Tuesday 23 December 2008

Kitsch and Klopse on top of the Fernsehturm

At many times of the year it's difficult to get to the top of Berlin's television tower and its revolving restaurant without queuing, but tonight we managed it and it was great fun in a kitsch rather 1970s sort of way. I think the most kitsch moment for me was listening to Christmas canned music and realising that the version of Silent Night playing while looking over the German capital was an American English version. (Stille Nacht was originally written in German in case you wondered.)
Anyway the Fernsehturm was built by the East Germans for the 20th anniversary of the founding of the country in 1969 and the interior décor is very much of that era. It was fun to be up there looking at the Christmas lights, listening to people at other tables saying "hey, that's where the wall used to go ..."
I ate more delicious root vegetables with my meal, warm fresh beetroot with sour cream served as a side order to Berlin's traditional Königsberger Klopse. It's one of the few dishes which I really like that I have never attempted to make - mainly because Dr B doesn't like capers which are in the sauce. Anyway here's a recipe. Königsberg used to be part of Prussia but is now called Kaliningrad. It was home to philosopher extraordinaire Immanuel Kant, not sure what he would have had to say about kitsch restaurants though.

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