American Traveler

Weiner Schnitzel, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

Yum! Lunch at Borschadt in Berlin. It was our first day. The weather was beautiful and we ate on the terrace. Lauren enjoyed the fruit de mer.

P1000925, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

A beer in Dresden

We—or should i say “I”—sampled plenty of beers in Germany and the Czech Republic.

The beer of choice in Germany seemed to be Radeberger. of course it was Pilsner Urquel in the Czech Republic.

Also really enjoyed the Reisling in Germany.

Kafer Berlin im Deutscher Bundestag, Reichstag

After touring the Reichstag via the dome we dined at the top. We found the restaurant to be very elegant, prices high but reasonable.

Good food. Lauren had chicken breast while i had fish.

Checkpoint Charlie

Now a major tourist attraction.

That guy in the uniform is faux military–

just a guy charging for photographs.

Our first stop in Berlin was the World Clock, just outside our hotel, the Park Inn

The Park Inn looms over the Alexanderplatz in what was once East Berlin. This is no quaint old town square. Instead, it is crammed with “modern” soviet-style buildings, mostly marred by construction. The Park Inn is a 20-something story monolith, hard up against the TV tower. The lobby is like a mall. Our room was nothing special—clean, large enough, totally adequate. But the breakfast? OMG!!! Included in our nightly rate was a breakfast buffet that blows away any we have seen. Scrambled eggs, soft-boiled eggs, fried eggs, bacon, sausage. That was just the first table. there was an entire table of sliced meat: salami, liverwurst, thuringer, ham. another table of sliced cheese. Christ, there was even salmon with all kinds of sauces. Croissants, jams, fresh fruit, cereal, dried fruit. We totally pigged out.