June 23 - The River Spree and craft beer.

We again had a great night's sleep and breakfast.  By this time, the woman who brought our coffee every day knew our order (coffee and latte).  A boat ride was definitely on the agenda for our last full day in Berlin.  But first, I needed to check out the transportation situation for the next day's trip to Tegel Airport.  We headed to the train station and found the exact bus we needed to get to the airport.  I'm still patting myself on the back for choosing this hotel -- everything we need is nearby.  

And here's a picture of the lobby. 

We checked with our ever-helpful concierge to book a boat trip and to find the best place to have a doner kebap, the Turkish sandwich that Frank recommended to my nephew for his trip to Berlin. Although I had had one with Frank, Bob had not experienced this taste treat. Our concierge mentioned Mustapha, which Frank had also mentioned, but it was really far from our hotel, so he told us about a place that was closer to the hotel.  We were able to do a mini-dry run on our airport bus because the place was on the same route as the airport.  Once we arrived, the place really was a small kiosk right off the main street.  The cashier helped us choose the type of sandwich we wanted, and then we just stood on the sidewalk and ate it.  I guess that's the true definition of street food.

The sandwich was as good as I remembered -- a Turkish take on a gyro.  And I remembered that when I took Ali, an exchange student from Turkey, to the Reading Outlets way back when, he took his first bite of a gyro and exclaimed, "The Greeks stole this from us!" Well, sort of.  It's still the same type of lamb cut from a huge spit, but the accompaniments are different -- cabbage and a different type of sauce.  Still yummy, though. 

We then took the bus back to the hotel and got ready for our boat trip. The dock was really close to the hotel (naturally!!), so we easily walked there. We ended up sitting on the lower level because it was after 1:30, and the sun was quite fierce on this day.  I had no suntan lotion, but even with lotion, an hour is too long for me to sit in direct sun.  We rode down to Museum Island and back, seeing the route we walked from the water.

The beer garden where we ate the first day.

A festive boat with our hotel in the background.

The Berlin Cathedral.

Another shot.

Different types of buildings along the river.

An "island" bar.

An example of Berlin graffiti.

After this adventure, it was time to check out the big department store, KaDeWe, before our craft beer dinner.  Didn't buy anything, but checked out clothing and their food floor (very similar to Harrod's).

Bob found a cute stuffed animal.

By this time, we needed to be on our way to dinner, a craft beer place Frank had recommended.  We found the place without much trouble and were seated outside.  

On our way, we changed trains where Hamlet supposedly went to university.

Anyway, once we arrived at our destination, we discovered that the menu was a combination of classic German cuisine with fresh table-to-farm ingredients and many beer choices.  Our server was charming and knowledgeable. 

Quinoa and pickled avocado appetizer for Bob.

Cold cucumber soup for me.

The first beers.

One can never have too much good German sausage, especially if it is accompanied by organic vegetables and interesting dipping sauce.

And Bob finally ordered the pork knuckle he'd been eyeing on numerous menus previous to this one.

By chance, Founders beer was hosting a summer bash on this particular evening.  Since we were looking for German craft beer, we didn't taste any Founders initially, but we did tell our server that we had a Michigan connection (Founders is based in Grand Rapids, and Bob is a Michigan grad), so eventually the Founders representative made his way to our table.  Founders Breakfast Stout does happen to be one of Bob's favorites, so the conversation started there. We talked about beer and Michigan and family, and we ended up with three Founders beers to drink -- these came after our German beers with dinner.

Dirty Bastard, fruity beer, KBS stout (this was the limited edition beer)

 But we managed to persevere, discovering later that the one beer was quite difficult to obtain.  Score for us!  I even talked Bob into taking a taxi back to the hotel since we would have had a long commute back using public transit.