Hello Steemies!
After I survived my latest examination period I decided to make a short trip to Berlin, the capital of Germany.
The Carnival of Cultures, a promising Sushi-Festival and some good vibes - what else do you want?
So my journey started with a three-hour-long drive from Hamburg to Berlin by FlixBus since it is much more comfortable to me than travelling on a train. FlixBus as such is a quiet popular thing here in Germany, how is it in your region?
Is it just me or do you also prefer travelling by bus rather than by train?
Tell us in the comment section!
Arriving in Berlin, I took the shortest way straight to my hotel – Here is a picture:
Thankfully, I got a decent hotel with a really central location - it was a last-minute snip! I was able to reach most of the attractions afoot while the Carnival of Cultures took place almost next to my hotel. So let’s start my brief report!
Carnival of Cultures
So the Carnival of Cultures is an annual, urban festival that takes place for about four days around Pentecost and it reflects the cultural diversity Berlin offers as a big city. The organizers themselves proclaim that this festival is open to everybody and all forms of cultural expression. It is regarded as a platform for a proud expression of hybrid cultural identities, containing traditional and contemporary elements – so it includes and attracts all age groups, professional artist and amateurs! Everybody is able to sign up for this event and take part.
All four days a street festival takes place at the Blücherplatz in the district of Kreuzberg. You can enjoy music and food from almost every single culture and there are a lot of handmade things to buy!
I bought myself a so-called wooden croaking frog which was handmade in Thailand!
The actual highlight of this event is the huge street parade that takes place during the Pentecost Sunday. This parade takes about 4 hours since almost every single nationality is presented – this flashed me so much that I even forgot to take pictures! But I got one picture whilst I was following the Jamaican one! Have a look:
Pretty crowded, isn’t it?
Such a wonderful experience to see different ethnics and nationalities chime together so well!
Sushi Festival
Another event I was really hyped about was a sushi festival. Simply because I love sushi!
As a young lad I hated sushi since my Mum brought me once a plate of sushi made my NordSee, a company that evidently has absolutely no idea of how to make good sushi. It tasted awful!
About a year ago I got invited to a Japanese restaurant, which was the perfect opportunity to give it another try – and it was fabulous!
There is a huge discrepancy between bad and good sushi!
So the event took place in a closed, courtyardish place and you had to pay 4 bucks as a “culture contribution” to get in. The queue was pretty long and did not get any shorter!
The atmosphere was wonderful - I really enjoyed it! Unfortunately it was forbidden to take pictures inside, so I was just able to take a few you can see here.
There were a lot of tasty dishes to try out – just have a look at the pictures!
Embarrassing: There was a guy who had a katana wrapped on his back. When I approached him to ask, whether this is a real katana, he told me, it is an umbrella – I got tricked!
The famous Monsieur Vuong!
Another really nice spot in Berlin which I want to share with you is a Vietnamese restaurant that is actually quite famous: Monsieur Vuong!
According to my researches even Brad Pitt and Jack Nicholson had the pleasure to eat there!
It is a small and comfy restaurant … with an always changing menu card!
Every two days the menu is varied, so there is always something new you can eat to discover the traditional Vietnamese kitchen!
I got myself a traditional soup with beef called “Pho”, some extraordinary spring rolls and a matcha-coco-dessert with crumbled, caramelized nuts! As tasty as it sounds like!
This should really not be compared to the fast-food “Asian” restaurants that use a lot of glutamate and falvour enhancer. That has nothing to do with traditional Asian food!
That’s the brief summary of the main things I’ve experienced during my Berlin trip and I hope you enjoyed it! Next time I will definetly take more pictures - I promise!
Have you ever been to Berlin? What do you connect with this city? I'm curious about your experience!
See you soon! #SteemOn