Germany 2016: Berlin to Bavaria

We started in Berlin, followed the Rhine to Cologne, caught up with friends near Stuttgart and Ulm, spent a rainy day in Rothenburg, and finished in Munich. We covered a lot of German history, a lot of Christmas shops, several pork knuckles, and one restaurant alley that looked like a Batman crime scene.

Where We Ate

Berlin

Place	My rating	What I thought
Cookies Cream	★★★★★	The hidden alley, chandelier, quail egg in truffle foam, Parmesan dumpling, and sour-apple dessert made for an amazing dinner. Day 1.
Brauhaus Lemke	—	Pilsner, pork knuckle, and bread with lard. Ksenia loved the bread and lard. Day 2.
Café Spreeblick	—	Dessert and tea after the East Side Gallery. Day 3.
Reinstoff	—	Another alley entrance. My Japanese gin with cherry blossom was a little sappy straight and delightful with Fever-Tree. Day 4.

We also had schnitzel on Friedrichstraße, currywurst and a Berliner during a walking tour, and lunch at an unnamed potato restaurant in Nikolaiviertel.

Cologne

Place	My rating	What I thought
Früh am Dom	★★★★☆	We ate there twice. My game stew on the second visit was excellent. Days 5 and 6.
Gilden im Zims	—	Pork knuckle and Himmel un Ääd. Day 5.
Brauhaus zum Prinzen	—	Kölsch refills arrived almost as soon as I set down my glass. Day 6.
Chocolate Museum café	★★★★★	Amazing hot chocolate and raspberry cake for lunch. Day 6.

Stuttgart, Ulm, and Rothenburg

Place	My rating	What I thought
A friend’s café near Stuttgart	★★★★★	Tea and cake were so good. Day 7.
Harry’s in Ulm	—	A nice woman helped us with the breakfast menu. Day 8.
Lunch in Rothenburg’s main square	—	We both had venison stew while Ksenia tried to choose anything at all in such a pretty place. Day 9.

Dinner with Tanya, Maria, Thomas, and Thomas’s mother near Stuttgart was delicious.

Munich

Place	My rating	What I thought
Hofbräuhaus	★★★★☆	Really good sausages; the service could have been better. Day 10.
Spatenhaus	—	An early dinner after the art museums. Day 12.
Chocolaterie Beluga	★★★★★	Amazing hot chocolate; we went back on our last day. Days 13 and 15.
Weiss Haus (probably Weisses Bräuhaus)	—	Tasty weissbier and IPA. The suckling pig wasn’t as good as the pork belly. Day 14.
Café Piemonte	—	Tea and cake on our last day. Day 15.

We also had breakfast at the hotel, chocolate and cake on the castle trip, and McDonald’s after Dachau.

Where We Stayed

In Munich, Hotel Torbräu was our base for the castles and city walks. We also stayed in hotels in Berlin, Cologne, the Stuttgart area, Ulm, and Rothenburg.

Places and Tours

Berlin gave us Berlin Cathedral, the DDR Museum, the East Side Gallery, and a long walking tour through its Nazi and Cold War history. The former Stasi prison at Hohenschönhausen was terrifying. In Cologne, we toured the cathedral, made chocolate at the Chocolate Museum, and found Max Liebermann at the Wallraf–Richartz Museum.

The Ludwigsburg pumpkin festival and Rothenburg’s Night Watchman’s Tour were much lighter days. We also visited the Medieval Crime Museum, Linderhof Palace, Neuschwanstein, the two Pinakothek museums, and the Dachau Memorial Site. Munich ended with Marienplatz, the English Garden, and a lazy last walk to the Siegestor.

Vacation Quips

At a Christmas shop, Ksenia assumed they must sell castle ornaments. “Honey. The capitalist side won; they know how to make money,” I told her. When Tanya told Thomas to take a lot of lefts in a parking lot, Ksenia asked, “What are all these ‘links’?”

Day by Day

Ratings are out of five stars. A dash means I didn’t have a clear verdict.

Quintussential

Josh Quintus