Ku'damm, KaDeWe, Hotel

Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn Station

After a rather lazy morning at the apartment, fresh banana bread, a nice run through the Hasenheide Park, and a delicious lunch, we finally got a move on and out into the city. I need to intensify Elisabeth's schedule if she is going to see everything we want her to see. (She is afraid of what "intensify" might mean and has told me to slow down the pace...at least the walking pace: "If we miss this U-Bahn, doesn't another one come in 4 minutes? See? No hurry!")
Today's Goal: a bit of Christmas shopping on Kurfürstendamm, the big shopping avenue of West Berlin. We got off at Wittenbergplatz and first hit up the KaDeWe. Needed coffee already.

The KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) is the second-biggest department store in Europe (after Harrods in London). We walked past the big Christmas tree and went straight to floor 7: the gourmet food paradise. The area of two football fields of food and drink. We went to the Dallmayr coffee bar, got a coffee and split a Berliner, the famous pastry, called Pfannkuchen in Berlin and Berliner everywhere else. And this one was actually good. (Usually they are really cheap jelly doughnuts...this one was filled with Eierlikör. Yum!)

They had gorgeous Christmas window displays with fairy-tale themes...and great decorations.

From the KaDeWe we walked down Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm), and continued our (largely unsucessful but fun) Christmas shopping. It was starting to rain a bit, too, so we hurried between stores. Poor Elisabeth, I think the sun yesterday in Potsdam has been the only nice weather. But she doesn't complain! If she sees Christmas lights and gets a Glühwein in her, she's jolly. :)

Back in Kreuzberg, we joined up with friends at a Korean restaurant for dinner (called Madang, excellent), and then walked to a bar near the canal afterwards, called the Hotel Bar. The whole place was lit with candlelight, there were huge bouquets of fresh lilies all over, and there was live piano music. It was small and cozy, and although we didn't get a table right away, it was worth the wait. We made Elisabeth practice her German ordering more beers, and a candle ("Die Kerze ist kaputt...").  Another great day in the life!