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?

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Is it just me or do you also prefer travelling by bus rather than by train?
Tell us in the comment section!

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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!

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Carnival of Cultures

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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!

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I bought myself a so-called wooden croaking frog which was handmade in Thailand!

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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!

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Sushi Festival

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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!

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There is a huge discrepancy between bad and good sushi!

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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!

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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!

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The famous Monsieur Vuong!

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Another really nice spot in Berlin which I want to share with you is a Vietnamese restaurant that is actually quite famous: Monsieur Vuong!

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According to my researches even Brad Pitt and Jack Nicholson had the pleasure to eat there!

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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!

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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!

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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

Noogie