I to the K

My first Berlin nightlife experience is definitely one that should be documented. It all started at our mid-trip group dinner at a Thai restaurant right down the street from our hotel. The food was incredible, and since I have the Beer Snob's sense of adventure when it comes to trying new beers, I went for a Saigon (the menu said it was Vietnameseisch). I am now a huge fan. After I finished that, I moved on to another Pilsner, another recent favorite of mine. Then things really got interesting…

Some of our group members decided to show us a favorite spot from their pub-crawl on Sunday night. Since the German street names are too hard for us to pronounce, let alone remember, we just memorized the directions by the first letter of the street's name: I to the K to the D to the E. The name is Dr. Pong and the game is what I am assuming can only be the German equivalent of beer pong. Get ready UF; we’re bringing it back.

The game goes something like this: In the bar there is one ping-pong table, and everyone that wants to play gets a paddle and circles the table. Then it starts. Everyone walks around the table and takes turns hitting the ball. If you miss, then you’re out (I was out early and often). You play until there are only two people left in the game, and then they play a real game of ping-pong. It is quite the German establishment. We even got Professor Freeman to go with us, and he shocked us all with his mad ping-pong skills (he made it to the finals 3 times).

Today was another day of sightseeing and meeting with interesting people. Some of the girls (and Harrison) made another trip to KaDeWe to eat some delicious desserts on the top floor. We got a variety of different treats and passed them all around the table.

We also went to Mercedes World and the Old Museum where there is an Egyptian exhibit set up. Nefertiti anyone?