DAY 7: BERLIN

It was our last day in Berlin (and my last full day in Germany) so I had to get at least one great meal out of this whole trip. And I did, with lunch on top of the Reichstag. And also one of my worst meals of the trip...but more on that below.

So on Day 7, we continued our tour of some super touristy sites. Like Postdammer Platz, the Brandenburg Gate and of course, the Reichstag, the seat of German government. I had read an article in the NYTimes prior to departing to Europe, and one of the great pieces of advice that the writer gave was to have lunch on top of the Reichstag. Normally, you have to wait in a long line of tourists, which was pretty big considering the World Cup and all, but if you have reservations to the restaurant located on the top of the Reichstag, you get to take a separate elevator straight to the top, and that is exactly what we did.

So this was the fanciest restaurant I would eat in during my entire trip. Here's the group of us at our table.Here's the outside of the menuand here's the interior of the menu.
Actually, the prices weren't too bad considering our surroundings and the great view.

I decided to order the stuffed chicken leg. While some people, like Rudy, were more adventureous. He ordered the stuffed pig's stomach. Here's my chicken leg. It was pretty good. Not the largest portion in the world, but that's what I like about Europe, everything in moderation.I also shared this order of white asparagus with some of the boys. I'd seen these all over Germany and was thrilled that I finally got to try them, especially since they're super expensive and hard to find in the U.S.The asparagus were pretty good. To be honest, I still like the green ones more. The white ones have a more delicate flavor. But they were also served with the most fluffy hollindaise sauce I'd seen in my life. I'm serious, this stuff was almost pillowy, but tasted so good. Not like the heavy egg laden stuff you get at brunch with your poached eggs.

And of course, to finish it all off, I had a slice of chocolate cake. Which was pretty good expect for the banana cream (I hate bananas). I just ate the cake.This wasn't the most stellar meal of my life. But it was well worth it due to the view. And of course, we ran to the top of the Reichstag dome(pic below), which is just awesome. You can't take a bad picture there.After lunch, we split into two groups. Some of the boys had tickets to an afternoon World Cup match. Meanwhile, I was just happy to take a break from all the soccer action and visited the Pergamon Museum. Trust be told, I was more excited to visit this museum than seeing another soccer game. It's got the massive Pergamon alter reconstructed inside. And the Ishtar gate. It's so cool and you just gotta visit it when you're in Berlin.

For dinner, we all met up to view France v. Togo game. (I think that was it). They constructed a mini version of the Berlin Olympic Stadium just in front of the Reichstag for viewing the game on big screens. And all around were fields set up so people could play soccer. Along with balls from all the games that'd already been played. Unfortunately, it was a sponsored area. Meaning only paid sponsor were allowed to display anything and so our option for dinner was....Yeah that's right, we ate McDonald's.And despite some things I've heard about McDonald's being better in Europe, it really just tastes pretty much the same. I mean, I guess it wasn't a terrible option since I'd been late to meet the guys, so we really only had 10 minutes before the game started. And at least I knew what i'd be getting. But yeah, it's still kinda sad, the Americans eating McDonald's in Germany. (Though I think Roy would've preferred this to some of the food he'd had in Prague).

Ah well, I was off to Barcelona soon anyway, and looked foward to a foodie's paradise...