An easy train ride retracing our route.

Back to the Hilton, where we got an almost identical
room but in a far worse location - no view, window
looking out at an office building - and no welcome
amenity. No matter, we still had a couple drink
coupons left over from last time.

The Istanbul Pizzeria and Kebap House was within
sprinting distance, important on a rainy day. I had
an order of lamahcun, bigger and better than what I'd
have gotten in Istanbul or Watertown, and just as
cheap or cheaper, and an Efes beer, ditto. Lilli had a
doner sandwich, a substantial dose of mystery meat with
a huge salad, lots of feta cheese (so I didn't help
much), and rivers of white goo on a big round of pide.
This went well with the red ink that masqueraded as
wine. We could have done with one or the other (the
lahmacun was three whole ones, so 12 slices), and we
left as much food as we ate.

The Chocolate Museum by Lindt is an amusing conceit,
in an old factory-warehouse on an island in the middle
of the river. It doesn't teach you much, being geared
mostly to kids and to those who have never thought
about what goes into their candy, but towards the end
you get to see them actually making chocolate, and you
get a free sample. No such luck on seconds, though; the
path leads you straight to a chocolate shop where you
can design your own bar - green tea, orange, and
pistachio, anyone? We passed this up and went outside
to the cafe by the still roiling Rhine, where an iced
chocolate was delicious, but a glass of Tempranillo was
worse than the stuff at the Istanbul place.

We had tried to get in to MaiBeck on our previous stay
but managed to snag a reservation only for when we got
back. Today, it was warm and nice, and they recognized
us (I at least was wearing the same clothes), and we
were seated at a sweet little table out on the patio.

The first thing that came out was an excellent if a tad
too sweet brown bread. For starters we split the pork
belly with microgreens and various odd clutter. The meat
was superb, the lightish wine and stock sauce deft. This
went well with a Merlot blend from the Trentino, whose
name I've forgotten (I lost my notes).

I followed with the veal sweetbreads, for which I had to
press to get a glass of Fino, which I thought was the
perfect accompaniment. The offal came on top of a simple
brown demi flavored with some kind of herb that I don't
get here, woodruff, maybe?

And finished with the asparagus and root vegetable soup,
I believe a chef's whimsy of the day, really excellent,
and considering it was meatless, that's saying a lot from
me. Heller's Kolsch went well.

Lilli had a sous-vide veal shoulder, quite sticky and
rich, almost like eating a big lump of fat, even though
there actually was almost no fat in the cut. She had a
Cabernet I think with this.

Assorted mignardises took the place of dessert, but I
was frankly too tipsy to remember anything by this time
(and remember, I lost my notes).
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