Left the Topography of Terror museum and glowered down to Potsdamer Platz and the big shopping mall there. One thing I’ll say for the Germans, they know how to do a high class shopping mall. The highest of the high end shops, impossibly beautiful young women handing out free samples of perfume, cigarettes and chocolate, and the seats that tired shoppers sit upon between shops were crafted of rich wood and leather.

There was a very pretty young woman, tall, blonde, smiling and with just a tiny sprinkle of freckles across her snub nose, handing out samples of a new cigarette called “Capone”! They were these dark brown, stubby smokes that came in regular and “Irish creme” flavor. I accepted two of each and a book of Capone matches. I figured, you never know. I was really there just to see that pretty girl smile.

There was another shopping area that our double decker passed and the tour voice described how the German Leader at the time, some kaiser or other had ordered the construction of that area so that it might become a “Champs Élysées of the East”. I found it very telling that Paris is a sort of yardstick for other capitols to judge their progress.

I had some ice cream and wandered around Potsdamer Platz For a bit longer. A lot of German women seem to favor a very short hairstyle. I find it chic and sexy.

After a bit I got back on a city circle double decker and completed my circle of the city. The rain had stopped And I chose a stop near my hotel. I was tired and actually dozed a bit during the last of the tour. By the time I got back to the hotel I was famished and decided I should do something totally German for dinner.

Of course the best laid plans of mice and men blah,blah,blah. I got an email from my manager letting me know that there was a request for me to put myself on tape for a new TV show. So I spent a couple of hours in my Berlin hotel room taping myself on my iPhone, editing on my iPad and saving to my iCloud. Thank you Apple computers for making it so easy to take time off from play for some work.

After all that I was REALLY famished. The concierge suggested a place called Tulkovsky a couple blocks away. I went and was really happy to see that it was a traditional German place that was devoted to the memory of the writer and poet Karl Tulkovsky, and no I had never heard of him until I walked into the place. The barmaid took one look at me and said “Only one? You can sit there or there”, both spots were at the bar. The sign outside said “cash only” and they looked pretty busy so putting an “ace” at the bar is the smart business move. I took a seat at the bar stool furthest from the door, and the barmaid looked at me dutifully. I ordered a large beer and when she brought I told her that this was my first visit to Berlin and I wanted to have a proper German dinner. She nodded as if to say, “mission accepted” and told me that she would order me the pigs knuckle with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. She asked if I wanted that pickled or cooked. I said “surprise me” and she finally smiled. Off she went and I took a long pull ,of beer. It went down easy. As I sipped my beer the barmaid came back with a slim paperback book in her hand. She turned on a reading lamp that was on the wall near my seat adjusted it and handed me the book. “It is the only English we have” I looked at the title, it was a galley proof of the English edition of a collection of poems by Karl Tulkovsky the namesake of the restaurant. I thanked her and commenced reading. The poetry was lovely, a sort of blank verse narrative following a pair of lovers on holiday. The way the lovers talked to each other was enchanting. They had their own secret language the way lovers do. I had been there and reading this made the thought of going there again rather pleasant. I finished my beer while reading and kept reading until the barmaid came back with another beer and a good humored cry of “surprise!” I thanked her and thanked her for the book as well, I was still reading when dinner came, a huge pork knee actually, steaming hot and surrounded by some very fragrant sauerkraut and small boiled spuds with parsley. the barmaid came by, “I surprise you with cooked!”. I smiled and nodded vigorously my mouth being full of pork and cabbage. I ate and drank and enjoyed myself completely. My mood lightened as I watched the barmaid, clearly the person in charge of the place. She ran that restaurant is such a clear and orderly way. She was distinctly female without being overly feminine. She possessed an interesting style and manner that was perfect for the place.

By the time I finished caffe and a desert of ice cream wrapped in marzipan I felt like a new man. I paid the bill and strolled back to the hotel. I remembered those funny looking cigarettes that I had gotten from that pretty girl in Potsdamer Platz. I reached into my bag, got one out and lit up. Thanks god it wasn’t the “irish creme”. I walked and smoked and thought of nothing. It felt good. Strange…now that I was having a smoke, I didn’t notice as much that so many people smoke in Europe. When in Rome, blah,blah,blah.

Back at the hotel it was time to do a little prep. My train for Prague was the next day.