Eating in Berlin – Guten Appetit!

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Germans frequently add beer and pretzels to meals (photo by Katie Pflug)

Germans frequently add beer and pretzels to meals
(photo by Katie Pflug)

by Sara Tallerico

Germany is renowned for its heavy, substantial regional food. Local cuisine is strongly influenced by past immigration, but the dishes are much more simplified. Berliners prefer their foods to be filling rather than over-fussy.  Cooking in Berlin is simple and down-to-earth, and the meals are hearty and satisfying.

Berliners begin their day with a typical breakfast of cold meats, cheeses, fresh fruit and an array of rolls and bread.  Some accompany their meal with orange juice, apple juice, coffee or hot tea, others with beer.  Time with friends and family is valued much more.  Breakfast is a time for relaxation, and they want to maximize every minute they have together.

Traditionally, Germans eat their main meal during the day between 12and 2 p.m. This meal is usually a warm, hearty dish.  At Maximilians, a restaurant with a cozy brewery atmosphere, the waiter suggested some of the Point Park students experience a typical Berlin lunch, meatballs.  He said they were a “very traditional and popular dish in Berlin.”  The meatballs were exactly what diners would expect when thinking of a German dish.  They were hearty, satisfying, warm and delicious. The dish consisted of two large meatballs served with mashed potatoes and carrots. Berlin meatballs are a perfect example of the three major staple foods in Germany: meat, potatoes and vegetables.

Germans enjoy their evening meal later on in the day, usually between 7 and 8 p.m. This meal is similar to a typical German lunch, hearty and warm. However, the portion size is usually smaller.

A protein-packed meal in Munich with a variety of sausage, potatoes, pretzels, and sauerkraut. (photo by Richelle Szypulski)

A protein-packed meal in Munich with a variety of meat, potatoes, pretzels, and sauerkraut.
(photo by Richelle Szypulski)

A favorite dinner in Berlin members of the Point Park group tried was Käsespätzle, otherwise known as cheese spaetzle.  Spaetzle is an egg noodle that is extremely popular in all parts of Germany. Germans prepare this traditional pasta in a plethora of ways. However, cheese spaetzle seems to be the most desired in this country. The dish is typically served with a generous portion of spaetzle with melted cheese and topped with fried onions. Recent Point Park University graduate Richelle Szypulski described the dish as “similar to gnocchi pasta, but delicious in a melt-in-your-mouth way.”

Point Park students and faculty had a variety of group dinners during their time in Germany, reflective of the different food in the cities and Salzburg. Main courses for the dinners were Turkey with creamed mushrooms and herb rice, fresh pork wiener schnitzel with potato-radish salad in Berlin; Munich white sausage, rostbratwurst, meat loaf, sauerkraut, potatoes and pretzel, and jagerschnitzel (grilled pork loin with mushrooms, vegetables and pasta in Munich; and pan-fried breaded chicken with potato-cucumber salad in Salzburg. And the group experienced the traditional German breakfast at hotels in Berlin and Munich during the trip, complete with scrambled eggs and sausage, of course, as well as bacon. And it was included in the room charges, which was wonderfuland helped students’ expenses.

photo

Favorite German desserts consist of fruit and Quark cheesecake.
(photo by Johnie Freiwald)

Now time for the best part: dessert in Berlin.  After a filling dinner, Germans usually make sure they save room for a delicate treat.  A very favored dessert is cheesecake, although some of the group dinners included apple strudel, chocolate mousse and raspberry yogurt cream cake.  German cheesecake is typically made with Quark cheese.  For variety, berries such as raspberries or blueberries can be added.  It truly is the perfect ending to a delicious meal.

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 6

May 17, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/17/13.

The day started bright and early. I’ve never been as tired as I was today. We were up at 4:30 am this morning for a very early flight to Munich. As soon as we got to Munich we were had met our new tour guide, Arnoud, and took a bus tour of the city before arriving at our hotel. We followed Arnoud to Marienplatz and lunch nearby. My first impression of Munich is that it is stunning. The architecture and atmosphere is exactly what I thought a European city would look like. In other words, what I thought was missing in Berlin. Not that I didn’t like Berlin, I just find Munich to be what I was expecting.

After lunch, we met back up in front of the Glockenspiel with the rest of our group and went to the Munich Tourism Office for our first Munich media visit. I liked hearing about the variety of attractions that the city has to offer. It’s all up my alley – sports, theatre, museums, music – it’s perfect. I would have loved to be here for Oktoberfest or the Long Night of Music. I think that everything here is so compelling to me. I was intrigued that the X-Games are going to take place in Munich for the next three years. Isabella had a lot of interesting things to say about working with tourism and public relations. I was impressed that she is doing such an important job a young age.

I had been pushing Carson in her wheel chair for most of the day and was getting pretty confident in my abilities. But a blow to my ego came when I tried to cross traffic and get her onto the next street: I didn’t hit the curb in the right place and she flew out of the wheelchair with all of her papers and belongings! Luckily she was able to react and stay standing but I felt so bad! Imagine if we hadn’t been that lucky. That was when I knew that I was 100% done with the day.

Our free time consisted of catching up on missed sleep. I left the hotel an hour before we were supposed to meet up for dinner to look around for a bank to exchange my American money. I wanted to put everything on my debit card but my parents recommended cash. I wish I had just done things my own way, because it has been a pain trying to find such a place. I got some money from the ATM to hold me over until Tuesday but I will have to be quite thrifty this weekend. It’s a holiday weekend and all of the banks will be closed until Tuesday morning. Arnoud has tried explaining where to go to exchange money but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I basically need someone to physically take me to get this done.

We went to a café in Marienplatz for dinner and had an assortment of very strange meats. I could handle most of it but there was a strange substance resembling spam that I couldn’t quite bring myself to eat. And naturally there was beer.

The one thing I have noticed about Munich is that it is very difficult to navigate if you want to go to specific places. Getting to Morienplatz on my own was easy but when I tried to find a certain shop or street I was completely lost! What are you doing to me, Munich?! I don’t like this feeling! It’s my one and only complaint about the city so far, but I’m sure I’ll get over it in a few days.

Also, the wifi in the hotel is sketchy. Just throwing that out there.

Reporting from the Z floor,

-AB

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 5

May 16, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/16/13.

Today’s media visit at Axel Springer was my favorite visit yet. We talked to Rudolf Porsche of Axel Springer and the Akademie students, which was very enlightening. Their work on their ‘masterpiece’ about the low voting turn out is such a great opportunity for them and hugely relevant since Germany has elections coming up. I was impressed by all of the students and that they are taking their education seriously. All of them are so multi-talented and charismatic that it’s hard to remember that some of them are even younger than we are. I loved getting the chance to talk to them. Katie, who is 18, was particularly amazing to all of us because she has already published four books! We had a great time talking to her about the differences between America and Germany after lunch. She found it funny that smoking cigarettes has a negative stigma in America, where in Germany it’s a bit of a romantic thing to be a smoking a cigarette and working on your hard-hitting news story. I loved hearing about the background of the other Akademie students as well – there was even a girl who had spent time in America, and her American accent was flawless. At the end of our visit, a few of the students took a small group of us to the 19th floor where there is a lavish bar and restaurant that overlooks the city of Berlin. It was probably the best view I had seen of the city so far.

While we were at Axel Springer we also talked with the assistant to the editor-in-chief of Die Welt, Leeor Englander. I was responsible for having a surplus of questions ready for him to keep the conversation going, but as it turns out I hardly needed them – he was so interesting and passionate about Die Welt that the words just kept coming. He talked a lot about the extensive innovations that Die Welt was doing to stay ahead of the journalism world and stand out. He showed us their news room, which was small and orderly but stocked with the latest in technology – Mac computers, full Adobe suites, several different models of iPads, smart phones – they seemed like they had everything they could ever need. Leeor also touched on a project he was a part of called Jew in the Box which was about stereotypes of the Jewish people. It was fascinating to hear about his culture and the prejudices he faces every day, and an interesting deviation from the news world that we had been talking about all day.

We had dinner in a small restaurant in Mitte, the center of Berlin. We enjoyed beer and schnitzel and paid Zack to eat an anchovy. The night ended with frantic packing and a short trip to get spaghetti ice cream. I got some for poor Carson, who is still stuck up in the hotel during down time, but it all but melted on by the time I booked it back to the hotel. I wish we could push her around in a wheelchair or a shopping cart.

Overall, this was my absolute favorite day. Everyone at Axel Springer was so engaging and relatable. I am sad to leave Berlin and our wonderful tour guide, Lorena, but I’m so happy that we ended on such a great note. Here’s to adventures in Munich!

-AB

 

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 4

May 15, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/15/13.

Ah, another busy day in Berlin. Today was special because the weather was lovely – the sun was out and everything! That’s a huge change from the chill we’ve been dealing with since we arrived.

We started our day at ZDF sitting in on their late morning talk show, which was wonderful. The hosts seemed so laid back and the audience was calm and collected – the exact opposite of what American talk shows seem to be like. I couldn’t understand what was going on but I was able to get the gist of it from their visual aids. It hardly felt like we were on a television show at all. The set was so convincing as a cafe.

After sitting in on the show, we were able to get a short tour of the studio with a group of Palestinians followed by a meeting with Wulf Schmiese, one of the hosts. He is an insanely interesting guy with a background in hard news and it was different to see someone with his experience now hosting a talk show, of all things. It did get a bit awkward at a point because one of the Palestinian women proceeded to go into full-on lecture mode on poor Wulf over an issue in their country. I was impressed at how quickly Wulf bounced back from that and was able to give them an answer that turned things away from their struggle a bit.

After our ZDF visit concluded, we visited a chocolate shop and had lunch at Maximilian’s near the American district and enjoyed more wonderful German food. I was inclined to be cheap today so I played it safe with potato soup, cabbage salad and a beer. The food here hasn’t disappointed me yet.

Our big day continued with a visit to Deutsche Presse Agentur, where we had a meeting with Christian Rowekamp and Michael Keppler who talked about their mission to serve their clients before they served themselves. They had such a great perspective with DPA that was unfamiliar to me because they are so committed to being behind the scenes and staying there. I loved Michael’s photo of the Pope’s hand – I swear I’ve seen it before. I want to look for it online to see what American publications have featured it, because I know I’ve seen it before.

The DPA newsroom is exactly how I think a newsroom should look like. It’s separated yet open. Everyone in their own department but no one is confined into cubicles or on separate floors. I think that unity is important for all elements of news to flow together. It seems like everyone at DPA would be close knit for this reason.

After leaving DPA we headed back to the hotel where I caught up on some much needed rest. I ate leftovers and crashed on my bed. I definitely needed that recharge for the Reichstag visit.

The Reichstag was absolutely stunning. Places like these hold so much history and seem like they have a life of their own. The outside is beautiful. The inside is beautiful. I can’t say enough about this place. Historical sites are one thing that I prefer to do alone. I like having my own time to process all the information, read, analyze photographs, and just enjoy myself at my own pace. The photographs on the ground floor of the dome were so compelling. I was captivated by them, especially a photo of a young man carrying his bike through the hole in the Berlin Wall. There was another photograph with a caption that said: “NSDAP parliamentary group leaves the auditorium; only Joseph Goebbels remains as an observer.” How chilling.

Now that I have some time tonight relax and reflect before another crazy day tomorrow, it’s safe to say that I couldn’t be in Germany with better people. I was a bit nervous initially signing up for the class because I went in knowing one person, and I know that I’m inclined to be very quiet in class and not interact with anyone much. I find it difficult to talk to people. How am I going to go on a 12-day trip with people that I see in class once a week? Thankfully, everyone in this class is just awesome and we’re all pretty weird, which definitely helps. I speak sometimes, too! If anyone reads this, you are wonderful and don’t ever forget it!

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 1

May 12, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

When finally we landed in Berlin after a long night and day filled with delays and lost luggage, I was so tired that I could even begin to think about starting our tour of the city. After meeting the tour guides, it was clear that there would be no time for rest and we would be promptly be thrust into all the splendor that Berlin has to offer.

holocaust memorialI am so thankful for our guides for keeping us awake and thinking. Today’s bus tour of Berlin was such an easy and convenient way to see the city and get the overview of some stunning landmarks that I can’t wait to see up close and in person in the future. We made a short stop at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and, like most Holocaust remembrance sites, the meaning and physical representation wour as chilling.

After taking a moment to recharge and browse some local shops, we ended the bus tour in front of our hotel, which apparently has the strangest and most European things – a pull-out bed, two bathrooms (sort of), complimentary beverages in the fridge, and a quirky layout and color scheme.

Our down time was short lived and we headed out to our first official dinner as a group at a biergarten-style restaurant that pulled out all the stops in our delicious meal. I also ordered my first beer tonight from an actual restaurant! It’s the little things you can do overseas that you can’t do at home that get you excited.IMG_1713

So far, I have been running on about an hour and a half of sleep since yesterday evening when we boarded our Delta flight. I do not sleep well on transportation (trains, buses, cars, you name it), and my parents had me paranoid about the small crack in the plane’s nose from a previous flight. Between the two issues, I did not sleep a wink from Pittsburgh to Paris, leading to a very testy, yet delirious Alexa all day long. Tomorrow aims to be much less stressful and I can’t wait to spend the day at Freie University and exploring Berlin!

 

Alexa

 

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