Roderick, Molly, Anna and Natasha venture out today to see more spoils of war at the Pergamon Museum. Roderick is excited; he's interested in Antiquity. Natasha is bored.
"It's just a big temple," she says, gesturing toward the Pergamon Altar. "And they stole it from the Greeks."
"The Turks, actually," says Roderick, helpfully.
"Greeks, Turks, whatever. When will we be done here?"
They move on to the Market Gate of Miletus.
"It certainly is big," says Molly.
"It's mostly fake," says Anna, leafing through her guidebook. "They only found fragments, and filled in the rest with cement."
"The Kaiser liked it," says Roderick. He weighs whether or not to start another discussion about the good things the Kaiser did, but decides against it.
Next, the Ishtar Gate. Natasha is not impressed. "Meh," she says. "It's a gate. So what?" The Aleppo Room is more to her liking. "This tile would look nice in the bathroom."
Roderick wishes to see the Bode, but can't bear listening to Natasha whine, so he proposes they take a walk. Across the Spree they go, along Am Kupfergraben to where it turns into Am Weidendamm; then across the river again to the Schiffbauerdamm.
Just past Bertolt-Brecht-Platz, they spy a restaurant named "Brechts". "I'm hungry," says Natasha. "Let's eat here."
"I don't know," says Molly. "It looks expensive."
"That's what Mr. Mastercard is for," says Natasha. "As far as we're concerned, it's all free."
They are a bit early for the lunch crowd and the place isn't too busy. The hostess seats them and distributes menus. Roderick notes the picture of Bertolt Brecht at the top, and notes the irony that a really fancy restaurant is named for a Communist.
Molly squints. "What is 'Gebackener Pinzgauer Ziegenfrischkäse mit Walnusschantilly und Birnenconfit'?" she asks.
Anna leans toward Molly and whispers: "Um...baked goat cream cheese from Pinzgau with walnut chantilly and pear confit. That's twelve Euros."
"Oh," says Molly. "What's Pinzgau?"
Nobody knows what Pinzgau is.
"Any scrapple on the menu?" asks Roderick.
No scrapple.
Roderick likes the sound of 'Wiener Schnitzel in Limonenbutter gebacken mit lauwarmen Kartoffelsalat und Wildpreiselbeeren'. They serve Wiener Schnitzel at the Red Trolley, usually with a side of scrapple. Just to be safe, he points to the menu and asks Anna to translate.
She reads where Roderick points. "It's a veal cutlet fried in lime butter, and it says its served with lukewarm potato salad and wild cranberries."
Roderick orders the veal. "Can you microwave the potato salad so it's not lukewarm? Oh, and you can keep the cranberries." The waiter doesn't understand English, so Roderick just points.
He likes this restaurant even if it is named after a Commie.
