When in Brussels...

First I have to say that being here in Brussels has reminded me a lot of living in France. The people here just aren't as tourist/customer friendly and when you are in a big city like Brussels, you really have to watch your wallet. That being said, it is also completely different from France, especially when we visited the Flanders region where they speak Flemish. To show the contrast, I will contrast our first couple tours of breweries here. Friday we had a wonderful walking tour of Brussels and then went to Cantillon which brews true Lambic style, open-fermented beers. It was very interesting and I even bought a t-shirt as it's the Mecca of home-brewers. The beer itself was very sour and definitely wasn't my favorite, even with the sweet fruit added in. Then on Saturday we were scheduled to get on the bus at 9am and go to a brewery in Wallonia, the french speaking part, and then back to one near Brussels. Well, the bus wasn't there. As one of the students that speaks french, I had to try and figure out where the bus driver was when we called him. Turns out he was not even in the right town. We were both waiting at the right address, he was just in a suburb outside the city while we were in the center of the city. So two hours later we finally get on the bus and go to Bush brewery. We had called our guide and she called ahead to let them know we were late etc. but we didn't quite expect the lack-luster welcome we got. They took us into the back room of the pub, showed us a video of the brewing process, and gave us a tasting, but all the while seeming to ignore us. We also tried to get some food as it was late and none of us had eaten since breakfast. We just wanted some fries, but the waitress said we could only order off the group menu or get a sandwich. So we just left and went to the next brewery that we were also late for of course. This one, Het Anchor, was much more welcoming and we got an interesting tour, though he talked a lot about the whiskey they made and not so much about the beer. At least we didn't feel like we were being snubbed. We also got a tasting there, but again no food and finally arrived back in Brussels starving at 5:30. Sunday was our free day and I just wandered around the city a bit, saw a comic store and wanted to buy everything in it and also went to a craft market, like a very small version of the Portland Saturday Market.
Monday was much better. Our guide met us in the hotel and we took the bus to our first brewery, Bosteels, where we got a tour while they were in the process of brewing. It was cool to get to see the spent grains getting dumped from the lauterton and then the wort pouring into the boiling kettle. The people there were also very friendly as it was in Wallonia. They had an American flag hanging outside to welcome us and the owner of the brewery even came to meet us while we were tasting. He took a liking too us and even showed us the old house that wasn't a part of the normal tour. It was before 11am and I had already had 3 beers so I was feeling pretty good on our ride to Ghent where the treaty of Ghent was signed. There were a lot of cool old buildings in the town as we took a walking tour, but we only had ten minutes to grab lunch and I had sat down and ordered in a cafe before I realized what time it was. As soon as my food came I asked to pay and wrapped up my sandwich in a napkin and ran out. They probably thought I was crazy or something but they were still very nice. Our second brewery that day was Liefmans which had some very interesting equipment. They had a square boiling kettle which we had never seen before and a large open-fermentor with cooling pipes running through it. Their filter was also different, more of a sieve than a filter. They also simmered the wort for 6 hours, instead of the usual hour boil. I must say it made a difference in the taste as I had all four of their beers at the tasting. It was very sour from the lactic-acid bacteria they add, and the fruit beers tasted more like fruit juice.
Today we went to Leuven, another Flemish town, and toured the Domas brewery, which was very small and bottled none of their beers. It was all on tap at the pub next door. Again I was drinking beer by 10am and it was very good. Their light beer was hoppy but refreshing and their Christmas beer smelled deliciously malty but had a bitterness too it that was unexpected. Overall it's been a very different experience from Germany but it is definitely good to get out of the beer-purity-law-land. I was getting used to ordering either light, dark, or wheat beer at every restaurant and brewery. Here there are at least 10 choices, if not a whole book full of beers, and I really like trying something different every time.

Summing up Germany

So the last couple of post have been a bit more technical because I've been answering specific questions for my class. This will be the last of those, but hopefully a little less technical as it is the cultural side of things. The first cultural question is what I observed about people in Berlin and Munich. I feel like the people of Germany generally dress more fashionably then we do in the US. I never saw any sweatpants or yoga pants, few if any t-shirts and not even just a functional coat. It always was nice or fashionable. Another thing that was really interesting was the youth. We were riding the tram once when the schools got out and all of the kids were on the tram going home. It was fun to watch them laugh and talk with each other even though I couldn't understand them, and when they said goodbye, the girls kissed cheeks and boys kissed girls cheeks, but the boys just did a handshake thing. It was really more of hand grab. Overall the people were very friendly and willing to speak English, something I expect may be a problem here in Belgium.
The second question is to look at a map of Berlin and Munich and determine things about the histories from them. Both city centers seem to be right on the river. This makes sense as before the invention of cars and paved roads, waterways were the fastest and most reliable way to transport goods. Rivers were the highways of trade and also provided water for drinking and other everyday needs of a gathering of people, including crops, washing, and yes, brewing. The streets radiate out from the center, as more people settled there, they still tried to stay close to the center where everything they needed was conveniently located. Both cities also seem to have a ring maybe 2 km (or 1 mile) from the center which is probably where the wall used to be. In fact there is still one gate in Berlin, and several in Munich, though in Munich the city was a bit smaller as the remaining gates are only about 1 km from the center. There are also several parks that were once outside the city. The big one in Berlin used to be the royal hunting grounds and the best known one in Munich is the traditional site of Octoberfest. Both used to be outside the cities, but as they grew they were enveloped by it. They definitely help break up the monotony of tall grey buildings though and bring some nice green into the city.
I kind of covered the third question a bit in my previous answer, but it is about how waterways affect a cities trade. As I said, water was the lifeblood of trade. Everything was shipped by boats until paved roads, and really in Europe, large trucks just don't fit on the narrow roads designed for pedestrians and perhaps a horse-drawn carriage. For that reason barges are still important for trade. Also water is the main ingredient and beer and few other drinks help people get along better. It's hard to pack a lot of people into a small space without creating tension, but beer definitely helps relieve that tension between strangers, as we saw in the traditional beer halls in Munich where you just sit wherever there is an open seat, even at a table of complete strangers. Honestly I thought it was rather fun and I will miss that atmosphere a lot.
Already here in Belgium we've had a completely different drinking experience. We went to a hole-in-the-wall pub which was literally down a narrow winding alley that led to a tiny door into a small rectangular room. Inside the people were well dressed and were drinking the beer more like it was wine. It was a much more sophisticated atmosphere than the boisterous beer halls of Munich, but it was also nice for me to be able to understand what people were saying. I must say remembering my French is more difficult than I thought it would be. If I think about it too much it just slips away, but when Kali'e asked me for a specific word, it popped out before I could really think about it and it was right. Hopefully that means that when I'm drunk, I'll be speaking fluent French again :)

The Brewing Process

Here I'm going to outline the long and arduous process that is brewing. The story of beer does not start in a cellar, but in a field. Beer is made of primarily four ingredients, and in Germany with only these four due to the Reinheitsgebot (a brewing law that has been in place since the 1500's): water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. There are two different types of barley and many varieties of hops, but I won't go into that. The first real step to make beer is to take the barley from the fields and malt it. This process soaks the grains in water and starts the germination, which transforms the starches in the grain into sugars. The germination is then stopped by drying and heating the grains, at which point it is usually ships to the brewers. Most brewers start with this malted grain. They grind it down to varying degrees, some making it into a very fine powder, others a more grainy mixture. This is then mixed with water and heated to extract the sugars into the water and finalize the breakdown of starches and proteins. This process is called mashing. Afterward, the mash is transported to another bin with a false bottom, the lauterton. Here the syrupy sugar-water is separated from the remaining barley husks and pumped into the boiling kettle. The syrupy substance is called wort. For homebrewing, it is much easier to just start with concentrated wort than to start with grains. Then comes the boil where more water is added as are any hops. The total boiling time is usually between an hour and an hour and a half. Bittering hops are added at the beginning of the boil, flavor hops in the middle, and aroma hops at the end. During the boil the alpha acids in the hops, which make the beer bitter, become soluble and disperse into the wort. After the boil the wort is cooled, then placed in the fermenter where the yeast is added. Top-fermenting yeast works at warmer temperatures and only takes 2-3 days to ferment, while bottom-fermenting yeast takes 5-6 days to ferment and works at lower temperatures. Top-fermented beers are typically ales and wheat beers while the bottom-fermented beers are lagers. After fermentation, the liquid can be called beer, but it is still young and probably not the best to drink. It still needs to condition for a week or two before it can be bottled. Once the beer is ripe and ready it can be filtered. There are of course unfiltered beers, but those often to not last as long as the yeast is still working. After filtration comes bottling and then your beer is finally ready to drink!

Augustinerbrau Helles vs. Hadeer Pschorr Brauhaus Helles

I have had the AugustinerBrau Helles several times since coming here to Munich, and I must say that overall it is very good. I have had it both as a draft beer and in a bottle but I will be describing my tasting from a bottle in my hotel room with no extraneous smells and without anything to eat. This bottom-fermented light lager is very light and clear in color. My guess would be a 4 SRM. You can smell the hops in it, but it is not overly hoppy and is complemented by a slight malt aroma. It is highly carbonated and before I start describing it's taste, I must warn that I'm not much of a helles fan in general. The first impression is that of saltiness, followed closely by the bitter flavor of the hops that lingers after you swallow. The sweet malty flavor, however, takes the bite out of the hops and there are no noticable off-flavors. Overall it is a very crisp light beer that is highly drinkable.
The Hadeer Pschorr Brauhaus Helles, on the other hand, was not very drinkable. I'm thankfull I had food in front of me to help finish this beer off. I had this bottom-fermented light lager at the brauhaus itself so it came straight from the tap. It was a bit darker than the Augustiner Helles, probably around 6 or 7 SRM. It was not as carbonated, and right away when I smelled it I detected the DMS off-flavor of creamed corn. This is a flavor that I've had difficulty detecting before so I can only imagine how strong it would be for other people. After the first sip I tasted a mixture of creamed corn and malt, then the bitterness afterward. It was not pleasant and I ate more of the meatloaf I ordered than I would have just to wash down the corn taste.

First Days in Munich

First, I would like to apologize for the lack of pictures, but they take far too long to upload on the slow internet at the hotel so I will have to wait to post them until later. I promise they will be posted! Here and on Facebook!

Now, the last couple days have been pretty relaxed, which is wonderful after the craziness that was Berlin and the fact that I'm getting a slight cold. Taking it easy is just what I needed. Thursday was our traveling day on the train, just a 6 hour ride for most of which I slept. I did get to see a bit of the countryside though and it was beautiful. I was awake when we went through some hills and even got to see some snow among the dense pine trees. Once we got here we walked around the city center and found a traditional Bavarian restaurant. I had some delicious pretzel soup, some cheese spetzle, and of course some beer. I just got the dark beer of that brew house, but I didn't much like it. It had a very strong banana aroma and flavor. We also stopped in at a more traditional beer house where people sit down wherever there is an open spot, even at a table with strangers, and had another beer. The dark beer I ordered here was much better. No banana and very malty with a caramel aroma.
Friday we had most of the day free. My roomies and I went to try to find Schloss Nymphenburg, known as the Versailles of Germany. The place that Google maps told me it was, was obviously not it as we were in the middle of a residential area next to a school. So we walked a bit more until we found the modern art museum which Josie was very interested in. However we found out that it was only 1E to get in on Sunday, which is our free day, so we got directions to Nymphenburg instead and took the very long tram ride there. It was freezing cold in Munich so we stopped to buy hats as well, and a good thing too because it started snowing when we got to Nymphenburg. The palace and it's grounds were huge! the museum part we went in was only the oldest and central part, and if it weren't so cold and windy we would have walked through the extensive gardens behind the palace. In the center, the palace was a large square building with lots of closely-spaced windows. On either side, longer, shorter buildings spread out symmetrically to other large, but shorter blocks than the center. The whole thing was probably a good half-mile long, and then more buildings came out from the end to encompass a large front garden, with a fountain and canal, in a semi-circle. Inside was elaborately decorated with gold trim everywhere, large chandeliers, and paintings on every wall and ceiling. It truly was a beautiful palace. My roomies and I made a couple stops for food and warm drinks, managing to get our message across with limited German, though I remembered the word for "black" or "dark", "schwartz" after ordering so many dark beers so I could help order black tea. I also remembered the word for "check," or else we might still be sitting in that small cafe. I find it funny that they will just let you sit there forever without coming around to ask if you are ready to leave. I can see how it would seem rude to many Germans the way our waiters and waitresses come around all the time and how that would seem pushy. The Germans certainly take their time with meals. For dinner we went to another traditional brew house, Augustina Brewery. This one was a lot roudier and to get up from the table to go to the bathroom, people on the benches had to scoot toward the table while people walked on the benches behind them. It was packed and the food was delicious. When we ordered beer, I just got the size I was used to, the 0.5L, without realizing that they had a 1L mug. So then I had to get the 1L, called a "mass." It was a lot of beer, and a good thing that I liked it.
This morning we had a walking tour of the city. It was very informative, with lots of fun stories about the different historical buildings. I found it surprising that 65% of the city had been damaged by bombs since most of the buildings in the center looked old, but that was because they rebuilt them to look that way. I was impressed that they decided to keep their history that way. I was also interested in the rectangular blocks with writing I was seeing on the sides of the churches in the center of the city. It turns out that before the plague, there were cemeteries around the church, but after the plague they got rid of them and put them outside the city, but they kept the gravestones and mounted them on the side of the church. At the end of the tour we got to see the Schaefflertanz, or barrel-maker's dance. This only happens every seven years in January and February so we were really lucky to see it. I didn't get to see much because of the crowd, but it comes from after the plague, the barrel-makers were brave and the first ones out dancing in the streets to celebrate and let everyone else know it was ok to come out. They had iron barrel hoops decorated with pine branches like a wreath and danced with them. We went to Hoffbrauhaus for lunch and had more good food and I was the only one to get a mas, though this time it was on accident as I pointed to the dark beer without realizing that the small one was on the other page. Oops. Had to drink it anyway. Oh darn. ;)

Breweries, Breweries

Since my last post we have visited four breweries: two brew pubs and two big brew factories. On Sunday we went to Brauhaus Spandau in Berlin and saw the old copper brewing kettles they've been using forever, along with a visible open fermentation room which was really cool and the only one we've seen. All others are closed fermentation. We got to taste both their light and dark lagers and both were delicious. The tour was really interesting as it had a very similar set up to the old brewery at the museum. Then we had the afternoon free so most of us went to the Jewish Museum which not only had exhibits on the holocaust, but also the history of the Jewish people in Germany and their culture. I found it both fascinating and moving, especially the holocaust tower, a dark, unheated room with the only light a small slit in a corner near the ceiling. Being alone in the near black room that towered overhead made me feel overwhelmingly small and a bit frightened alone. It was a relief to step back into the museum that was well lit and full of people. There was also the Garden of Exile which was outside and was a bunch of square stone columns with trees growing out of the top on slanted ground. The slantedness of the garden made it difficult to walk through the columns and though you wanted to walk under the trees it was very dark and slippery and I usually had to catch myself on the stone to keep from falling. It gave me a very strange feeling that I'm not sure I could describe.

On Monday we went to VLB, the German brewing school in Berlin where you can become a certified brewer. We were there on the first day of classes for the international students so not only did we get a tour and a sensory panel to test our tasting abilities, we also went to an open forum with some of the big wigs of the brewing industry, including marketing and equipment production and distribution. I think my favorite part was the tour of the laboratories where the tested the different characteristics and ingredients in the beer. I found myself planning how to turn one of our labs at Linfield into a beer-testing lab. We already have most of the equipment so it would be very easy. It was very interesting, but I was too tired after to stay for the reception which I'm slightly sad I missed. I did get to back to the hotel and nap though so I could go out for karaoke! We went to the Irish pub not far from the hotel and I sang "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine. I thought it was awesome and it seemed to pump up the energy in the place as all we were hearing since we came in were slow songs. After being unable to convince my fellow students to sing something, I also did Billy Joel's "Still Rock and Roll to me" but it was not quite as energetic. I had a black and tan at the pub and then a regular Guinness, which tastes very different from the Guinness we get in the US. The foam almost tasted like chocolate, it was so rich and creamy. The whole beer was. 

Yesterday we took a train to Leipzig where we toured two breweries: Reudnitzer Brewery and Bayerischer Banhof. The Reudnitzer Brewery was the first big brewery we had seen and it was huge! One of the fermentation tanks could hold more beer than one person could drink in a life time if they started at infancy and drank 33 0.3L beers a day until they died of very old age. And they had a lot of them. Bottle everywhere too! The assembly line of the bottling plant was mesmorizing. I found it funny that even though everything is bigger, the process is exactly the same: mill the grain, mash the wort, boil for an hour adding hops, cool, ferment, condition, and bottle/serve. 7 steps that I feel will be repeated over and over as we tour more breweries, but it will be interesting to see the differences in machinery and small parts of the process. For the first time we got to see hop extract as the other brewery had hop pellets, and it smelled strong! Also the Reudnitzer had a cultish beer called Sternburg which the fans had created an entire room and much more for. It kind of felt like hipter's love for PBR, but with a beer that is actually drinkable. Then we went to Bayerischer Banhoff which is a small brew pub that is housed in an old train station that was badly damaged in the war and remodeled after reunification. There we had lunch and tried Gose, a sour/salty beer that is only found in this area. It was actually very drinkable, and not as salty as I had expected but still sour. The brew master that gave us a tour even said they export some to 24 of the states so I suggest you take a look! It is very unique and you might not like it because of the sourness that comes from lactic acid made by bacteria. In the old days the bacteria was put live into the beer to make the lactic acid and it gave people the runs, but don't worry. Nowadays we know better and the lactic acid bacteria are kept separate while they do their thing and the lactic acid is extracted and cleaned before being put in the beer :) I really like the brewmaster at this pub as you could just feel his passion for beer as he took us proudly through his pub and explained all the equipment and processes. I must say the day was a lot of walking as we didn't have public transport passes in Leiptzig and had to traipse back and forth across the town to the breweries. This made us very tired so of course we had to stop and have more beer! We got to go to the bar under the city hall, which has a special name but I can't remember it. It was very nice under there and I had a nice dark beer. Most of the others had another Gose but from a different brewer and they said it was much more salty and they didn't like it as much.

Today we went to the Schultheiss Brewery and went on a tour there. I thought it was very similar to Reudnitzer, though it was much bigger, but the equipment and process was much the same. However they had a cool PowerPoint that helped explain things in detail and laid out the whole process at once which was very helpful. They also make a very fine powdery wort which they then have to filter before boiling, a little different from the last brewery. We then got to taste all of their different beers, all of which I liked an many of which I had already bought in Berlin as they are a Berlin brewery. The Markescher Landmann is still my favorite by far but the Berliner Kindl bock is also very good, as was the Berliner Pilsner. Now it's off to pack as we are going to Munich tomorrow! I'm sorry I don't have time to post pics now, but I will get them up as soon as I can!

A Second Full Day

 Entrance to the Club. No idea what the name of it was. I just know I got a G stamped on my arm.

 This is a view from the top floor of the brewery of the brew kettle where both the mashing and boiling steps took place

 More far away views of the equipment. I was impatient.

 This was the equipment used to mill the grain, or crush it up so it could be used to make malt.

 Hops!

 This was the cooling basin. The hot wort was poured in and cooled before being drained for further cooling on the floor below.

 This I believe was called a malter. It helped separate the grains from the malt.

 Another view of the boiling kettle. This setup, btw, made 1,400 L batches of beer.

 Me and the brew kettle. Best friends!

 This was the strangest sink i'd ever seen. I had to take a picture. I don't know it's significance in the brewing process as it didn't seem to be connected to anything.

 Some of the machinery behind the pipes.

 Hydrometers! Used for measuring density of the beer.

 The machinery underneath the brew kettle, which was heated with steam. This was a stirring device in the bottom of the kettle.

 The machines behind the madness. There are a couple pumps but most of the flow goes with gravity.

 The is the awesome counter-current cooler! It cooled the beer from around 70 C to 6 C from top to bottom in a matter of seconds. The bag thing on the left is a sort of strainer to catch stray hops or grains from the beer and Brian is translating enthusiastically for us.

 This is the filter for the finished beer.

 The second fermentation or resting cask where sediment settles out before the beer is filtered.

 A really cool bottle labeler.

 The first fermentation cask. the cooled beer is put in, brought to the correct temperature via a coil with water running through it in the cask. Ale's need to be warmer for fermentation and lagers cooler.

 Bottling apparatus

 More bottle stuff. A cleaner I think.

 And then the beer was off to the masses! 4200 bottles per batch!

 My roomies and I with our new family at the museum.

 This is a really beautiful square with two old cathedrals and an opera house. They were flattened durring the war bur were completely rebuilt as they had been before.

 Oldest University in Berlin. Very impressive buildings all around.

 A better picture of the first Catholic church in Berlin.

 This is a memorial for the books burned in this square by the Nazis. And the act of banning and burning books in general I think. 

 Berliner Bear! The bear is the symbol of Berlin and this looked like a pretty old one as this is the oldest part of Berlin. Unfortunately much of the quarter had to be rebuilt in imitation of the medieval building that occupied this quarter before the war.

 Nikolai Church. The oldest church in Berlin. It had to undergo major reconstruction after the war as well.

 A cool seal outside the church. No idea what it is.

 My delicious beer with lunch.

 The famous elephant gate at the Berlin Zoo.

Yesterday I didn't get a chance to give my overall impression from the tour. I really felt how much the war destroyed this city, and because of the division of the Cold War, it delayed thier recovery from the war significantly on both sides of the wall. There was so much history and culture destroyed in the war, even though there has been a great effort to recover it, rebuilding things the way they were before they were bombed flat, the city just does not feel like any other European city I've been to. The complete mixture of modern and ancient is dominated by the modern, or at least the post 1945 and in the east part of the city, post 70's and 80's. This city is also so international. There are parts of every culture here. One thing that really struck me was the central park. As we were driving through I saw that all the trees were relatively young. Our tour guide later told us that most of the trees were bombed out durring the war, and the rest were chopped down to be burned for warmth the year afterward. The trees all where replanted later, but it will take centuries for these trees to grow to replace the ones that were lost. I hope those trees have the chance to grow forever, but I think much was lost here that Berliners will never get back.
After struggling with the password for the Wi-Fi at the bakery down the street from the hotel (Schokokuchen. Not Schokokucheh or Schokokucnen.), I finally was able to post something, finishing just seconds before the bakery closed. Then I went to find somewhere to get some cash. After trying a closed bank and asking someone (in English, I still don't even know how to say "sorry" or "excuse me" in German) I finally found an ATM and got myself some Euros. I then went to a nearby grocery store and, like a true college student, bought a bit of bread, some camenbert, chocolate, and soda. It was all less than 5E, but all I had was a 50E bill. The cashier asked if I had anything smaller (I assume) and i just shrugged appologetically as I realized I really only could count to ten and say "hello" and "goodbye," "please" and "thank you." And "Prost" whatever that means. It certainly did not seem appropriate.
After delaying several times, we finally departed to Kreuzberg, a section of the city known for it's bars and dance clubs, at 10pm. We were looking for a specific bar and walked all the way past the well lit streets and bars. We finally asked for directions and were pointed to a building covered with rude graffiti that looked like an abandoned crack house. We decided to head back to the well lit bars, crowded into a small bar and ordered beers. At 12:30 we headed to the club, but had to take the subway to get there. We even got beers to go to drink on the subway. When we got on, people were playing music and singing, then at the next stop to very loud drunk guys got on. They seemed to be arguing about something. I think someone told them to calm down or something and one of the drunk guys started shouting insults at him. Then the man grabbed the drunk guy's neck and started choking him and before we knew what was happening the drunk guy had a knife out. It was pretty scary, but the other drunk guy stopped him and they got off at the next stop. Crazy. We all made it to the club safe though and it looked pretty sketch from the outside. But inside it was pretty nice and it should have been for a 10E fee to get in! The drinks were pricey but the music and dancing was fun. A little unexpected. There was no close dancing at all. People had their dancing bubbles and did not want them popped. We finally got back to the hotel at 4am, right when the club was starting to pick up. when we got there at 1am, there was hardly anyone there. I really had fun though, but I didn't have any remarkable beers while i was out. Some cheap pilsners and a light bock.

Today we started with class at 10:30am. Thankfully our proffesors are kind to us, letting us sleep in after our night out on the town. Luckily it was the lesson on chemistry so I didn't have to strain my brain too much.Then we went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin (kind of like the Museum of Science and Industry) to see the brewery exhibit. It was really interesting to learn that just two people ran this little brewery easily. Another fun fact was that they only had one little electric engine that powered all of the necessary pumps from 1910 to 1990 when the brewery retired it's equiment to the museum. The pictures show all of the different equipment and we had a really nice security guard give our group a tour which the proffesors translated for us. Afterward we went in search of a certain pub for a presentation and lunch. Unfortunately, the subway we took stopped before we could get to our stop because it was under repairs, so we had to walk quite a ways to get there, but we did get to see some of the things from the bus tour up close so that was cool. Finally we got there and I ordered the Markischer Landmann. it was a clear black beer with a crisp white head and red highlights. Very beautiful in the glass. It's smell was intriguing and I really struggled to place it. It seemed slightly malty but there was definitely something else to it. Maybe a woodiness. It tasted rather salty to me at first but again there was another taste to it, or maybe a blend of several that I couldn't identify. It was deliciously complex with a dry finish that left a powder-coated feeling in the mouth. I really enjoyed this beer and when I shared it around, everyone else seemed to too. After stuffing our faces with delicious food we got to listen to Emma's presentation on Berliner Weisse, which was the first beer I had in Berlin. I learned that it had been much more popular than it is today and it has become very difficult to find without syrup, though we got to taste some today. In the US however, it's very difficult to find with syrup. It seems to slowly be making a comeback though as breweries in America are starting to make it and it will always be a hit in Berlin where it was first brewed. I also learned that it's pairings depend on the syrup flavor, but it typically goes with light salads and citrus-based seafood dishes. The most common syrups are woodruff (a lemony/woody flavor), and rasberry. Tomorrow I get to do my presentation on Brewing Behind the Iron Curtain. Should be a lot of fun!

A Pleasant Drive

 Victory Column built by the Prussians. It's in the middle of what used to be the royal hunting grounds and is now a really big park.

 I think this was the prime ministers house... but I'm not entirely sure. It sure looks like an important government building.

 This building was nicknamed the pregnant oyster. I think it's some sort of concert hall.

 Apparently it was also called Jimmy Carter's smile.

 The German Parliament Building

 The Chancellery. It's the equivalent of the White House.

 Parliament Offices

 The front of the Chancellery

 Guardian of a cool old bridge that wasn't destroyed during the war.

 The central train station. We'll be leaving from here next week for Munich.

 A street that shows some of the blending I talked about in my earlier post. Cobblestone street, cement sidewalk. Modern building next to stone, etc. You can also see a canal, which are all over the city.

 The Brandenburg Gate. The last of the gates into the city of Berlin. It was on the east side and every building around it was destroyed during the war. After the wall came down all new buildings were built around the square, including the US embassy.

 Look! Horses!

 The US Embassy. Apparently they had to divert the street behind the building for security purposes. Silly Americans.

 A boulevard. The gate is behind me and ahead is Alexander platz, where there used to be a palace. It is currently being rebuilt as it was destroyed during the war, but the layout reminded me of the Champs-Elysee in Paris with the Arc de Triumph at one end and the Palace at the other.

 The Holocaust memorial. I plan to go back and walk through it.

 The first Catholic church in Berlin was designed after the Parthanon in Rome. I found this really interesting due to the Christianity class I took last term.

 Berlin still has lots of old museums.

 Here are a couple pics of a Lutheran church. Very pretty.

 Another Museum

 And another museum.

 And again. It was an island full of museums but they are really cool old buildings.

 Another old church

 The Berlin City Hall

 I think I just took a picture because we stopped. So I could get a clear one.

 A large section of the Berlin wall.

 More Wall

 And again. That's my classmate Josie. sort of looks like that scene from Schindler's list though with the red jacket.

 A cool bridge. 

 This side of the wall had art instead of graffiti.

 More wall.

 The cool bridge again.

 Look it's me! And the wall.

 OMG! We're crossing the cool bridge!

 You can't really tell, but the German cars and roads are really tiny. Kind of scary even in a small bus.

 Another old church

 Another old church

 A small square with lots of foreign food places.

 The Jewish museum. I plan to go.

 Another section of wall.

 Where the wall was.

 Views of the city.

 My second beer. Berliner Kindel Bock

The Sony Center dome.

Today we went on a driving tour of the city. We stopped at Brandenburg Gate, a
large section of the Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie. It was very
interesting and I saw a lot of places that I would like to revisit if we have
time. We spent a bit of time at Potsdamerplatz where the tour ended, riding the
fastest elevator in Europe to the top of a 24 floor building to get a panoramic
view of the city. Then we had lunch at a german restaurant where I had a
Berliner Kindel Bock. It did not have much of a head when poured into the glass
and was a very clear, dark brown beer. It's aroma was malty, with perhaps a
touch of caramel, nothing like Brian's beer which smelled and tasted a bit like
burnt bacon. There was no hoppy smell or taste whatsoever. The beer starts sweet
and lingers after as well. Very smooth and clean. The sweetness was probably due
to lack of hops, not to unfermented sugars (as I learned today during the class
activity). It's low carbonation gave it a full-bodied feel but it was not overly
sweet. Overall I really liked this beer.
After lunch we took the Underground to our hotel and had class and tonight we

are hitting the city nightlife! Looking forward to it!