We made it to Düsseldorf!!’ The apartment is clean and comfortable. The city is absolutely beautiful AND we had some delicious Japanese fast food. Things are looking UP!

To start, we shared chicken ginger cabbage wontons, miso soup, and a small salad. The wontons were awesome- crisp tender outside and gingery chickeny goodness inside!

Adam had sticky chicken over rice with sesame. It was rich and earthy with a pleasant sweetness. The rice was perfect- a little chewy and sticky, yet individual and tender. Adam wished he had MoRE!

I had napa cabbage onion and bean sprout stir fry in a salty, spicy sauce. Wow! It was really delicious- just the veggie fix I’ve been craving! All the veggies were cooked perfectly crisp-tender and the sauce was so full of umami goodness. So satisfying!

We left Berlin at 10am with plenty of time to reach Düsseldorf before 5:30 (we had to meet our neighbor to receive keys to our apartment by 5:30, or find a hotel for the night). We had no idea traffic would be terrible, construction would be endless, and there would be multiple accidents- including an apple truck that spilled apples all over the highway :). Luckily we were on the autobahn, so we drove very fast, of course.

We stopped for gas along the way and quickly grabbed “lunch”. Crackers, cheese, sodas, and some chips. Can’t a girl get some fruit and vegetables?!?!?! Ugh.

Eating on the road is not our preferred method of acquiring calories 😦 We had yogurt and berries in the refrigerator, but it seemed really warm when we went back for our goodies. We chose to avoid food poisoning and have an unhealthy breakfast- coffee, strudel crumble pastry, weird taquito thing.

The coffee and strudel were average, but the taquito thing was great. Crispy layers of thin pastry and sesame seeds wrapped around “Bombay” filling- a curry bean paste. It was really good. Should’ve gotten two and skipped the strudel.

We like to eat foods from other cultures as often as possible- Berlin has delivered:) Tonight, Persian!

I had the vegetarian platter- roasted eggplant, zucchini, and sweet potatoes with salad, olives, tahini, yogurt sauce, hummus, falafel, fried Halumi, pita, and tabouli. An awesome mix of a little of everything. I loved it- especially the falafel with sour yogurt sauce! Adam had the grilled salmon with dilled rice, salad, charred tomato, and pita. His was great, too! We finished the meal with baklava. Typically one of my favorite desserts, but this variety was made with peanuts. Obviously, peanuts are the worst nut. Cheap, not technically a nut! Walnuts would’ve made the baklava edible 😦

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We packed as many sites into one day as possible: “The Wall”, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag Dome, Topography of Terror, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and some soviet art. We needed ice cream! Adam had vanilla. I had mango.

After such a puny breakfast we were getting “Hangry”. Time for some serious food!

Our noses led us to a little pizza place near Checkpoint Charlie. Unfortunately it smelled netter than it tasted, but it did the trick 🙂 Adam had the Parma pizza- Parma ham, Parmesan and arugula. We shared an arugula and tomato salad. I had the fungi pizza- mozzarella, wild mushrooms.

Finally, some really great Asian food!!!! Adam had the beef Pho with a mango-coconut shake. His was a hot and oh-so-satisfying, spicy beef broth with noodles, bean sprouts, and fresh herbs torn and thrown in at the last moment. I had the shrimp and glass noodle salad with a cup of vegetable soup- fresh, clean flavors. Wow, the salad was so fresh – lime, mint, basil, and cilantro with chewy glass noodles and perfectly cooked shrimp topped with seaweed salad!!! I also had the avocado-coconut-mint shake- an unexpected, but splendid combo! Thanks Miss Siam 🙂

We couldn’t miss Berlin’s famed currywurst with fries. It was actually really delicious. Hot and crispy fries with curry catsup and mayo. “Naked” currywurst with curry powder and hot curry catsup. Great lunch at a great price- just €3!