Editor's note: When he isn't tending to business at the racetrack, Milwaukee Mile Chairman Craig Stoehr is an avid traveler who regularly visits exotic lands and major cities across the globe. He has agreed to share his adventures with OnMilwaukee.com readers.
BERLIN -- I set off Thursday for 12 days in Europe to reunite with Kolja and Nina, my German friends from my African road trip. For this trip, I am doing a timely blog.
I took American's early morning flight from Chicago to London. I always find it easier to take this flight, as you arrive in London in the evening, and it's easier on your body than the overnight flight.
In London, I stayed at the hotel my stepfather and I visited during my first trip to London as a senior in college -- the Millenium Knightsbridge, on Sloane Street, near Hyde Park, Harrod's and Harvey Nichols -- the premium shopping area in London.
As I arrived late, I turned in for the night when I arrived, but had lunch on Friday with several friends at one of my favorite London restaurants, Belgo Centraal in Covent Garden, where I had a pot of mussels, French fries with mayo, and several Belgian honey beers (for something similar, try Milwaukee's Cafe Hollander).
From London it was on to Berlin, where I met up with Kolja and Nina. After a quick cigar at the Westin Grand Hotel, we went to the Corner, a fashion boutique where we met one of Kolja's friends Stefan, a senior executive with Baldessarini, a division of Hugo Boss.
It was fashion week in Berlin, and attending the party was Lapo Elkann, heir to the Fiat-Ferrari fortune (Google him if you want to know more), and Boris Becker's ex-wife.
From there, it was on to the Capital Club (Berlin's most exclusive private club), Newton (a restaurant-bar owned by German fashion photographer Helmut Newton) and Borschadt, a Berlin dining institution where we enjoyed the largest plate of Wiener Schnitzel I have ever seen, dining next to Germany's Oprah Winfrey.
Being pretty tired, we turned in for the evening, preparing for our Saturday flight to Riga, Latvia.
