German American Idol

Classic...

Autobahn!!

renting an audi a6 this morning to drive the autobahn back to frankfurt for my flight home. i wish my porsche were here, but in the absence of that i decided a car i knew well would be the second best alternative for a freeway with no speed limit. i took my audio s6 to its maximum governed speed of 140 many times, so im as comfortable as you can be with the hair trigger handling of that car at that fast a speed. its possible that these german ones aren't electronically governed too, although i don't think the a6 could do more than that, or the tires will be rated for more than that.
wish me luck!

Margaux

had dinner at margaux, a michelin star french restaurant on the under den linden, a famous street through the north part of berlin. i got there at about 10:45pm. my table was prepared. the wine list was a fully bound book, reminiscent of the wine book at patina. the wines were overpriced, not even taking into account it was euro not dollar, but the selection was vast. i ordered a 1979 chateau marquis de tempte from margaux. the wine was brought out by the sommelier, who, without asking, poured himself a taste along with mine after uncorking, and discussed the wine with me. i really, really liked this and i wish this was how it was always done. his knowledge of the wine, even though it is only a 4th class, was very, very deep, and his tasting notes were really helpful. he decanted the wine over a candle (as I was taught but rarely seen done), and, impressively separated the wine from the sediment so precisely very very little wine was left in the bottle. an absolute pro.

there was no choice of what food to order, it was only a pre fix. an 18 course pre fix. now, most all of the courses were very small, many just one bite.

the meal began with two courses of amuse bouche. there was a celery foam, and a bit of fresh herbs with sheep milk cheese, and a little piece of round bread with 7 different vegetable mouse on it. the head waiter explained to me the chef michael hoffman serves no starches, only vegetables and meat, always with fresh herbs. i was served by 4 waiters. one was in charge of the beverages. my glasses were always filled with just a couple drinks worth of liquid in each, and after each drink of wine, or water, the glass was topped off, just a bit. one waiter was in charge of the clearings and resettings of the table, one brought out the food from the kitchen, and the head waiter then actually did the saucing of the food right in front of me. he applied all the sauces and garnishments to the plate as he explained in great detail everything involved in the dish. back in my fine dining days this was the job of the expediter back in the kitchen. having it done right at the table was daring, as the presentation got one chance at being right. and, through 18 courses, he never missed.
after the two amuse bouches, the first course was raw tuna served on grapefruit, watercress, and endive, and finished with a cold grapefruit reduction. the pairing of tuna and grapefruit was inspired, and made me wonder why i hadn't had it before.
Next course was king crab and papaya, finished with a yellow curry sauce.
Next was spring vegetables; pumpkin, artichoke, leek, beet, cabbage.
finished with jelly of parsley.
Next course was ray (as in what killed the crocodile hunter) in a coulees of vegetables and coriander.
Next course was a medallion of beef tenderloin with roasted lettuce. this was finished table-side with a whole truffle shaved over the top. i ate the roasted lettuce and the deeeelicious truffles and cut the tenderloin up to make it look like i ate some.
Next course was goat cheese, olives, and rhubarb
Next course was well, 10 courses of dessert. ten tiny desserts were brought out, one bite each, one at a time. i wont remember them all but it included
lavendar creme brulee with earl grey tea float
coffee mousse
chocolate mousse with mango chip
grapefruit sauce over fresh creme
cream sorbet with a shaving of dark chocolate
benigne
currant jelly
mint chocolate foam
and others i cant remember. i had a double espresso and a glass of remy xo with dessert.

the meal went from about 10:45 until around 1:30. they provided me a car and driver back to the intercontinental.

A symphony of horrors

went to the berlin philharmonic orchestra. the performance was a piece by joseph haydn, Orlando Paladino. the philharmonie, which is the name of the concert hall, is gorgeous. vast and dramatically designed. my seat was good, in the first balcony, second row. i did not, however, enjoy the performance. at all. first, it was a classical vocal performance, an opera without sets, and the orchestra, while still positioned on stage in front of the vocalists and not in a pit, was just for accompaniment. the piece was sung by seven different performers, and they also took it unto themselves to "act" the performance in operatic style (overly melodramatic). the performance by the symphony was sporadically interjected in the vocal performance, often just a couple notes between verses (baaaaa bum). the percussion, instead of being used to accent crescendo, was used to startle the listener, and always preceded the performance of a stereotypical opera fat lady alto in bright red. the 1st cellist was featured a few times for short periods of time, but was always accompanied by a pianist and a 12 string mandolin, which adulterated the sound of the cello and ruined the solo imo. obviously i need to take that up with Haydn but all the same.
it also went on for waaay too long. started at 7pm sharp and went without pause until 10:30 pm. my dinner reservation was at 10 so i was antsy to get the fuck out of there and cut out as they were presenting the bouquets to the vocalists.

Poznan or Bust

Got up at the crack of dawn and took the train into poland. i forgot my camera so no pics, but, really, there was nothing to take pics of anyways. i only went to the closest town to the border, about a 2 hour train ride from berlin, walked around a bit, and took the train back. but, hey, been to poland... Attaching a pic from google so you can see what the place looked like

Sushi, Shopaholic - Die Schnäppchenjägerin

Went to the sushi joint the concierge recommended. small place, a sushi bar and three long tables where everyone sits together. I sat with a group of german women who spoke no english and had an asahi while i waited for a space at the bar. a space opened up. the sushi chefs were both japanese, and the waitress spoke no english. so, i said to the sushi chef "omakase" and he said hai and made me a plate of like kindergarden beginner ass sushi; a roll of tuna and rice, a shrimp sushi (?!), a salmon, a tuna, a whitefish. I ate this and then decided to stop the omakase bs as he sucked at it and order myself. i got spanish mackerel through much pointing at the glass case and even managed a salmon skin hand roll through sign language. The fish was good and fresh and flavorful, the chefs used too much sesame seeds and sauced more than they should.
overall, it was a c+ sushi experience.

went to the cinestar at potsdamerplatz to see a movie. caught the late show of confessions of a shopaholic, which i had missed in its US release. its a terrible movie. now, many of you probably already assumed that, but i didn't. I am quite an isla fisher fan; she's great in the lookout, has great comic timing in wedding crashers (shes married to borat it would be hard not to), and shes just a treasure in definitely... maybe. but shes downright terrible in this. this was either shot while she was pregnant or too soon after shitting out that kid, because she looks absolutely terrible. soft in all the wrong places, her face looks bloated and tired, her skin looks terrible. you can see her foundation in every shot, yet still remarkably the bags under eyes. its the first movie ive seen her in where she actually looks her considerable age. of course, a lot of the blame for this needs to go the the dp for shooting her so poorly, but still, yikes, isla, get some sleep or something.
the film is a miserable 2 hours, full of bullshit sitcom threes company shit like her being mistaken for a waitress at a big dinner so she is given a tray of food and what does she do? well, she tries to wait the tables of course, instead of saying "you stupid fuck im a guest at your goddamn dinner take this tray and stick it up your ass". oh, and a collection agent follows her around the whole movie, and much hilarity ensues as she hides in clothes racks to avoid his deadly gaze instead of just saying "fuck off leave me alone" which they are then legally required to do. anyway, terrible movie, a waste of all talents involved.

From Stockholm

Took a train to stockholm arlanda airport to see where i could go. nothing worked from helsinki back to germany in time to leave sunday, so caught a flight back to berlin. as there literally isn't a standard or deluxe level hotel room in a 5 star hotel in berlin as expensive as the 4 star hotel in the red square in moscow i was going to stay in, i got a room at the intercontinental berlin. ive stayed in quite a few intercontinentals now, and the berlin one is amazing. the amsterdam intercontinental is in an old castle on the water, and its really hard to beat that. but the berlin one swings modern, like the sf one. the room is a masterpiece. gapingly large for a european hotel room, with a king bed, and a full desk, and a chaise lounge, and a full bath, and a walk in closet. all done in espresso stained woods, graphite carpets, and mirrored surfaces. very modern and gorgeous.

... and Food

Went to the Gondolin, a fine dining restaurant built as an overhang over the loch between the Stockholm old city mainland and Soldermalm. Its 14 stories up, all glass, and thin, so most tables have a view over the water. As the Russian consulate was kind enough to save me many, many thousands of dollars yesterday, I splurged on the wine. Got a bottle of 1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Winos will know that this is a banner Mouton year. Swedes will know it cost 5000 SEK. Americans can google how much that is, as I won't write it here for the faint of heart. Needless to say, it was really good.
Had a 4 course set course menu, caviar, lumpfish and grilled lobster, baked cod stuffed with lobster, an an apricot compote with vanilla. Had a glass of d'yquem (ya, by the glass, winos!) sauternes with the dessert. Attached some shitty blackberry pics.

Music...

Went to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra tonight ( a couple shitty blackberry pics attached). Played the works of Richard Wagner ( you know it when you hear it, most famous "The Ride of the Valkeries" - youtube it). Awesome. Had an amazing seat. Oddly, the star performer of the orchestra is this young, rogue looking clarinet player with spiky blonde hair and not a day over maybe 23. He was featured in a solo in every piece, and was given first credit by the composer after each piece, even before 1st violin. He was really awesome, must be some internation phenom, because he was a good 15 years younger than anyone else in the King's orchestra.

The Henderson Identity?

You know, I was thinking over dinner, I might have flagged a profile at the russian consulate. Single white american, mid thirties, male, traveling alone in a circuitous route around russia, a legal resident of a 3rd world country, a short stay in moscow, staying at a nice hotel across from the kremlin with no business purpose...
That "full service" company that the consulate required is perhaps a way to keep an eye on travelers of concern?
Maybe that's more cloak and dagger than I merit, but it does make an interesting argument. The russian foreign affairs minister was on bbc this morning saying they are strengthing their defense due to ever encroaching nato.

More Stockholm Pics

The roar in the short video is the frigid arctic wind.