Lesson learned today: Sometimes the best parts of traveling come from the most unplanned and unexpected places.

Today (14.09.2010) is the fourth full day that we have been in Berlin as a class, and while it has been one of the best trips of my life, constant travel can be exhausting.  Our days here have consisted of a class trip to something in the Berlin area for the morning and early afternoon, and then the rest of the day is ours.  Today, we had planned to go to the Berlin Art Museum, and then a smaller group of us would go to the German History Museum and then the Holocaust Memorial and museum, and then go from there.

All of these museums are highly acclaimed for their beauty, detail, and serving their function to the highest degree, and I can agree with all of them.  The art museum had many Renaissance works, which are of interest to me.  The history museum had German life and culture from 100 A.D. to 1990; I love history and could have probably spent two days there.  I was especially moved by the underground Holocaust museum.  But honestly, after four days of constant trips and museums, including three in one day, I was pretty wiped and probably cared more for my bed than the plethora of history and culture in front of me.

After a nap, which was planned for ten minutes but ended up being 3 hours, and waking up completely disoriented, my group decided to get dinner.  It was getting late, about 9 at night, and we had not eaten since noon.  We passed some coupons in our hotel and grabbed one for an Indian restaurant in east Berlin.  Why not? Prices seemed right, and Indian food would be a nice change of pace.

That turned out to be the best experience of the day.  The restaurant, called Yogi-Haus, had a great traditional Indian atmosphere, including candles.  And our waiter, as I like to say, was “the man”.  If you are unfamiliar with German culture, most waiters and waitresses will be polite and fairly prompt, but not overly friendly; their goal is efficiency.  Our waiter, after 5 minutes, seemed like an old friend.  We asked about what the best dishes were, and he told us plainly that he really couldn’t say, because they are all very good.  Sure….but as we started eating, he was exactly right.

The best part about our meal was the meal experience.  We had a flat, spicy bread that felt like a chip at first, with a tea on the house.  Then the meal, which I had Bombay Chicken with rice.  This is the best way to describe it: When you have 9 college age students, literally the entire meal talking about how good their food is, it must be near perfection.  And if you’re worried about spicy food, Matt Slentz put it well: Unlike Buffalo Wild Wings, where the spice and flavor hit you at the same time and it’s hard to enjoy, the spiciness comes after the flavor, so it only adds to it.  Well-prepared spicy food seems to be this way.  Also, the drinks were great, and at the end of the meal our waiter brought us mango shots, on the house.  The best food I’ve had so far, period.  For only 10 euros.

If you are in Berlin, I highly recommend “Yogi-Haus”.  You could not do any better.  If you are in the area, you can find them at Belzinger Straße 42.  Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best travel experiences.