Local chefs? Give 'em credit

Hit the zoo. Knut got the most attention, but the big cats and seals and sea lions were the real stars. There were some cool monkeys too, Ben. Won't go into too much detail because, well, it was a zoo. But a nice one. Nothing too crazily out of the ordinary, but much fun/relaxing.

And I got to effectively use, in context, one of the few German words (geschlossen) I know. The others include but are not limited to: wilkommen, achtung, verboten and, um... Baum.

Earlier in the day I decided to sample some of the local cuisine. See photo. One tasted like a candy bar. The other? A slightly healthier rice/granola bar. Shocking. Later on, Kathryn, her fire-dancing friend Mimi and I had some spargel soup. There -- I've had something certifiably German to eat, as asparagus is in season here right now.

And it was good. Asparagus to the max. Followed by a dish with the second-biggest chunk of mozzarella I've ever seen (that restaurant back in Florence had the biggest, though Mimi tells me some place on La Cienega also serves enormous cheese ... which just sounds ridiculous).

FUN FACT: It is possible to hop off a train, validate your ticket and get right back on in the span of about 10-12 seconds. It was a bold move to avoid a €50 fine, though I've yet to have my ticket checked on a local bus or train at any point on this trip. I had forgotten to validate it when I bought it b/c I was too busy buying local candy bars. Really, I just wanted to get my ticket validated at Rathaus. So that's what I did.

Speaking of trains... the credit card saga has come to an end -- a happy one! After multiple visits and phone calls, earlier today we were informed that the evil ticket machine mysteriously popped out my card late last night and the same crazy station worker who was there the night it happened was there again tonight to hand the card back to me. I had to sign a ledger with many, many names on it. Apparently a lot of people lose stuff. Or have cards eaten by technology.

So... my German jaunt ends Tuesday with a trip to Sachsenhausen in the morning and then a long train ride to Amsterdam in the afternoon/evening.

Tchuss, Berlin!