The Berlin Carnival of Culture was a hoot to see. We spent seven glorious days in this wonderful capital city brimming with history. Our visit gave us a good taste of the city, and better yet, it left us wanting to return. This is always the kind of visit we hope for whenever we go to a new place.
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Berlin First Impressions:
Due to some language problems with the guide at the bus stop, we ended up in a much different part of town. A part of town where we could not find anyone who spoke English. I mean, nobody! l was already saying “I hate this city!”. We did have our first taste of the very delicious currywurst. We were at our wits end when, out of the blue, we heard some Italian being spoken by a group of 2 women and one man passing by.
My husband stopped them, a flurry of Italian was spoken, and they were kind enough to point us upstairs to the train. Turns out, the train runs in a circle. Just as we were about to get on one, we heard the Italian guy yelling for us to stop. He had run upstairs after us and apologized for not telling us the right direction and said to wait for a train on the other side. Thank God he did, we were only 3 stops away from where we needed to be. Had we gotten on the first train, we would have had to sit through like 20 stops to round out the circle. Whew!!! How nice of him!
The rest of the week flew by. There was the yearly Berlin Carnival of Culture festival that weekend in Kreuzberg, which was the area we stayed at. I had planned the visit so we would be able to catch it, as l’d heard it was a nice colorful affair. We were not disappointed. They really know how to party. We met up with Victoria, theBritishBerliner blogger, her son, along with another friend of hers and watched the parade together.
What a load of fun! How nice to connect in real life with people you meet through the online blogging world! We made it through 34 of the 84 floats, before heading for the food area. There were about 700,000 spectators they said. Looked like more to me! If you ever visit Berlin around Carnival time, you should definitely make some time to enjoy the festivities that run all day! Quite a lot of countries were represented. I especially enjoyed China, Brazil and Jamaica dancers and music. The following are images of some of the floats and marchers from this year’s Berlin carnival of culture.
Find the best Hotels in Berlin for your stay.
Berlin Carnival of Culture:
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I think this yearly festival might have started showcasing people rom different cultures, but over the years, it has evolved to include pretty much every fringe group. We saw religious marchers, Gay and Lesbian groups, even some who looked like devil worshippers. Something for everyone.
More images from the Berlin festival of culture:
There were also some very scary monsters! More suited for Halloween in my opinion 🙂
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Berlin Fact:
Berlin has more canals than Amsterdam, a fact l was not aware of. One of the more famous ones is the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal which runs about 7.5 miles!. Berlin is also home to some really nice beer gardens.
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Victoria and her husband, took us out for drinks one night to one of the biggest ones that was by Museum Island. Talk about standing room only. Every seat was taken and we had to hunt around for about 25 minutes before finding space to sit. A lot of people were sitting on the grass. It was very nice. The lights twinkled from the island, and from the trees. It was a great night. We got lost again of course, but thankfully, they found us!!! Those street names are so hard to pronounce.. :o).
We visited another beer garden that was close to the zoo on our own. That one was my favourite of all. If you visit Berlin and the zoo, you can’t miss it. There is a huge sign for it as you exit the zoo. It will be on your right, and is about a 4 minute walk. It is a big garden, and apparently very popular as it was packed! The atmosphere was really cool, people of all ages just having a good time chilling with beer and some food. It was a hot day, and l gotta tell you, it was a welcome relief under the shaded trees.
Apart from the carnival, we also got to see some pretty cool things in Berlin in addition to Kreuzberg. It was fun discovering Alexanderplatz after seeing it in so many movies. A walking tour of Berlin is fantastic for getting your bearings and learn some amazing facts about Germany.
Must Visit Places In Berlin:
- Museum Island
- Berlin Zoo
- Pergamon Museum
- Reichstag
- Lustgarden
- Berlin Cathedral
- Victory Column
- Alexanderplatz
- Potsdamer Platz
- Bradenburg Gate
Related Reading: Pergamon Museum and Berlin Zoo
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One thing l noticed in Berlin is that, if you are an alcoholic, you will love it there.. :-). You can drink and carry your beer everywhere. On the subway, we saw several people drinking even though you’re not supposed to. No one complained though. I guess it’s a familiar sight. Beer is definitely cheaper than water. At the market, a 500ml of Berliner Pilsner (which we loved) or Becks was 86 cents!!
At most cafes, we paid on average €1.20 for the same. Our one altercation was at a cafe. My husband asked for water. We saw the waiter go to the tap (open kitchen), put water in the glass, no ice even, and brought it to the table. My husband downs it because he was very thirsty. I opened the menu looking for a drink to order and notice that a glass of water is €2!!!! We call him over, and in miserable German, l confirm that it is €2.
Of course my husband refuses to pay. It’s highway robbery and we end up walking out. So, my advice to you is, when in Germany, and at a restaurant, do not order water!!!! Really, its like that all over….as explained to me by a Berliner. Bottled water is big, they try to discourage drinking regular water and sell both for the same price. Lesson learned.
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Alexanderplatz Berlin:
Potsdamer Platz Berlin:
The Berlin Victory Column:
This monument was designed by Heinrich Strack and it is to commemorate the victory over the Danes by the Prussians in the Danish-Prussian war (Feb 1, 1864 – Oct 30, 1864). Now a famous icon of Berlin. There is a bronze statue of Victoria (the goddess of victory) added later on to mark other victories. The statue weighs 35 tons! and Berliners fondly call it Goldelse of “Golden Lizzy”. There are awesome views of Berlin from the top we’ve been told.
Berlin is such a big place, and it was of course impossible to see everything, but sometimes these are the best kind of trips. A little taste that keeps you wanting more, and leaves you with a good taste in your mouth as well as a desire to revisit.
Have you been to Berlin? Do you have any plans to visit Berlin? or is it not on your bucket list?
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Germany is one amazing place. I had some business up north in a little town and couldn’t get over how pretty the country is. It’s easy to get caught up in the big cities, all of them are top notch (except I haven’t really given Frankfurt a chance). Thanks for the carnival pictures, looks like a huge party! And anywhere good beer costs less than water gets a thumbs up 🙂
Yes, l agree. It is amazing, and l hope to discover more places there. Aha!!!! So you would fit in there with the other people with the hollow legs..lol! Seriously, at 86 cents for 500ml bottle, l would quickly become an alkie.. Technically, there is water in it too :0)
I love those colorful buildings, I’d love to live in a city where all buildings were as colorful 🙂 I didn’t know about canals in Berlin either, and the beer indeed is cheap – a lot cheaper than what I had imagined, especially since Beck’s is one of my favorites 🙂
I loved the colors too. As you know, we are seriously lacking color here too. You would definitely get your feel of cheap good beer. I like Becks too, but loved the Berliner Pilsner.
I almost went to Germany once on my first trip to Europe but it would have been too quick and stressful. I’ve been to the Frankfurt airport, does that count? 🙂 I’d love to do Oktoberfest there…but I’m sure everyone else is thinking the same thing. Very crowded!
I always used to ask if being at the Frankfurt airport counted too? Lol..as l loves me some Lufthansa Airlines!!! :o) I wouldn’t want to do the Octoberfest there either, it would be mad. I remember going to one in Orange County, and that was bad enough..lol!
Berlin is definitely one of those cities that I need to return to and spend more time in because from the looks of your pictures, we missed out on a lot. We wanted to go to Tiergarten, but we just didn’t have time. But I loved Pergamon Museum – such fascinating history. You could spend all day in there. It’s so great that your visit was in time for the Carnival of Culture. I’d definitely love to return in the summertime. Glad you guys enjoyed your trip! By the way, did you make it to Street Food Thursday?
I think we did spend the whole day at the Pergamon. First, it took a while to find the entrance..so much construction, so everyone was walking around looking lost as there were signs pointing in different directions. I believe it will shortly be closed for refurbishment. We loved it. We did not get to go to the Thursday street food. We could not find it to save our lives (have l mentioned how terrible l am with directions?..lol). Victoria said the places shift often..next time hopefully. There has to be a next time, it was fun..!!!
Your photos of that carnival are fantastic! Also, I had no idea about all of the canals in Berlin. I can’t wait to visit next year!
Happy travels 🙂
Thanks Lauren! I am so sure you will have a great time. We hope to visit it again..see stuff that we missed, like Hitler’s Bunker for instance.
Wow, thanks for sharing those lovely pictures! It’s so hard when you visit a country and you could not find anyone who spoke English! And I’m surprised that beer is cheaper than water in there! Oh, I think there are lots of drinkers there! 🙂
Thanks for the compliment. Oh yes, there are indeed a lot of drinkers! I tried not to stare at the people with open beer/whiskey etc. at like 10am on the subway!! I would so become an alcoholic if l lived there. We are currently lost in Budapest! Today, we ended up being lost again..lol..and we finally found someone after walking almost 4 kilometers. I totally cracked up when this woman asked if we spoke English as we approached her. She was lost as well and was having no luck finding an English speaker. It was just comical. Luckily for her, l had seen the street name they were looking for so we sent her in the right direction. We were screwed though, so we just got on the metro and will try another day!!! I love getting lost! ;o))
I’d love to see Berlin one day!
I’m a fan of historical fiction and nonfiction set in the WW II time period, so Berlin is a pretty common setting for these books. I forget that some of the places in these stories (like Alexanderplatz) are real places!
Oh, thanks for the tip on the Rocky statue in Philadelphia. We stopped by for a quick visit a few hours ago. I skipped running up the steps since it was 95 degrees and sunny. Next stop, NYC!!
I am ashamed to say “Hogan’s Heroes’ is about it for me..lol! So glad you visited the stature, and l can’t believe you let 95 degrees stop you..;o)) have loads of fun in New York..are you catching a show???
I was also driving (we only stopped for a few minutes). Our 2 year old whined a lot so we didn’t even attempt to do any walking around – touring by car was all we could manage on day 2. On day 1 I did get to see the liberty bell and the Old City, which was cool.
And we ate a lot of cheese steaks, which was Mrs. RootofGood’s top priority on the list (this might be why I married her! 🙂 ).
I like MrsROG!!! That would have been my top priority as well. One of the things about my years in Boston are the subs!!! I wish l had made it to Philly in those days :0( have fun on the trip, looking forward to your snippets of life on the road!!!
Berlin is not on my list but I found the whole buy beer rather than water very interesting. Who knew? Ha!
Wild isn’t it? I think it’s because people there in general are responsible, otherwise it would be a nation of alcoholics. They know how to hold their drink. I would love to visit there again. I really liked it.
What a lovely post on my city kemkem. I’m really glad that you guys made it over here in Berlin.
Berlin is such an interesting mixed bag of experiences but I love it and of course, in many European cities, alcohol is cheaper than a cup of tea and Berlin is no exception LOL! In fact, beer is not even considered to be “alcohol” and can be drunk legally at 16. Gulp!
Thanks for the lovely shout-out and the awesome photos too. So sweet. 🙂 🙂
We loved discovering your beautiful city, and hope to visit again at some point. So many things left to see. We’re seeing how right you are regarding alcohol in Europe. We find ourselves indulging :0) . When in Rome and all that..lol!