Karneval der Kulturen

Last weekend we experienced Berlin's tremendous Carnival of Cultures. Beforehand, I was told that it involved different cultures in Berlin doing a dance. When asked how many cultures would be involved, a native Berliner answered "all of them". 


"All" of the cultures doing a dance. I didn't expect it would be a fun way to spend a day. Turns out it is blimming fantastic. There is near endless parade of culture, including some of the lesser-seen or never-before-heard-ofs, and stalls offering all manner of tasty delights. If you are in Berlin next year for the carnival, I strongly recommend attending.


Sadly, it was difficult to find vegetarian, gluten-free foods at the stalls. Fortunately, there was plenty of multi-kulti booze.


Here are some of the better photographs.

Glutenfrei, Vego Hamburger?

A couple of weeks ago, Vicky and I went to Hamburg for a long weekend. It was a lot of fun. Hamburg is, after all, a party city. Check it out.

Obvs, we went to the Reeperbahn. You know all about that, I'm sure. A nod's a good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?

ominous clouds in the background, too

alles gute zum Geburtstag!

As you may or may not have been aware, it was my birthday not too long ago. I spent it in Rome and had a really cracking time. I won't go into that too much because this is a blog about Berlin, not Rome, although I freely admit that the rules about what I'm going to post are pretty much non-existent and ever in flux depending on my whims. Anyway, this intro is here to lead into the next bit, which is the awesome birthday surprise Vicky had waiting for me on our return home:

wunderbar

Yes, it's a thing. How could it not be?

and yes, it is perched on my sexy thigh.

It contains traces of gluten, though, even though there's no need for it to, so it's not really a wunderbar wunderbar.

Das Brot

Yep, sure, I know - it's a bit odd doing a post about bread on a blog that has the word 'glutenfrei' in its title, even if that word is in parenthesis. Nevertheless, I press on, because it's (half) my blog and I find it mildly interesting. So, I present to you, with nary a flourish, my List of Things about Bread in Germany that I Find Mildly Interesting, Certainly Interesting Enough, at least, to Ponder Over, Wistfully Perhaps, While I Sip my Soy-Chunk Coffee in the One-Room Apartment I Call Home while Alone and Unemployed on a Tuesday.