Dinner in the Dark

For my 32nd Birthday Michael told me to get a baby sitter he had a surprise for me. Michael is horrible at keeping secrets and he asked me about 20 times if he should just go ahead and tell me what the surprise was.... amazingly enough we both held out. So on the evening of my birthday I started getting ready, Stella insisted that I get dressed up. I kept asking Michael what I should wear and he just kept telling me it really didn't matter, but Stella persisted so I even put on heels. We dropped the kids off at a friends house(thanks friend) and headed to Koln. Still having no idea where we were going we walked up to a tiny sign that said Dinner In the Dark! Agh we had just watched a TV show that was making fun of a similar place and by the way I am slightly afraid of the dark! Michael could have emphasized that it Really didn't matter what I was wearing, because no one would see it!
   We walked in and were seated with champagne and then waited at our table with only a few small candles burning down until all the guest were seated. The last table to arrive was a group of 18 Italians, and with that the lights went out....
   So let me paint you a picture a very black picture... there was not even the smallest glimmer of light in the room if your eyes were open or shut it did not matter either way you saw the same thing, pitch black. Did I mention that you did not know what was on the menu... surprise
   So here we are in the dark with a German speaking waiter next to a table full of Italians groping in the dark for our food. They set the first course in front of us, and with one bite I spit out something slimy ... Michael took a bite and said "don't eat that".... if Michael says don't eat something you know! not to eat it. We never saw the plate but we believe it was a salad with Octopus or some other sea creature on it. We stabbed around eating bits of lettuce and tomato and avoiding the parts we were not sure of. Next up thankfully was a bowl of soup the waiter placed the bowl in front of us and then set out hands directly on it .... I guess so we would not spill it all over ourselves. Our main course arrived, a couscous and beef stewish combination (very different flavors than anything in an American restaurant.) and for desert even though I was holding out hope for a big slice of chocolate cake it was some banana parfait blah! The meal took 2 hours it was an interesting experience but not one I wish to repeat any time soon. My hearing was on overdrive taking it all the Italian next to us and trying to understand our waiter, it gave me a little bit of a headache.
It does help to give a little perspective because all the waiters are really blind I only spent 2 hours in a world they spend their whole lives in. When we picked up the kids later that evening our friend had helped them make chocolate cupcakes for my Birthday YAY! I got chocolate cake after all.