  Can't miss it.  As you'll see later, I couldn't help but watch the chef in action.

 So what did we have?

 To start off, we had a bottle of hard cider instead of wine. Apparently in Brittany, France, where this cuisine presides, that is the most common beverage to accompany your crepe.  We prefer the dry kind of cider over the sweet kind, so they showed us the massive list and we chose the Sehedic.  Dry and ultra complex.  The yeast used for fermentation added some sort of unique flavor that reminded me of roquefort bleu cheese. Fascinating choice for the evening and complimented our foods well enough.

 Then came the fresh oysters.  Best I've ever had.  Easily.

Three each just wasn't enough.  Too bad oysters = $$$.

 Then, for the main entrees, Galettes.  Authentic galettes are made with buckwheat flour: darker and nuttier in flavor than normal wheat flour. This galette had egg, bacon, creme fraiche and emmenthaler cheese if I remember correctly.

This galette had egg, ham, gruyere cheese and caramelized onion.

And for dessert: Crepe Suzette - Breizh style!  Although this one had orange wedges on it, an amazing house made salted-butter caramel, AND it came out on fire.  The way it was meant to be made. Unfortunately, the picture didn't come out so well so please imagine it.

And for your entertainment, the management was kind enough to allow me to shoot a little kitchen entertainment.  Enjoy! As always, my apologies for the poor craftsmanship in videography as well as my inability to lower the volume!  Every video is loud loud loud!

When in Paris, or for that matter, their other locations in Tokyo or Cancale, visit Breizh Cafe for an unforgettable crepe experience.

Before there was Versaille

As I alluded to on a previous post about Paris, it was important to my expert and I that our trip was full of sight-seeing and Christmas Markets.

The Palace of Versaille was naturally a top contender for a half day's trip due to its history and grandeur.  It's almost always on a tourist's list of things to see when they go to Paris.  And it WAS on our list, until we found out about the Castle of VAUX LE VICOMTE.

Vaux le Vicomte is about an hour's train ride south east of Paris followed by a 15 minute taxi ride to the grounds from the train station.  It is known as the inspiration for Versaille.  This is because the architect who designed and transformed what was once a royal hunting lodge into the infamous Palace of Versaille did so at Vaux le Vicomte prior.Well, he and two other architects designed both places.  But Louis le Vaux somehow managed to get his name tagged to this earlier estate, so we'll just focus on him. :)

We chose to visit here over Versaille for one particular reason: Vaux-le-Vicomte fete Noel.  Vaux le Vicomte celebrates Christmas.

And celebrate they did!  A multitude of rooms were dressed up for the holiday, each with their own brand and flavor of Christmas spirit.  The elegantly patterned shrubbery were laced with ornamental lights on the back grounds.  Children and adults alike enjoyed a carousel ride in the front grounds.  Nearby, people purchased hot spiced wine, vin chaud, perfect on a cold winter night.

For 4 Euro per child, you could rent a period costume for your kids.  These two were insanely cute as they received a free gift out of the treasure chest. 

Mushroom Santa Land was probably my favorite room.

Someone cleverly integrated Mushroom Santa Land with Owl bushes.

We felt like we were outdoors in a deep French forest in this room.

This is Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister at the time who had the Vaux le Vicomte built.  Unfortunately, the castle was more grand than the king's home at the time, and making a king look bad is not recommended. In 1661, the 22-year-old King Louis XIV attended the grandest of parties at Vaux le Vicomte and the party's magnificence was rivaled by only one or two celebrations in all of France's history.   Three weeks later, Nicolas Fouquet was arrested.  Influenced by other power-hungry advisers, the young king claimed he would not have been able to build such a castle and throw such a party without embezzling from the crown.   Fouquet was imprisoned for the rest of his life.  He died in a prison called Pignerol in 1680, 19 years later. Tragic.

Nice dining room!  

Once it became dark outside, the trees were lit  to make the castle even more beautiful.

The landscape in the back yard was gorgeous while accented with lights.

Versaille would have been a great experience but Vaux le Vicomte was way more memorable to us with the addition of the Christmas spirit.  The only thing we regret is not getting more time to explore the outside gardens considering the estate is quite vast.

We appreciated Vaux le Vicomte because it is not as popular on the "Paris Must-See List".  Would we go back  now that we've been there once?  Probably not.  But seeing what it's like, especially at Christmas time, made it completely worth it!  For those who know they will never get to go in person, here's a video I took in one of our favorite rooms. I apologize for my camera's poor quality!