Had a 4-hour layover in Dulles and we briefly toyed with the idea of dashing out to Georgetown and having dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants, but given that we'd be dealing with Friday DC traffic, the 93-degree and muggy temps , and the fact that I was battling a cold I had picked up in Frankfurt (hey, at least it was at the end of the trip), we decided that it would be best to sit tight and, because there is really nothing to do at Dulles, take a stab at going through our work e-mails. It wasn't so bad. I was able to reduce the 300 e-mails to about 120 and, in reading most of the remaining ones, confirmed that nothing dire required my attention and that I am, indeed, expendable. I've been looking forward to coming home, but I have to admit, while sitting in Dulles and hearing all of the international departures to places we've returned from and to places we have yet to go, I was a little envious of those just beginning their adventures while we were ending ours.
Six-hour flight home after a one hour delay made our long travel day even longer, but our wonderful friends, Casey and Alison picked us up at the airport and drove us home. Thank you , thank you, thank you. Also, if I hadn't mentioned it before, thank you Matt for taking us to the airport almost three weeks ago, these two were the easiest connections of the whole trip.
Today we are settling in, unpacking, doing laundry updating our finances (looks like I have enough leftover vacation funds for that Nespresso Machine :-)), weighing ourselves (as suspected, no weight gain!), going through snail mail, and picking up groceries. Rick needs to get his fix of college football. For me, I think I'll start planning our next trip. Hello Scotland . . .
Signing off for now. Though the primary goal of the blog is to create a trip diary for us (which I normally do in pen and ink), I do hope you found it a little entertaining. Thanks for reading and the feedback, verbal or electronic. It was fun to have you join us on the trip. Until the next adventure, cheers to all.
Jennifer and Rick
Rick and Jenn's 2010 Eurotravel
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Round up of Random Thoughts- 9/24/2010
Sitting on an 8-hour flight from Frankfurt to Dulles, so I thought I'd put down some random thoughts and opinions from the trip.
- Getting out of people's way, (I mean pedestrian-wise) seems to be somewhat exaggerated in American culture. We see someone coming our way and we scoot out of the way a dozen or more feet before we cross paths. Here, they usually wait until what seems to be the last minute before moving out of the way. From the American perspective, it feels aggressive and like a constant game of chicken, when, in fact, I think, it is just a necessity born out of how much tighter the streets and sidewalks are, and how much crazier the drivers are.
- The ground level of a building in Germany is often called 0 not 1.
- If you can't turn the lights on in your hotel room, insert your key card in the main switch when entering the room
- Though I was once mistaken for being French in Prague (I tell you it's the scarves), the German are indeed my people. Typically tall and a little gangly. I know for certain where my giraffe characteristics come from. Many times we were mistaken for being native Germans when we were in Germany. The fact that we both have quite a bit of German in us doesn't make that surprising. Perhaps being German is what drew me to study the German philosopher Immanuel Kant?
- Northern Europe is flat and green and there is a lot of agriculture.
- Germany has odd looking crows that are grey with black wings.
-Rick is a phenomenal travelling companion. He stays calm and patient in stressful situations such as being lost, less-than-self-evident public transit, and rather unhelpful service. He has soothed my frustrations and waited out my impatience and ensured that things worked out . . . and if they didn't that was OK too. I look forward to many more trips with him.
- City maps and small guidebooks are worth the money. The only thing I would do different next time is try to print up some information on the public transit in the cities that we would be visiting.
- Having an international cell phone, while not necessary, certainly would have made things a little easier, especially when making reservations or trying to obtain information.
- The purchase of this little Acer Netbook was a great investment for this trip. Can't imagine lugging my laptop all through Europe or trying to record my experiences at internet cafes.
- Make reservations when traveling by train.
- Black, white, grey, and beige with a splash of color here and there make for a great travelling wardrobe and minimizes the items that need to be packed.
- Clarks shoes are great for lengthy walkabouts.
- Next time, set aside money to have the hotel do critical laundry so that you can bring less and not spend precious time abroad washing your delicates . . . though I argue that doing laundry in Paris was still a cultural experience.
- I have no favorite or least favorite country.
- I would like to spend Christmas with Rick in Prague some year soon.
- The Eurrail Pass makes travelling easy, once you get on the train. Ninety-nine percent of the battle though is finding the right train and getting a seat and then finding the right seat. After that, traveling by train, particularly the ICE's, is great.
- It wasn't that much more for us to purchase a first class Eurrail pass and there are a few perks here and there so we'd probably do the same again. However, The different between first and second class on the trains is not as great as what you experience on the airplanes. if you need to sit in second class it is pretty darn comfortable. Much better than coach on a plane.
- In France, Belgium and, to some degree, in the Netherlands, people eat with their fork AND knives. Rarely do they cut their food with their fork.
- When you aren't sure what to do, just get out and walk. You'll ever know what you find in the cities of Europe, or USA for that matter.
- Let yourself take afternoon naps. They are rejuvenating and are the quickest way to get a second wind.
- We MUST get a Nespresso Machine, found all through Europe. These coffee machines make wonderful espressos and coffees with rich crema from coffee capsules. The cost around $200 - $400. These machines have spoiled me for life and it will be difficult to do Starbucks anymore. Thank goodness Portland has some decent coffee houses and Ristretto Coffee!
- After Rick caught me checking work e-mail early in the morning in our Paris Hotel, I promised to not check work e-mail and, though initially difficult, fulfilled that promise and do not regret it. As much as I dread seeing ALL the work e-mails, I now see the value in unplugging completely.
-Must travel like this again before another 20 years passes by. We are thinking perhaps every couple of years if we can afford it. The list of places to go includes Scotland (hopefully castle-hopping with our good friends Alison and Casey), Italy, Prague, Hungary, Istanbul, Croatia, Slovakia, Iceland, Patagonia, Brugge, and the French countryside. Any other suggestions?
-Quit being so damn afraid of being disoriented, confused, or lost. You might have to back track, take a later train, get into an argument with a cab driver who is trying to scam you, or concede to having to eat a third rate pizza in a second rate jazz bar in Prague. It is all part of the adventure and hey sometimes it is these "bad times" that make for the best stories.
- Getting out of people's way, (I mean pedestrian-wise) seems to be somewhat exaggerated in American culture. We see someone coming our way and we scoot out of the way a dozen or more feet before we cross paths. Here, they usually wait until what seems to be the last minute before moving out of the way. From the American perspective, it feels aggressive and like a constant game of chicken, when, in fact, I think, it is just a necessity born out of how much tighter the streets and sidewalks are, and how much crazier the drivers are.
- The ground level of a building in Germany is often called 0 not 1.
- If you can't turn the lights on in your hotel room, insert your key card in the main switch when entering the room
- Though I was once mistaken for being French in Prague (I tell you it's the scarves), the German are indeed my people. Typically tall and a little gangly. I know for certain where my giraffe characteristics come from. Many times we were mistaken for being native Germans when we were in Germany. The fact that we both have quite a bit of German in us doesn't make that surprising. Perhaps being German is what drew me to study the German philosopher Immanuel Kant?
- Northern Europe is flat and green and there is a lot of agriculture.
- Germany has odd looking crows that are grey with black wings.
-Rick is a phenomenal travelling companion. He stays calm and patient in stressful situations such as being lost, less-than-self-evident public transit, and rather unhelpful service. He has soothed my frustrations and waited out my impatience and ensured that things worked out . . . and if they didn't that was OK too. I look forward to many more trips with him.
- City maps and small guidebooks are worth the money. The only thing I would do different next time is try to print up some information on the public transit in the cities that we would be visiting.
- Having an international cell phone, while not necessary, certainly would have made things a little easier, especially when making reservations or trying to obtain information.
- The purchase of this little Acer Netbook was a great investment for this trip. Can't imagine lugging my laptop all through Europe or trying to record my experiences at internet cafes.
- Make reservations when traveling by train.
- Black, white, grey, and beige with a splash of color here and there make for a great travelling wardrobe and minimizes the items that need to be packed.
- Clarks shoes are great for lengthy walkabouts.
- Next time, set aside money to have the hotel do critical laundry so that you can bring less and not spend precious time abroad washing your delicates . . . though I argue that doing laundry in Paris was still a cultural experience.
- I have no favorite or least favorite country.
- I would like to spend Christmas with Rick in Prague some year soon.
- The Eurrail Pass makes travelling easy, once you get on the train. Ninety-nine percent of the battle though is finding the right train and getting a seat and then finding the right seat. After that, traveling by train, particularly the ICE's, is great.
- It wasn't that much more for us to purchase a first class Eurrail pass and there are a few perks here and there so we'd probably do the same again. However, The different between first and second class on the trains is not as great as what you experience on the airplanes. if you need to sit in second class it is pretty darn comfortable. Much better than coach on a plane.
- In France, Belgium and, to some degree, in the Netherlands, people eat with their fork AND knives. Rarely do they cut their food with their fork.
- When you aren't sure what to do, just get out and walk. You'll ever know what you find in the cities of Europe, or USA for that matter.
- Let yourself take afternoon naps. They are rejuvenating and are the quickest way to get a second wind.
- We MUST get a Nespresso Machine, found all through Europe. These coffee machines make wonderful espressos and coffees with rich crema from coffee capsules. The cost around $200 - $400. These machines have spoiled me for life and it will be difficult to do Starbucks anymore. Thank goodness Portland has some decent coffee houses and Ristretto Coffee!
- After Rick caught me checking work e-mail early in the morning in our Paris Hotel, I promised to not check work e-mail and, though initially difficult, fulfilled that promise and do not regret it. As much as I dread seeing ALL the work e-mails, I now see the value in unplugging completely.
-Must travel like this again before another 20 years passes by. We are thinking perhaps every couple of years if we can afford it. The list of places to go includes Scotland (hopefully castle-hopping with our good friends Alison and Casey), Italy, Prague, Hungary, Istanbul, Croatia, Slovakia, Iceland, Patagonia, Brugge, and the French countryside. Any other suggestions?
-Quit being so damn afraid of being disoriented, confused, or lost. You might have to back track, take a later train, get into an argument with a cab driver who is trying to scam you, or concede to having to eat a third rate pizza in a second rate jazz bar in Prague. It is all part of the adventure and hey sometimes it is these "bad times" that make for the best stories.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Journeying Home - 9/23/2010
Hotel Savic - From where we begin our journey home |
Yay! Hear comes our seat! |
Goodbye Prague. I really do hope to return. I feel as though I've only just scraped the surface of experiencing this interesting, complex city and I hope we can spend a Christmas here when it is quieter. I sense much seathing beneath the surface of what we experienced. Next time we come, I plan to spend more time in advance boning up on the history, art, and literature of the area. Didn't get a chance to see the Jewish Quarter, explore the Cubist artwork, visit the museums of Kafka or Dvorak, but hopefully I will again someday.
My work table on the express train |
Tostinos Pizza and The Girl from Ipanema
Jubilee Synagogue |
Dancing Buildings |
National Theatre |
Prague Castle |
King Charles Bridge, the Moldau, and Old Town |
So I guess we we had to have at least one bad dining experience, eh? After we rested we decided to try out a recommended Italian restaurant nearby. We set off and got there in good time and relatively early but, alas, no room avaiable. No big deal there are plenty of places around so we walked around and found a promising place called the Wine Shop with Italian food, but Rick first wanted to check out a neat wine bar in underground caves that we had visited earlier. So we walked there only to find it closed. Seriously, closed during dinner and cocktail hour? We were a bit perplexed. Well that shot plan B so we decided to head back to the Wine Shop and eat there, only we couldn't find the damn place. We wandered around for a good hour, if not more, and no luck. It was particularly frustrating because we had passed it twice when we weren't looking for it and now when we were looking for it it was no where to be found. To add insult to injury, we were seeing for mutliple times all the other restaurants we had considered but dismissed for various reasons. We finally came across another Itlian restaurant that was recommended but it was full as well so we wandered more and then finally decided to go back to the hotel and google the "The Wine Shop" on our computer.
The cobblestone streets challenge the calves |
Old Town Square at Dusk |
The Location of Our Final Meal in Prague |
We strolled back to the hotel, purchasing some version of Czech fast food which was a piece of baked dough in the form of a cylinder with cinnamon sugar on it, and then had a nightcap of Baily's Irish Cream and apple streudel. Not the best of nights, but hey our bellies were full and our minds full of memories so who can complain?
Prague, A Fairy Tale City - 9-21-2010
Astronomical Clock Tower |
Astronomical Clock |
Church of Our Lady of Tynn |
Making our way thru Hradcany |
Note I said that Prague Castle is on a hill. There are a variety of ways to reach the castle, including tram and metro, but, trying to work off last night's dinner, we elected to hike up the steps. Didn't count them but there are quite a few. Fortunately, it was cool and soon we found ourselves at the castle gate guarded by some royal police who are there more for the tourists than actual protection, though I certainly wouldn't challenge them. Into the first courtyard, then the second, then we purchased tickets, and entered the third courtyard.
Cafe at the Beginning of Our Ascent |
St. Vitus Cathedral |
St. Vitus |
To work of the boar fat, we wandered back to Stare Mesto, also known as "old town" and did a little bit of souvenir shopping and then back to the hotel to rest a little before setting out to a concert in the Baroque St. Michael church and dinner. While at the hotel, I managed to finally skype my mother for a few minutes which was great fun. We still can't believe that this is free. We briefly exchanged news and Mom warned me about bedbugs coming into the US from overseas travellers. Thanks for the heads up! Now off to the concert.
Concert in St. Michael's |
View of Old Town from King Charles Bridge |
Wine Bar |
Prague Castle from King Charles |
Violinist Playing Pachabel's Canon on King Charles Bridge |
Prague - Disney without the Disney - 9/20/2010
Up an at 'em early this morning for the trip to Prague. Got to the train station in good time to grab a bit of breakfast and buy some food for the trip and then waited for the train. As we waited on the platform, a strong sense of foreboding overcame us. The place was packed and we had no reservations. When the train arrive it was chaos, much like it was we caught the train from Mannheim to Paris. We at least knew what car we were suppose to be in but, as we had no reservations (didn't think we needed them for this jaunt) all of the available seats were taken by the time we had stowed our luggage. We went in search of available seats in other cars, but there were none and people, also without reservations, were hanging out in the hallways, the bathrooms, the car connecting areas, anywhere there was available. So, apparently, even if there are more passengers than seats, all those passengers are still permitted to board. Lesson learned, get reservations! Fortunately, while Rick and I were in search of seats, we had passed through the dining car and snagged a table and slowly dined on the most expensive bad omelette (seriously, how hard is it to make an omelette?), coffee, and watered down orange juice in our lives. We learned that the train clears out considerably in Dresden which was about 2 hours and 20 minutes away. Like good Europeans we ate s-l-o-w-l-y and nursed that coffee until we got into Dresden (the steward didn't seem to care and there were seats available) at which point we were able to snag some unreserved seats for the remaining 2 and 1/2 hour trip to Prague.
We were delighted to be on a train with a bunch of BIG, noisy, middle-aged drunken American men, apparently on a group jaunt, who found it necessary to play their ipod loudly in the dining car and discuss LOUDLY anything that struck their fancy. The Europeans in the car tolerated them, as they are probably use to this. We were embarrassed. Rick said that he now knows why Americans have the reputation of being big loud and obnoxious. Doesn't matter that for every one loud obnoxious travelling American, there are ten quiet ones. The one loud, obnoxious American makes so much more of an impression.
From Dresden we followed the Vatlva, also know as the Moldau, River Valley down to Prague. It is pretty country and there are many quaint towns along the way. It was overcast but not raining. We have been very fortunate with the weather. We've encountered a little rain here and there but nothing constant, steady, and seemingly endless. The weather in Berlin was the best so far with temps in the high 50's low 60's and partly cloudy. These have been wonderful crisp fall days and seeing the leaves changing reminded us that fall is coming to our home in Oregon and we wondered if we'll see and feel a change when we return there in less than a week.
Pulled into the Czech station roughly on time, around 3:15, and, to avoid the fiasco that we just experienced, we stopped in at the international ticket office and reserved seats to Dresden and then onto Frankfurt for our Thursday travel. Because the hotel appeared faily close we decided to walk rather than take public transport (or cabs which are notorious here for cheating tourists) and quickly discovered that there are a lot of cobblestone streets in Prague. Hope the wheels stay on the luggage. Our hotel is in the old town area of Prague which is filled with narrow streets going every which way, no grid system here. This resulted in us circling in on our hotel for a while before actually reaching it. Just as I was despairing that the hotel ever existed, we made a sharp turn onto a street, unnamed on our map, and there it was, Hotel Savic. Yay!
The hotel is beautiful with an old style character consisting of big wooden beams, thick white walls, and multiple staircases. Our room has exposed timbers and a ceiling that slopes down which has resulted in my hitting my head a few times. We have a tiny window that looks out a small square, or rather, triangle, and a cafe restaurant below. We are on the 4th floor, and charmingly, the elevators only access the 3rd and 5th floors. To get to the 4th floor we had to get off on the 3rd floor (we didn't have access to the 5th floor) and hike up, with our 45 lb packs, a spiraled staircase far
more difficult to manuver than the one at the Amstel Canal B&B. Later we discovered that other wider, straighter staircases were available for our use :-) Did I mention that I think we've lost weight on this trip?
Settled in, cleaned up, and then when out in search of food. We negotiated our way out of Old Town, known as Stare Mesto, and crossed the King Charles Bridge to enter the Hradcany (Castle) and Mala Strana Districts. The views take your breath your away, particularly at night. As Rick describes it, Prague is Disney without the Disney. You are surrounded by century old gothic and baroque structures topped with steeples, domes and spires. Just coming from Berlin, which had been bombed beyond recognition during WWII, and now, with a few exceptions, is occuppied by post 1970's architecture, Prague provided quite the contrast. It was a carnival atmosphere on the King Charles Bridge, a pedestrian bridge, loaded with tourists and vendors selling their wares. This is probably the most touristy city we've encountered on this trip.
There are a wide array of restaurants to choose from and no need for hopping on the metro for a 20-minute
ride. We finally settled on one that had a spunky Chzech blonde waitress, Lanka, who spoke roughly six languages. I hade a pork tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese, Rick had a chicken stuffed with ham and gouda cheese, and we ordered a side of potato pancakes and potato croquettes which are essentially mashed potatos, patted into little balls and deep fried. Brilliant. Both dinners were excellent and we had some nice conversations with folks seated behind us who were from Minneapolis touring through Europe. We also chatted with Lanka, who, has a boyfriend who conducts scuba tours and so in the winter, she takes off for Goa, India. Rick and I imagine that winter here must be lovely and are already thinking about a return trip to celebrate Christmas in the City of Good King Wencaslas. Satiated, we strolled back across the bridge, and made our way to the hotel. Aside from my apparently pressing the wrong combination of light switches and blowing a fuse that caused the entire room to loose electricity, getting ready to for bed was pretty straight forward :-)
We were delighted to be on a train with a bunch of BIG, noisy, middle-aged drunken American men, apparently on a group jaunt, who found it necessary to play their ipod loudly in the dining car and discuss LOUDLY anything that struck their fancy. The Europeans in the car tolerated them, as they are probably use to this. We were embarrassed. Rick said that he now knows why Americans have the reputation of being big loud and obnoxious. Doesn't matter that for every one loud obnoxious travelling American, there are ten quiet ones. The one loud, obnoxious American makes so much more of an impression.
From Dresden we followed the Vatlva, also know as the Moldau, River Valley down to Prague. It is pretty country and there are many quaint towns along the way. It was overcast but not raining. We have been very fortunate with the weather. We've encountered a little rain here and there but nothing constant, steady, and seemingly endless. The weather in Berlin was the best so far with temps in the high 50's low 60's and partly cloudy. These have been wonderful crisp fall days and seeing the leaves changing reminded us that fall is coming to our home in Oregon and we wondered if we'll see and feel a change when we return there in less than a week.
Prague Train Station |
The hotel is beautiful with an old style character consisting of big wooden beams, thick white walls, and multiple staircases. Our room has exposed timbers and a ceiling that slopes down which has resulted in my hitting my head a few times. We have a tiny window that looks out a small square, or rather, triangle, and a cafe restaurant below. We are on the 4th floor, and charmingly, the elevators only access the 3rd and 5th floors. To get to the 4th floor we had to get off on the 3rd floor (we didn't have access to the 5th floor) and hike up, with our 45 lb packs, a spiraled staircase far
more difficult to manuver than the one at the Amstel Canal B&B. Later we discovered that other wider, straighter staircases were available for our use :-) Did I mention that I think we've lost weight on this trip?
Kin Charles Bridge over The Vatlva River |
There are a wide array of restaurants to choose from and no need for hopping on the metro for a 20-minute
Old Town (Stare Mesto District) |
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Day in Berlin - 9/19/2010
Tiergarten Park |
Coffee, fruit, cereal, and freshly-made croissants at the hotel and we were ready for a full day of walking tours, suggested from our tourbook, in West and East Berlin. We started off hiking though Tiergarten Park, a 412-acre wooded oasis filled with creeks and ponds and criss-crossed by small footpaths and large jogging trainls. Unexpectedly, we took quite a bit of time photographing this area. While Rick was focused on a particularly beautiful tree in the morning light and dew, I saw A tall woman in her late 50's early 60's, dressed in black trousers and a good qualilty rain jacket, come walking through the field with her little terrier of a dog. She stopped at the edge of the meadow and began throwing a ball for her dog, just itching with excitement to give chase. Sometimes though, she would stop and she would reach into a plastic sandwich bag and placed what I imagined to be a piece of bread in the palm of her hand and then hold her hand high above her hand, palm up and then talk to the birds, invisible to us, in the trees. Within a few seconds a little bird would alight onto her hand, take the bread, and then fly back to the tree. Pretty cool.
Holocaust Memorial |
Brandenberg Gate |
We moved on and proceeded east to the Brandenburg Gate on the eastern border of the park. The treatment of the Gate, in recent history, serves as a microcosm for what was happening in Germany at large. The gate was originally built in 1791 during the Prussian empire. Napolean removed the gate completely in 1806. It was later rebuilt and served as the backdrop for many of HItler's speeches and Nazi ralliers in the 1930's. Then the Allies bombed the heck out of it during WWII. It was rebuilt in 1956 and then it was incorporated as part of the no-man's land that was the patrol corridor in between the two walls dividing East and West Berlin. Today it is referred to as the "Gate of Peace", "Friedenstore" in German.
Remnants of the Wall |
Immediately to the south is the Holocaust monument, a unique design of a grid of cubes of varying heights, through which tourists may walk a maze and find their own path out. The design is intended to provoke contemplation rather than awe and amazement as most monuments seem to try to produce. The monument easly lent itself to some great abstract photography so we spent quite a bit of time there.
Pretzels and Doughnuts |
We continued south walking in what was once the no-man's land in the partrol corridor of the Berlin wall, passed the Fuhrer's Bunker, left unmarked by the German goverment for fear that it would become the mecca of neo-nazis, and then came upon some remants of the wall up for display in Potsdamer Platz (Square). For a couple of Euro you can have your passport stamped with the seven stamps once needed to cross the border between west and east Berlin. As it is a federal offense to alter your passport, I elected not to do this, though I was tempted. Instead, I purchased a visa instead. In the square there was an organic harvest festival going on complete with hay bales and kids playing in huge bins of grain. We bought another big pretzel from a street vendor though I was sorely tempted by a humongous chocolate glazed doughnut that was as also available.
Typography of Terror Exhibit |
scapegoating, and finally, the alienation of groups of people through a series of laws and ordinances, all intended to protect the "people". In the case of the Jews, the first ordinance that set Germany on the path to persecuting the Jews and eventually, genocide, was to require the citizens to obtain identity cards. Sound familiar?
Where the Wall was at Checkpoint Charlie |
El Con Pandino Wine Bar |
The Evening's Unique Musical Entertainment |
Seven o'clock arrived and to our surprise, we discovered that there was also a floorshow. The entertainment consisted of an 86-year old man, taking a bow to a metal contraption that he himself created. I can't describe it so please see the picture. He was accompanied by a young man on a variety of drums. The best way I can describe it is that it created in me the same feeling that is created by the chants of Tibetan Monks or Peter Gabriel's soundrack to the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence". After each song, then the antipasta was served. To go with the white wine, we had a smoked swordfish with fig on something like an Indian Pampadum cracker. The pairing was remarkable, the saltiness of the swordfish complimenting the fruity stawberriness in the wine. Then another musical piece was played after which we were poured a red Barbera with which we ate a crostini with an olive tapenade. Again great wine and a remarkable pairing with the saltiness of the tapenade bringing to light the almost non-existent sweetness in the wine. If you drunk the wine by itself, you would not notice the sweetness at all. Then it was another musical selection, and out came the second red wine for the evening made from a Croatini grape. With this we ate amarone salami, pecorino parmesean and an orange marmelade. There was one final musical selection and the evening was done, but not until after the 86-yr old man sang, in English, a raunchy and bawdy tale about Mr. Murphy's daughter. Rick and I were the only ones that appeared to understand the lyrics. We met the gentleman later and learned that he was born in Germany but, being a Jew, he fled in the 1930's to Canada and then proceeded to live in a variety of countries, including 20 years in the US (Cambridge, MA) and Mexico, before returning to Germany.
After the performance, Massimo sat with us, continually refilling our glasses with the Croatini wine, and discussed his life and wine for sometime. He was born in Sicily and moved to Berlin 20-yrs agao. He has a knack for finding the small vineyards in Italy where he can acquire good wine inexpensively, due the lack of name recognition and a distribution on the part of the vineyard, and is able to pass the savings on to the customers. A quick word about wine in Europe. Good European wine is unbelievably inexpensive. Not surprisingly Australian and American wine is much more expensive. The bottles we were sampling this evening, based on the taste, could probably have gone for between $35 and $50 easily. Here in Massimo's establishment we were able to purchase one bottle each of the Barbera and Croatini for about $13 and $27 respectively. How we wanted to buy more! We then bid Massimo Gute Abend and made our way home.
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