Out of Berlin, into a Dreamland...

After a day of looking at art like this:

And a final evening of this and this with JungMaestro and Chaco Sister I. (Potsdamer Platz and the Reichstag)...

I packed up my belongings while watching this scene from my hotel window, which was totally sound pro0f, thank goodness.

And rode a train past this and this:

And ended up in this:

With this as the view from my hotel room.

OH PRAGUE. WHAT YOU DO TO ME...

Indulgences

In the nearly four weeks I've been in Germany, I've eaten some unusual things, some heartily delicious things, some non-German food, and some potatoes. A lot of potatoes. I wanted to have a haute-Deutsch kinda meal, so I took my lonesome self out to dinner to Restaurant Maxwell in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin. It really was in a 'neighborhood'--I walked past the place a few times as it is set back from the street some and surrounded by apartment buildings. I guess I've been accustomed to looking for lots and lots of sidewalk tables and umbrellas. This was not that sort of place.

It's set in an old brewery and the outside seating is in a courtyard of an apartment building. It was kind of fun to be eating and watching people coming home from work with their groceries and whatnot.

When the amuse guele came, I felt like I was at home--fancy restaurant home, but you know what I mean. A little sausage with red cabbage and horseradish foam--so German, yet not.

The prix fixe menu of the day (angebot) was posted.

A TRIO OF FOIE GRAS (yes, please)

One natural, one with walnuts, one with rosemary.

Accompanied by lemon olives (maybe), figs in balsamic vinegar, apple jelly, and a little brioche.

The weather was so hot that the foie gras was practically melting on the slate. Ich esse gern foie gras, and this was one of the best executions of this ever!

Filet mignon with chanterelles in a olive-marjoram sauce with spinach-feta strudel.

This was perfectly cooked. Look at that meat! Unfortunately, filet never tastes meaty enough for me, but it had a great texture and was a good vehicle for the sauce. If I were to do it over again, I would be like "you can give me hafl the meat and FOUR TIMES as many chanterelles (pfifferlinge). You've got to love anything called PFIFFERLINGE.

Pot cheese souffle with blueberries and vanilla ice cream and, uh, crunchy things.

(Sometimes things sound better in German.)

All in all, a most enjoyable experience. It's hard to do a two-hour meal all by yourself, but the waiter was sweet, the surrounding pleasant, the people-watching and eavesdropping in German, so not too annoying. At the end of the people this pair came and sat down adn everyone kind stared. The 60ish man was sort of Donald Trumpish with some bad longish/shortish hair all slicked back and the woman he was with had jet black-dyed long hair, wearing heels as high as her dress was short and low cut. And the shoes TIED ON. and she had all this bling. They were dripping money and attitude and ickiness and of course, just as I was staring my dessert they began to smoke Gauloises and Marlboros, blowing the nasty smell into my dessert aura.

I was looking at my pictures, and found this from my first weekend here when I was in Munich! My first real indulgence! As the Germans were celebrating an early World Cup win, I sat and watched and had this little beauty. It was almost as good as it looked. The rosewater litchi custard inside really made it!

From Cafe Maelu in Munich... PINK LADY: Raspberry Mousse with Rose-litchi center.

Ich bin IN Berlin.

We finished up our Leipzig time and work and had a free weekend before beginning our last week of class in Potsdam (a suburb of Berlin), so I went right ahead on to Berlin. I was pretty much on my own like when I was in Munich, but it was only for two nights and much later in the trip, so it didn't feel to alienated. Berlin is a big ole city with an elaborate transportation to navigate, more diversity than any other place that I've seen in Germany, lots and lots of tourists in its center, and a kinda crazy energy. Yes, it's like they all say, it's like NYC.

During my first weekend of Berlin orientation, I went with the two 'currencies' that work for me: classical music and church. Friday night, I attended performances of Handel's Orlando at the Komische Oper Berlin.

It's one of the smaller houses, and kind of plain on the outside, but check out this interior.

I wasn't sure if more Baroque music would be a mistake after all this Bach, but it was all good. The orchestra was really taut, beautiful, and expressive. The staging of the opera was modern-day--the lovers were camping in a VW Camper Bus and all the roles except Sarastro were played by women and there was lots of gender neutrality, shall we say. Very hip, edgy staging--just because there's a theorbo doesn't mean someone isn't going to splatter blood on the wall after he/she shoots him/herself. The singing was inconsistent--sometimes breathtaking, sometimes just out of tune. Doesn't that sound just like what happens when singers are cast for their looks and terrific acting ability, not just their vocal prowess.

That night I walked home along "Unter dem Linden" (Under the Linden trees)--I love experiencing the center of the city first by night. Seems more romantic that way.

That same Berliner Dom the next day:

I went to an organ concert in that church Saturday night. And it was bad. Schade! The church was and organ are magnificent, there were tons of people there, and it was just...lame. Rats.

Back to Bach in Leipzig

While it's true that Dresden was nearly magical (There were even fireworks over the Elbe while I sat overlooking the river from my Bruhl Terrace face drinking wine!) and one can definitely tell that Dresden was a more important city than Leipzig in historic and modern times, Leipzig still had its charms in the end. One of those charms is what seemed to me to be the ever-present Bach. I am sure that the city plays up the Bach aspect of its history both out of pride and commerce, but to musicians, perhaps his presence is palpable.

You see it in the window of the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) that stands (though different inside than in his day) as it did then, though the school where we worked and the apartment where he lived across the street are no longer. I've already shown you the statue from the outside, but inside is the grave where Bach's remains (supposedly) were re-interred. There's also the "Bach organ," not one he actually played on, but a more modern one that bares the insignia Bach designed for himself and, more importantly, was built to sound like an organ he would have recognized.

And even though there might not be anything left in the church that would be recognizable to Bach, when you look up into the other organ and choir gallery/loft, you have to wonder...

With Bach it's always about Thomaskirche, Thomaskirche, because of the Thomasschule (school) where Bach also had responsibilites. But many service and performances were conducted by Bach at the Nikolaikirche. I had a school, too, but apparently that was a school for the wealthy town boys who thus didn't have to be in the church choir, unlike the poor/orphans who had to 'sing for their supper at the Thomasschule. The Nicolaikirche has become important in modern times because of it's association with the revolution against the DDR.

It's presence was really important me--see-it was right outside my hotel room!

In case you were afraid I wasn't eating....

I actually haven't been as much of a foodie in Germany as I would of liked. Mostly because there no Leipzig food blogs as far as I can tell--at least in English. I try to look at and order from the German menu as much as I can as sometimes the English menus both omit some dishes and have less than appealing translations. Sometimes ordering from the German menu with only the most rudimentary skills results in a surprise--like when I was hoping for roast chicken and got chicken LIVERS instead. But here is a quick run-down of good (and different...) stuff from the last two weeks!

One of the more unusual things I ate was recommended to me at the Restaurant das Altes Rathaus:"Pikante Haxensülze mit Remouladensauce, Zwiebelbratkartoffeln und Salatbukett," which Google Chrome translates as: "Spicy knuckles brawn with remoulade sauce, Zwiebelbratkartoffeln and salad bouquet." I think it was pretty much meat from the roast pork knuckle suspended in aspic made from connective tissue of pig hoof, served at a cool temperature. Sound gross, but it was really good on a hot day when eaten with the potatoes and remoulade. And there were vegetables. For dessert at the same place we had these quark pancakes with red currant sauce. Yum!

Chaco sisters I & II and I aso ate at the Paulaner Restaurant in Leipzig. It's really a Bavarian, on Saxony, restaurant, but Chaco Sister II really wanted spaetzle which is is soutehr dish, so we went. She was pleased with her spaetzle. I had schweinhaxen (to continue on the pig foot thing) which is roast pork knuckle, kind of like Filipino lechon or Cuban pernil or something, but Bavarian style and served with sauerkraut and a bread dumpling.. Hmm love that pork skin! Chaco Sister I had sort of a disaster. The English menu said "meatloaf" and the German menu said "leberkaese," and what came was indeed ground meat in loaf form and sliced, but it was pretty much like firmer bologna. She was unimpressed, but ate the pretzel and potato salad with gusto!

Chaco sister and Jungmaestro (as a stand-in for me) sharing what looks decadent, but is really yogurt and fruit with some um, ice cream at San Remo in Leipzig.

Tapas of chorizo, fried whole sardines, artichoke hearts, and spanish tortilla from Las Tapas in Dresden.

Spaetzle and Roast pork medallions from Cafe Vis-a-Vis, part of the Hilton Hotel in Dresden.

Evening special for four from the Goethe's favorite hang: the Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig: Sauerbraten, potato croquettes, red cabbage, semmelknoedel, and braised meat.

Lastly, the Chaco sisters and I found SchnitzelCulture on our last day in Leipzig. They have like 50 kinds of schnitzel with various toppings, so we, uh, ate there for lunch AND dinner in the hope of eating at least 10% of their offerings. Perhaps it is best that we didn't find it earlier as we night have been eating fried meat every day, though they did schnitelize pork, turkey, veal, cauliflower, eggplant, and wait for it, tofu. Here are three: Chaco Sister II's Schnitzel Schwabian (with mushrooms, bacon, and spaetzle-duly noted), Chaco Sister I's Schnitzel Birne Belle Helene (with cranberries and brie), and since I am a princess, Schnitzel Princess (with spargel, hollandaise, and potato and cottage cheese croquettes). Delicious!

And finally a refreshing dessert for you! Ice cream and fruit from some place near the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

All Frauenkirche all the time

I heard a LOT of music at the Frauenkirche!

The Frauenkirche was mostly destroyed in the Allies' bombing of Dresden in WWII, but has been rebuilt with an exterior consisting of both new cream-colored stones and the old grey stones and with a sort of cheerfully bright and gaudy interior. It only re opened in the last decade or so. And if you can't tell from the big ole Martin Luther statue in front, it's a Lutheran church.

On Saturday night, there was this concert:

And we sat WAY up there...Looking way down there....

It was a marvelous concert of music that had almost nothing to do with Bach--practically everything was from the 20th century. The choir had a beautiful sound that floated up to us quite brilliantly. The concert ended with a 20-minute improvisation at the organ by the conductor of the evening's concert, Wayne Marshall. Because we were so high up, we were parallel with the pipes, so that part of the concert was um LOUD, as well as being interesting and amazing. You can see him standing at the front of the balcony across the way.

The next morning I returned to the Frauenkirche because they were actually having a service that included a Bach cantata, Cantata #37 (St. Thomas in Leipzig was not, by the way...). We also the cutest, kickiest, look-all-around baby get baptized.

Between the Hofkirche and Frauenkirche, I got a good peek into the religious and musical life of Dresden.