When in Berlin, I try to get to the Gemaeldegalerie.
Last time, I went with Hans-Erich, and the good part
was that it was free, and the bad part was that we
had to run off in an hour for lunch or something.
This time, no time constraints, so Lilli and I got
the combo ticket and planned to make a day of it.
So I got to luxuriate in all the Old Masters I could
take, though for some reason I missed a room of
Rembrandts (no biggie, as I've seen them several
times before, but I wanted to show them to her)
and spend some time with the old Flemings, of which
I am fond. We got there early and stayed through
lunchtime so decided to stroll onto the Kulturforum
and take our chances at the outdoor cafe instead of
braving the school-cafeteria fragrances of the museum
restaurant. It was clear but chilly, and we got
hearty cold-weather food, which we took to a sunlit
table down the way: your standard sausage with
mustard, as exxpected, and an oniony frikadell (meat
cake in the Baltic style), which tasted as if it had
walked here by itself from Denmark or someplace. With
a glass of really awful red wine and one of pretty
decent Kindl draft, it did the job.

Next, the musical instrument museum, which made up
in quantity what it lacked in eminence. Seriously,
my own instrument collection is more interesting.
There was a Stainer and some kind of Amati, but they
were behind glass and looked not to be in that great
repair - they had clearly not been strung since about
World War II.

And finally the textile museum, which I thought a
total washout. Oh well. Lilli was kind of interested
in the Japanese court apparel collection, but I sort
of stood there dullly while she looked.

The Philharmonie wasn't open; we had to go around
a massive hole in the ground construction site to
find that out.

-
One of my commissions was to get some candy at the
Rausch Shokoladenhaus, no big problem as there are
two subway stops within spitting distance; also,
accessible by an ancient wrought-iron elevator, there
is a neat cafe upstairs. I got an armload of chocolate
things (a couple for me) and took Lilli to the
refectory, where she got a brimming glass of cheap
Argentine Malbec, and I had an Eischokolade, a mess
of too much ice cream, too much whipped cream, and too
little actual chocolate, which used up many pills.
Pretty tasty, though I nearly had to stop at the
mephitic bathroom at the Hilton down the street.

--
Lutter & Wegner is an Augustiner house, a precious
rarity in the land of Kindl Schultheiss (and with
the loyal opposition Lowenbrau), so we went there.
We blundered into a good table, where a liter of
helles and a pretty good Schnitzel comforted me -
the pork cutlet was not as big as the plate but big
enough, nicely breaded, but fried just a little
fatless for my taste, so the couple wedges of lemon
were welcome. An average (German, what else) potato
salad. Half a Schweinshaxe was a little resilient
but okay, the rind not quite crisp enough, but still
a nice chunk of porky pork and perfect in the setting
and with a glass or three of the usual terrible red
wine.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)