Voltron

Finally have a wifi connection on my phone and computer so I will update with pics. We arrived in Prague and immediately were fleeced by a taxi driver who charged us a ridiculous price for a 10 minute drive. Oh well, I hadn't read the guide book on that exact location and issue, and I didn't know the exchange rate even remotely so these things happen. Had a copule good beers to dull the sting. First a Pilsner Urquell (empty one on the left) and then a dark Kozel Cerny sitting along the river outside our hotel just under the Charles Bridge. Tonight with dinner, I had a Beton (concrete) cocktail made with Becherovka and tonic. That was very tasty. Then I had a "half-dark" beer by Staropramen. Also tasty.

Did a solo expedition today to give the kinder and Claire a break, I ventured out solo to see the Saxon Switzerland National Park with it's high sandstone bridge at the top of a ridge and a Saxon fortress castle ruin built into the top of the ridge itself. Good stuff. I had a Radler half beer half lemonade thing that I did not mean to order at the top of the hill but it was nice anyway. Tonight we went to see the Historic Green Vault of Augustus the Strong, and all four of us were amazed by it. We had a great Saxon meal of many porks and potatoes along with a couple large Radeberger unfiltered Pilsners, special to the restaurant. I'm having a couple of nightcaps of German liqueurs now. The first was Radeberger Bitter Original Krauterlikor, which was great, and then Withener Gebirgskraute, which is good but not as good. There are a couple others in the hotel bar I mean to try tonight. Pics updates later. Prost!

Crappy Birthday, Crappy! Cheers

Major congrat Bryan! Happy it worked out for you to stay in Chicagoland.

Essentially a small store owned by a Ramones fanatic with a lot of memorabilia. It was lots of fun to take in and I would recommend it if you are the neighborhood.

Ramones Museum Berlin t-shirt and a bottle of Opaline Absinthe that tastes divine.

Continued due to picture limits. We also walked through the Tiergarten, embassy row, split up to see an art museum (Claire & Sophie) and the Museum/Memorial to the German Resistance (Alden & me), and finally KaDeWe, Eurpope's largest department store! Well, before I visited the Absinthe Depot, bought a bottle of Swiss absinthe, and then we all had dinner at a cool Asian restaurant, that is.

First, we went to the Ramones Museum Berlin! Hey, Ho, Let's Go! Then we took a double decker city bus to the Tiergarten and ascended the Victory Tower, all the while thinking of Peter Falk in Wings of Desire. We even walked the 285 spiral staircase steps to go up and see the angel close up and check out the panoramas of Berlin.

Oops, Jim called dibs already. Looks nice.

I like the one with the brown leather, Mike, fwiw. Like Jim, if you keep the Stowa but want to sell this one let me know.

I might just take off my shirt for my last night in Berlin at some point. Not on camera of course. Lunch beers: Afternoon snack at KaDeWe, Europe's largest department store: Evening snack beer after tasting some absinthes at the Absinthe Depot down the strasse. Hadn't had a Berliner Pilsner yet, and it is meh like I expected.

^wut? Did MPI finally come out for Scott and other Justin's birthdays?

And no awesome two-handed sawfish sword like like they have in the German History Museum, neither. Weak.

I'm watching Top Gear dubbed in German right now. Weird.

Lunchtime beers along Unter den Linden today Havana Club aged rum & Fritz-Kola with lime. Das ist bueno!

Nice looking eats, Stretch. I have avoided pigs knuckle until now, but that looks tasty. Here was my snack in the Casa Camper lounge this afternoon

Have a Pico-free birthday Justin! Cheers!

Have many fine beers and a good time at it Scott! Cheers!

The Ramazzotti Negroni, or Ramazzeroni for short, is quite tasty. Sweeter than a Campari version and with less bite, but nicely layered flavors work well together. Better gin would be nice too. Hey Jim and JP! Berlin would make a most excellent spot for a Travel Team meet up. Just sayin'.

Nice beard Santa, and nice rig Grahame!

Nice lineup JP! I have a bottle if Koppi that I mean to drink soon. Nice looking manhattan Shelly. I wish the bodega here had some real bourbon or rye instead of Jack. Oh well, a Ramazzotti Negroni is in my immediate future. We had lunch at the Hamburger Bahnhof modern art museum cafe, and I had a nice Paulaner Hefe Dunkel weissbier. Note the Cthulhu Pickle ruling the charcuterie platter!

You spotted me, Gene old buddy! Top right corner is the "bodega" and the rest of the lounge is free. We are in 51-52, just to the left of the our Parisian friend who met us here in 53. Those numbers are on the curtains in the bathroom windows. Handy for snipers. Well, I never got to the Ramazzotti Negoni, but I managed a large Gaffel kolsch, a Köstritzer schwarzbier and three of us had a nice bottle of St. Antony Rotschiefer riesling that was delicious.

Camper Negroni with Bombay Sapphire, Punt Y Mes, and Campari as a benchmark for a Ramazzotti Negroni later.

Deutschland double post.

You can't get good sober help these days. Sheesh. Emelius, did you start drinking at 9am? My time sense is screwed up here in Berlin, but my iPad is still on CA time and it seems you were posting at 9am eastern. Awesome beer selection, regardless. Further to my travel cocktail blog. The hotel Casa Camper, which is owned by e shoe company of the same name, has a 24/7 lounge with free food, soft drinks/coffee/etc., and an honor bar that you charge to your room by filling out little slips of paper. I will add pics if I can get Tapatalk to work but it is a nice setup with a decent selection of booze, cocktail equipment, lemon/lime, mixers and some beer and wine. I need to find an interesting Amaro Ramazzotti recipe but for now I decided to start simple and made a Classic Daiquiri with sugar, lime juice, and Havana Club 3yo light rum. Tasty and scurvy-preventing all at the same time!