Berlin 2013 Day 5: My Sister is an International Star

I believe I misled you with my last post, in which it appeared that the friendship sparked up with the Irishman was as a result of my feisty comeback and his enjoyment thereof.  I suppose that had a bit to do with it, but what really had him over the edge was when I told him that my sister had once been the "New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Rose of Tralee" entrant.  Since we were in the conference when I told him, his initial reaction was one of reserved shock, but shock nonetheless.  It wasn't until later in the evening, when the effects of several glasses of red wine had begun to show their impact on my new friend, that the true depth of his amazement began to come through.  "You know" he said, "it's sort of like you are royalty.  Or like a Kennedy".  I'm not shitting you.  This highly educated, well-regarded professor of international law thought that my having a sister in the Rose of Tralee Festival was world beating.  So I got that going for me.

I have not formally exercised today, as I believe I put a conservative four miles of walking in, which should suffice.  From the hotel lobby where I wrote the last post, I proceeded to the Berlin Zoo, which has a well-deserved reputation as a great city zoo (see John Ennis for worldwide zoo recommendations).  I spent a few hours ambling around the zoo, looking in on my favorite animals (cats, penguins, apes/monkeys) and enjoying a beautiful day (the weather here has been very nice this week, I am told).  Having not eaten anything solid, at 1630 I headed to the "authentic German" restaurant (Tiergarten Quelle) that I thought about going to my first night here, which was right around the corner from the zoo.  Reviewed favorably on Yelp (4.5 stars out of 5), it turned out to be a great decision.  Not much to look at, but the food was superb.  I had a pork schnitzel cordon bleu that was out of this world. 

After that (I can't decide if I should call it lunch or dinner....I guess it depends on if I eat again, which I am hoping not to).I took a long stroll through the Tiergarten back to my hotel room, where you find me now.  One of the things I discovered about my immediate environment is that it is essentially "Embassy Row", with a number of large and important looking buildings around it.  Heavy security at embassies is apparently not just an American phenomenon, as all of them were like fortresses.  Except maybe the Italian, which looked a little soft.

And now I am in my room, enjoying my last night in Berlin.  Unfortunately, I have a good bit of work to do, so I'll probably just stay slaved to this little box upon which I type, before packing my things to get going in the morning.  Don't know if there will be a post tomorrow or not---though the flight here had WIFI, which means I might sneak one in.