Dinner at Restaurante Pencas

Outdoor interior of the Restaurante Pencas

After a brief rest, I had hunger. "Tengo hambre," as we say in Spanish. I had recommendations from the hotel desk for two "Panamanian" restaurants on the Amador Causeway. Friday night, I chose poorly. Well, not so much poorly as "sub-optimally." Tonight, Saturday night, I chose quite wisely. I chose Restaurante Pencas.

I walked past it Friday because, from the Amador Causeway side, it looked a little too "tiki bar" for my taste, It was closer to my hotel, so I decided my feet could handle the 15-minute walk to the Pencas. My stomach is oh-so-happy my feet did.

Why was this such an excellent meal?

Cerveza Balboa

It wasn't the beer. Last night I had a Panama beer. It was terrible. It was so weak and thin it made Corona seem like Guiness in comparison. The Balboa was still a little "light" for my taste, but it did have some flavor.

No, the reason why this was such an awesome "I'll remember this dinner for the rest of my life" good was the appetizer course:

Ceviche de Pulpo

Ceviche de Pulpo. Yes. Octopus. Octopus is not just for Croatian salads anymore. I am dead serious when I say that this Ceviche de Pulpo was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. It is right up there with the Raspberry Shortcake from some diner in Ironwood, Michigan. Or the Pag lamb at the Hotel Tony. They used an orchard of limes on just this single dish of ceviche. It was as sour it could get without crossing the line into "too sour." The sweet onions tasted very mild after their citric acid soak. And the pulpo, the octopus, was very very tender.

When I placed my order, the waiter -- without knowing my intent was too eat as Panamanian of food as I could find -- called my order "very traditional," then adding that it was "very Panamanian." My reaction? "Excellent!"

Camarones a la Criolla, with a side order of Patacones

My "traditional" Panamanian order was Camarones a la Criolla, Panamanian style shrimp creole, with a side order of patacones, known as tostones to my Cuban friends, fried green plantains. And there was a very small Caesar salad on the plate, made, of course, with anchovies.

It was quite delicious. But it was no Ceviche de Pulpo, let me tell you.

Canastas de Almendas

I was going to skip dessert, seeing as I was full and all that, but the waiter brought out a dessert menu instead of the drink menu I requested, so I was powerless to resist. Powerless to resist the power of the Canastas de Almendas. It translates to the less-delicious sounding "almond baskets." It was an almond cookie, with a layer of whipped cream on the bottom (!) then a giant scoop of strawberry ice cream and a bunch of delicious sweet strawberries and some chopped nuts. My waiter asked me what kind of ice cream I wanted, chocolate or strawberry. When I said "chocolate," he made a face. So I asked which he recommended, and he said "strawberry." He was right. Chocolate would not have worked as well. It would have taken over. A perfect ending to an incredible meal.

The walk to the restaurant was nice, too. The sun had finally come out.

Ancon Hill off in the distance

Ancon Hill was visible in the distance. Ancon Hill, with its giant Panamanian flag flying at the summit, dominates the Panama City skyline.

Soldier staring at the canal waters

The canal waters glistened -- pretentious word there, "glisten" -- in the sun.

South Korea / Panama friendship pagoda

Even the pagoda de friendship looked better in the sun.

Surrey coming right for me

People were out on the walk along the canal. And some were riding surreys! We had a surrey when I was kid. Fringe roof. Pedaled like a bicycle. These surreys did have the fringe roof, but they were two bicycles side by side with a two rows of benches on them. I want.

Rugby being played

Some folks were out playing rugby.

And this one child was swatting a mango tree with a stick.

Mango tree being given corporal punishment by a young child

Why? Because the sun was finally shining on Panama City. And that was reason enough.

The multi-colored Biomuseo

El Biomuseo

Next stop. Biomuseo. Also known as "Museo de la Biodiversidad en Panama," or if you prefer, "The Museum of Biodiversity in Panama."

No smooth lines these

There are plenty of reasons for me, Robert P. Spretnak of Las Vegas, Nevada USA, formerly from Beaver Falls USA, to hate the Biomuseo, First of all, it's a Frank Gehry monstrosity.

Not as colorful looking up

Frank Gehry is a "star-chitect" who specializes in extraordinarily ugly buildings (think the Brain Building in downtown Las Vegas) that jarringly contrast with their surroundings and, simply, just don't fit in where they are placed. But that's OK here.

Still colorful in the outdoor interior of the museum

It is on the Amador Causeway, comfortably away from the rest of Panama City. It's jarringly bright colors do stand out, but there's nothing to nearby to make for the requisite Frank Gehry-nails-on-chalkboard clash.

Located way-faraway from the downtown skyline of Panama City

And it does have a section of the museum dedicated to that evergreen idea that humans are destroying all life on the planet as we continue to wipe out species. But that's only section of the museum. And while they mention, they don't dwell on it. So that's nice.

But there are two sections of this museum that make it absolutely fascinating. First is the discussion of plate tectonics and how the Isthmus of Panama was formed. (SPOILER ALERT: islands south of North America arose from volcanic activity and as the North American plate and South American plate moved closer together, the islands became a solid landmass connected to the continents.) Second is an awesome discussion of the clash of species immediately after the Isthmus of Panama was formed and, suddenly, there was a culture clash between the North American species and the South American species (which were especially weird -- Australia-like weird -- due to what had been extreme isolation of that continent). Saber-toothed tigers (from North America) suddenly came face-to-face with giants sloths (from South America) in an epic battle royale largely fought on the Isthmus of Panama. Something to which I really hadn't given much thought, until I was in appropriate space to think about it.

Rear view, or canal-side view

It was time to leave and I decided to take the walking trail alongside the canal -- what amounted to my canal trip for this tour -- headed back for the Country Inn.

Bridge of the Americas (L), Biomuseo (R)

I decided to take a walk along the canal-side.

Experimental selfie with new camera where I can't see the screen while I selfie

I was accompanied by a few of many chins.

I did find some honorific statuary. Yay!

Gabriel Lewis Galindo in the form of honorific statuary

This is Gabriel Lewis Galindo, a Panamanian diplomat who was significantly responsible for negotiating the treaty with Jimmy Carter turning the canal over to the people of Panama. Quite appropriate that his honorific statue looks out upon the canal.

Stuck in pagoda

And I walked past a concrete pagoda. Why, you may ask, is there a concrete pagoda?

A token of South Korean/Panamanian friendship

It was a gift from the Republic of Korea to Panama.

And what's that I see lying still in the waters of the Panama Canal?

Artsy shot of the canal

Boats!  And they aren't moving. Must be some of that "low water" I heard about. (Or, if you are reading this in reverse chronological order, as is standard for blog posting, you WILL hear about.)

Large container ship behind the smaller boats

However, that said, there was a large container ship that appeared to be traversing the Panama Canal at a rather fast clip.

Bridge of the Americas

But as the Bridge of the Americas got closer, it meant I was back at the Country Inn. Time to rest up after a long day of walking across Panama City instead of floating on the water at a leisurely pace.

Gardening in the Afternoon Sun

Gardening at noon

After a delicious lunch of sausages, sauerkraut and potatoes, it was time to walk Munich.

The weather forecast for the three days in Munich was cold and rainy.  It's been mild, low humidity, partly-to-mostly cloudy, and no sign of rain.  So the weather was right for an outdoor walking tour.  First destination: the English Gardens, or Englischer Garten.  (There are times when the translation between German and English is quite simple.)

Walking there we walk past Odeonplatz, which is quite photogenic.  And I'm not the first to notice that it is photogenic.  This is the plaza from which Hitler would deliver his addresses when visiting Munich.

Odeonplatz

Then through the Royal Garden, or Hofgarten.

Hofgarten, alongside the Munich Residenz, the royal residence in Munich (now museums)

The Munich Residenz have been altered from royal family lodging to museums.  I was outvoted on going to museums.  Damn warm sunshine.  I would've gotten my way if it had been a drizzly rain.

Along the Munich Residenz

Gazebo in the gardens

Gazebo (closer)

From there we continued the walk toward the Englischer Garten.

City gates always make for a great photograph

Or two

The Englischer Garden is huge.  It is the size of Central Park (so we were told) the largest urban park in Europe.  Its name is from the fact that it is an English "style" garden, which means more wild and natural, than a French "style," which is more orderly and organized.  The one main attraction in the Englisher Garten is the Great Pagoda:

Lots of people at the Great Pagoda

The Great Pagoda is a bandstand, with a traditional Bavarian style band playing on the second level.

It's a bandstand

Sadly, you can't go up in the Great Pagoda, unless you are carrying traditional Bavarian instruments.

Dining in the shadow of the Great Pagoda

Plenty of people drinking super-sized mugs and glasses of beer in the shadow of the Great Pagoda.

The Englischer Garten is full of nature that is beautiful to look at, but not very evocative in photographs.

Random family on a bridge

For example, here is a gurgling waterfall.

Waterfalls-rapids hybrid in the Englischer Garten

OK.  That ends the nature tour.