There was only one museum in Berlin David really wanted to see called the Pergamon Museum. He easily navigated our way there on the tram. It is so cool how he figures out the mass transit systems everywhere we go!!!
We arrived at the museum and, of course, there was a line waiting to buy tickets. I guess we waited about 45 minutes to get in but the weather was pleasant so it was OK. The building itself is gigantic and gorgeous! The construction of this building started in 1910 and the museum opened in 1930. David had read about this museum and wanted to see the original-sized reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus. Luckily they had audio guides available so I could learn what I was looking at. These displays are unbelievably beautiful and it is amazing that they were able to re-construct these inside a museum. I can't really describe them . . . you'll have to wait for the pictures. In essence, German archeologists deconstructed, labeled, then transported, and reconstructed these massive altars, gates, and facades within the museum. Leave it to the Germans to pull of these incredible engineering feats!
We spent so much time at this museum that we didn't have time for anything else that day. We went back to the hotel and decided we wanted Italian food for dinner. In our room the hotel provided a magazine wherein the hotel employees recommended their favorite places to eat in the neighborhood so I consulted it for an Italian restaurant. One of the employees recommended basi'l which sounded good because they make their own pasta there.
bas'l was a very cool, hip restaurant!!! David and I both sat on the same side of an elevated table on a high, cushion-y couch with our backs against the wall. This positioned us to face the kitchen which was open and located in the front of the restaurant. Of course, it was interesting to watch. We had great wine with a cheese plate for a starter. When you order pasta you pick the kind of noodles you want and the sauce. David had a gorgonzola cheese sauce with some kind of nuts in it and fettuccine noodles; it was a sweet sauce. I had bolognese sauce with regular spaghetti noodles. Guess I was feeling like traditional spaghetti. Both dishes were delicious! We wanted dessert but we were too full. We decided to walk back to the hotel and then if we wanted dessert, we could get it in our hotel restaurant.
So guess what? We did decide we wanted dessert. I had a great, very dense brownie and David had a gooey chocolate torte. How could we possibly be expected to go to sleep without dessert??? Each day we think we're going to get bored or get homesick or both, but we keep finding incredible things to do, interesting people to meet, and delicious things to eat! We fell asleep watching the international track meet being broadcast from Moscow. When they interviewed the athletes, David translated for me, and of course, he made everything up, but it didn't matter. What a wonderful vacation we are having!!!
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