Category Archive: Germany

A quick visit to a hot sauce store in Berlin turns into an unplanned three-hour hot sauce sampling that made us feel like we just dropped acid.

Have you ever planned a hot sauce tasting? Ever even imagined one? Well, maybe you should.

A few hot sauce favorites from a tasting at Pfefferhaus, Berlin

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What is marriage, if not a leap of faith?

Fourteen years ago, on or around our second date, Audrey and I went skydiving together. It was, as you might imagine, both terrifying and fantastic. And as much as you also might also imagine that it wiped away my fear of heights, it did not. Perhaps it chiseled away at that wall, but it certainly didn’t tear it down. I still swoon thinking about that airplane canopy above 16,000 feet. I still get wobbly above 10 stories.

So here we are 14 years later in Berlin, celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. What better way to recognize the occasion than to jump (base fly) from the top of a 37-story building?

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Potsdamer Platz. If you look into the past beyond all that new glass and steel, you’ll find an eventful story — a place where a time lapse sequence over the last 100 years would almost defy reason. Continue Reading »

A view of Berlin — its cycles of destruction and renewal and the evolution of its food scene — through the lens of a one-night gastro tour.

If you wish to learn about a place, eat your way to the answer. This maxim resonates no less so than in Berlin, a city whose history tells of a rise from the ashes and from oppression and whose present-day witnesses a continual carving out of its own identity.

For as much as we’ve learned and eaten during our time in Berlin, there was apparently still more to eat, still more to learn.
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You know it’s been a long day at the beer festival when guys in lederhosen start doing the moonwalk.

-– The essence of the moment, Saturday night at the Berlin beerfest.

More than 2,000 beers from over 300 breweries hailing from 86 countries — all spread out over two kilometers in the middle of the city. No, this is not Oktoberfest.

So many beers yet so little time. That’s the Berlin Beer Festival.
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Berlin’s Reichstag, home to German Bundestag (Parliament). Take a stroll on the rooftop with this spherical panorama. The glass dome is cool, you get a 360 degree view of Berlin, and the whole thing is apparently rather environmentally friendly. Very German. Very Berlin. Continue Reading »

Old, young, black, white, yellow, happy, sad, scared. We’re all people. Continue Reading »

Has anyone ever told you how lucky you are regarding something for which you’ve worked so hard? Even when they’re trying to pay you a compliment, it stings a bit, doesn’t it?

After a visit to a family winery in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia this past October, I imagine that’s how winemakers sometimes feel.

During a weekend crush event at Bickel-Stumpf winery, we helped pick the season’s Cabernet Sauvignon. We enjoyed the blazing autumn sun, we ate heartily, and we tasted far too many wines. And like any roundly fulfilling experience, one of life’s lessons was reinforced along the way: the best in life is often less about glamour and more about hard work, mettle, and passion.
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Istanbul is like Kreuzberg, but less Turkish.

– A Berlin cabbie puts the city’s Turkish neighborhood in perspective.

Take a walk down any street in Kreuzberg, Berlin and you’ll find scads of döner shops offering shaved, spiced meat (usually lamb) served inside rolled flatbread or in a bread pocket. At a distance, all döner shops look similar – meat sears away on a giant spindle, colorful salads await, and a few guys of Turkish origin zip around putting it all together.

Panorama: Inside Tekbir Döner, in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood

For best panorama viewing results, press fullscreen (four arrows) and navigate around with your mouse.

But looks can be deceiving: every döner shop – and indeed every döner – is unique. Continue Reading »

Chancellor Angela Merkel recently declared that Germany’s experiment with multiculturalism had “utterly failed.” Perhaps, but in our recent experience in Berlin, the city’s multicultural landscape made eating there a treasure.

During our time in Berlin we lived near Kottbusser Tor in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, smack in middle of what our visiting friends deemed “little Turkey.” Food was fresh, accessible, brimming with flavor and typically served by folks who took pride in their cuisine, interest in us as human beings, and great pleasure in serving up an experience.

So here’s our top ten cheap eats in Berlin. Many Turkish, some German, one Asian. Mind you, this list reflects not only what is inexpensive, but more importantly what is high-quality.

1. Gel Gör Inegöl Köfteci
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