Sunday, 4 October - Stealing?

It's Sunday morning and I'm going to skip church.  I checked to see if there was a Anglican congregation in town, but it's way out near Olympiastadion, and then some blocks.  Too far!  So we take the UBahn to Hackesherplatz and walk over to Museuminsel via the bridge by the Berliner Dom and the Altes National Museum.  I had forgotten, we actually have to walk across the island and over the river on the other side and then come back onto the island at Pergamom.  Arthur and I visited Pergamom in Turkey in 1999, and now it is his chance to see what the Germans excavated there - a fine Hellenistic altar.

We make our museum agreement - we'll meet back at the altar at 14:00 - giving us three hours to "look around".  Arthur goes in the direction of an exhibition on Dionysius and upstairs one on a series of sculptures that were lost (taken to Russia) after the war, and recently returned and displayed again.  I go off to visit the gate at Miletus, the Ishtar gate (my favorite) and look at pre-Assyrian and Assyrian artifacts.  Then I go to look at the Dionysian things - and soon it is 2:00, and I go to meet Arthur.  He however, didn't have time to see Ishtar, et. al., so I quickly show him what he missed.

Time for lunch at the museum, nothing special, and we don't buy books at the store.  We are meeting Günter and Franziska at our hotel at 19:00 or 19:30 - we can't remember which.  So we go back to our hotel and get ready to meet them.  They arrive promptly, and as we walk to the SBahn, the heavens suddenly open up and we are drenched as we make it into Tiergarten Station.  We take the train to Nollendorferplatz, and then walk up the street to Luchner Restaurant on Lützowplatz.  The chef's brother is an associate of Günter's and Franziska's, and so he greets us warmly as we enter the room.  We are seated and menus are handed to us, but are quickly taken away by Andreas, and by his wife Gerlinde.  "I am going to surprise you," he says, and so a wonderful evening of gastronomy begins.

1.   A nice sekt with an amuse bouche of a creme puff filled with an olive foam filling and garnishes.

2.   A wild rabbit and venison terrine filet with orange-vanilla sauce and a salad of field lettuces.  (Bckenauer Riesling, 2007)

3.   A soup of pumpkin, carrots, and ginger with a scallop.

4.   A barley risoto with pumpkin, pork trotter and lobster.

5.  A piece of roasted Zander (Perch) served on a potato-apple gratin with a piece of Blutwurst.

5.  A house-made wild boar sausage, served with a wild boar ragout and speck, and three beans. (Cuvée Guillaume, 2006) 

6.  A saddle of venison, with cabbage and Johannes beeren with a balsamic reduction and dumplings (Spitz Buben) (Spätburgunder, 2007)

7.  White chocolate mousse with a papaya gelee, and raspberries, and a passion fruit ice cream. (Farmersheimer Hornberg Mario Muskat, 2008)

8.  Prunewein and Espresso.

We talk and eat and drink.  Günter thinks that we ought to meet in a different place each year to eat and drink and talk.  It sounds good.  But this evening is now late, and they grab a cab, and we the S und UBahn.