Volume 2, Day 4
Though the Karneval der Kulture was taking place over a four day weekend, Sunday was to be the highlight with a big parade. As that was scheduled to begin at 12:30 and I was up bright and early at 5am, I had plenty of time to kill in the morning. I drank coffee and focused on German language study, but still ended up feeling a bit peckish and restless. I went out to stretch my legs and find a bakery or something. German supermarkets close on Sundays for some anti-capitalist reason, but there was a bakery in operation. Despite the weather report indicating cooler temperatures, the way the was beating down on me convinced me that I needed to switch to shorts.
Around 11am, I gave up on hanging around the hostel with any vague idea of forming an impromptu group and headed over to the Karneval grounds. It was a good 3 kilometers away by the direct route, but I took a scenic route, cutting through a number of parks and the heart of Kreuzberg. I must remark that every single bench of the first park had a drug dealer. I’ve seen tons all over the Friedrichshain area, which I guess makes sense with the clubbing culture. But, it is annoying, to constantly have to fend off the low key sales pitches (“How are you doing?”).
While wandering through Kreuzberg, I noticed a bustling Mexican restaurant (called Que Pasa). Their Sunday brunch looked like a decent price, and if there was actually Mexican food involved, it may be worth bookmarking. I’ve also noticed at least five “Que Pasas” around Berlin.
I was following a green strip along a river/canal the final stretch to hit the corner of the Karneval. The first collection of booths was all Latin American food and I was stricken with an urge to start pricing plane tickets from the US to Chile. My stomach was growling and I had to start thinking about strategizing my consumption. Especially, considering how insanely priced the alcoholic offerings were. That certainly didn’t seem to slow down the Germans, many of whom appeared at least two sheets to the wind. I crossed the river on a bridge to the main section of Karneval, where there was a greater variety of food stalls interspersed with the odd stage and amateur performance. Spotting a bratwurst shop, I had to grab one. Perfekt.
Checking my watch, I saw there wasn’t much time until the parade was to begin so I skipped the rest of the karneval to head two blocks south to actual parade route. People mountain, people sea. Spotting a Spati, I popped in to grab a refreshment and milled about along the parade route looking for a decent place to watch. The parade was really something. I had an inclination that a German Carnival of Cultures would be racially tonedeaf, and I was not disappointed in that regard. Most of the floats (or more like processions as it was less about a big vehicles than thematic groups of people) was aiming to capture the spirit of some global culture. The first one was about Amazonian aboriginals, so I got to see lots of white people pretending to be First Nations.
I was smart to pick the side of the parade route with my back to the sun (so it wasn’t shining in my eyes), but it still sizzled my back. Having long since finished my first beer, I was getting thirsty and eventually decided to risk losing my otherwise good spot on a beer run. I had to walk a couple blocks south from the parade route to find a Spati (bodega) and picked up two. I watched another hour or so of the parade and it seemed to be almost over, so I decided to hit the pizza place on the corner selling “mini-pizzas” for 2.50 each. A so-called mini pizza is essentially just a quarter of the full-sized oblong pizza, so upon further reflection I realized that these Italians have a pretty good scam going. (Based on countless research, a full pizza costs 6-8 euros). Obviously, the pizza was amazing.
I headed back towards the bodega to grab another beer and I was shocked to notice that they had increased all the prices. In fact, I could clearly see one guy still quickly working to cover all the original price tags with handwritten new prices. Surge pricing for beer, that’s a new one. Whereas the shop had been empty on my last visit, it was now completely full of people. There was an international group loitering around outside the front, and when their leader called out in English “ok let’s go, keep moving,” I impulsively followed along.
It was a school group from some university in some small town in Germany, just in town for the Karneval. I chatted with several of them while walking along the streets. They turned left at some point back up towards the parade. Because of the parade, the police had closed all the adjoining roads to traffic, so the massive crowds of pedestrians had taken over a lot of the streets in a sort of impromptu block party. While heading up this one street, there was a group of German youths who had chalked out a disco floor and dancing to a pair a speakers propped up on a third floor window. Carried away with the spirit of the day, I stopped and danced for a while.
Alone again, I continued to find that the parade was actually still in full swing. An African DJ was playing beats out of the back of a pickup truck and about a hundred partiers were following along. I slipped into that crowd and continued dancing. I dropped out of the parade at the next Spati to get something to quench my thirst. As this shop was right on the parade route, there was a queue to even get into the shop. I must say, though the shop owners upped the prices in response to the celebration, they weren’t exactly gouging us. The beer was still a fraction of what it would cost at a bar or restaurant.
I sipped my beer and watched the parade for a bit, occasionally moving backwards against traffic to see what was coming next. As an Indian float came by playing a textbook Bollywood type track, I noticed two familiar faces in the following crowd of dancers. It was two of the university students I walked with for a bit. I merged into the parade again and danced along the route all while marveling at the chance of meeting that group again. It wasn’t much longer before they exited the parade and I tagged along. The next goal was to find somewhere to sit and rest and have a drink. According to Google Maps, there was a park nearby, so we headed that way.
While loitering on the street at one point, either waiting for stragglers or debating specific plans, a German drug dealer came by to peddle marijuana. How refreshing to have a local drug dealer. I think he was selling at 10 euros an ounce and the students just started forking money over to him. “Give me one, no, make it two, actually five.” I tried to intervene to haggle a little bit, but astute businessman that he was, he clearly saw no reason to leave any profit on the table when the customers were so eager to part with their money.
We found the park and decided to split up to source food and beverages. I went with one guy to grab some beers and water. We returned to the rendezvous point, but still had to wait a while for the food group to return. The food group did not actually bring any food back with them. Afterwards we headed into the park to find a place to sit down. On one field, there were two impromptu discos set up with actual speakers and djs. We hung out for a while, but around 7, they had to take off to meet up with the rest of their group. I figured that was a good time for me to begin the journey home.
When I was only a couple blocks away from the hostel, I spotted a Turkish bakery and bought some calzone type bread filled with spinach and feta. Three doors down, I spotted a line for gelato, and ate my bread while queued for dessert. It came in a waffle cone. It was amazing. In fact, the whole day had been full of just the best food.
I returned to the hostel, drank a lot of water, and finished watching “The Sixth Sense” before going to sleep.
| Shokolade brotchen | 1.5 |
| Bratwurst mit brotchen | 3.5 |
| Beers | 6.8 |
| Pizza | 5 |
| More beers and water | 3.5 |
| Backery | 1.6 |
| Eis (Shokolade mit minz) | 2.2 |
| Total: | 24.1 EUR (188 RMB) (USD 27) |
Running Total: 3480 RMB (USD 503)
Daily Average: 870 RMB (USD 125.75)