Espionage Museum, KaDeWe, Italian Dinner

This morning we had Espionage Museum tickets - a fantastic collection of spycraft tools and stories beginning way back in the day...like ancient Egypt. Fascinating. Curated there: an Enigma machine, a large collection of mini spy cameras, a whole section on James Bond, and dozens of interactive exhibits/missions to find out if you have the smarts to be a spy. (Apparently I have no knack for it.) It was so much fun, aside from all the kids hogging the missions. For almost two hours we immersed ourselves in the history (fact and fantasy) of being an agent, spy, and traitor.

We left the museum and hopped on the U-bahn train system to take us to KaDeWe in the Kurfurstandam neighborhood. Easy Peasy - and really cheap.

KaDeWe...not so cheap. And not so small.  Think about the biggest big box store you've ever been in. Now pile seven of them on top of one another.

I'm not even kidding.

Inside the store, on every floor, were whole sections of brands. Like, on the first floor - which is watches, jewelry, perfume, etc. - there is a Tiffany's store, an Hermes store, a Rolex store, a Chanel store - you get the idea. Every floor boasts luxury brands and beautiful layouts.

Mesmerizing.

But the top two floors are the most amazing things I've ever seen. Food. Brilliant food. Of every kind. From everywhere. You could shop it and take away, or you could order and eat it there. Crazy-pants.

Just one of the cases in the cheese section.

Little pastries/tartlets

Cakes and pies

Chocolates

Some more chocolates

It's an incredible array of gluttony, beautiful and dizzying. How could you even choose? We found a brewery/restaurant and had butter chicken and beer. 

After sweating our asses off - why do they turn up the heat so high over here? - we headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before dinner.  We found a little Italian place down the street that gets really good reviews. And now we know why. Trattoria la Bruschetta - tiny, cozy, delicious.

Tomorrow: Poland!