So the event of the year arrived (or at least Pokemon-Go fans will agree with me ><) and I made the really long journey to Berlin which turned out to be potentially the best thing that happened this summer. Though I visited Berlin for less than a day with my family in 2018, I had never visited Britzer Garten...and due to the lack of time, I missed the chance to visit the Ritter Spot Museum. Many people back home know about Ritter Spot, and it's a famous souvenir many of us buy back from Europe so it would have been nice to go to the source of sorts (the other one is closer to Stuttgart). I FINALLY got to the see the DNA helix made of the Ritter Spot chocolate this time, and even got to buy 1 bar of a special edition yoghurt banana chocolate they have released which you can't get at the supermarket.
Anyway, the Pokemon-Go event at Britzer Garden was really really fun, and we ended up spending HOURS just catching pokemon, completing the challenges they had for the event, chasing after shiny pokemon/new pokemon that were released at certain locations within the park...and just feeling like a kids again. The event was VERY well organized, with lockers for you keep your bag, stations for you to charge your phones, and good signages everywhere. To control the crowd, you could only sign up for 1 of the 3 days of the festival, but it was already kind of nice to see that on the day that I was there, there were people from all over the world of all ages there to play the game. Oh, and I even got to see real SHEEP (not the AR kind in Pokemon-Go :P) because the Britzer Garden has a mini farm in it!
During the other free time, it was nice to finally explore other sides of Berlin, like a pop up "homeless books" sale at Bƶhmischer Platz, which was also home to this cute icecream store called Eisderix. I tried their honeymelon icecream that reminded me so much of Hokkaido :) I finally also got to taste manti, which a few friends have been telling me about is a delicacy of Turkey...and given that I love dumplings in general, it's no surprise that I was immediately a fan. Somehow the yoghurt 'sauce' paired so well with the dumplings. (By the way, I recently watched Ted-Ed video on the history of dumplings which is quite fitting to this topic). I found these mantis at a food market and I did get to visit a few food markets while I was there. Compared to Munich, Berlin seems to have really wide array of international foods not just from Europe but from America, Canada and even some parts of Asia, which I guess can been good for people who would like to try different types of foods from around the world! One of my favourite things to have tried at these markets was a Portuguese tart because the pastry was really flaky and the eggy bit was perfectly baked.
While in Berlin, I was also recommended to try currywurst, which seems to be more 'famous' there than in Munich, and apparently one of the popular places to have this is curry36, which did taste really delicious with all the different condiments. My favourite discovery on this trip was La Maison bakery and I really wished I had more time to revisit this place and try all the different breads. The breads all looked SO GOOD, and the chocolate tart I had was already the perfect treat when I arrived together with a coffee.
I also got to visit a very interesting art shop featuring a famous 3D pop artist Charles Fazzino, and even a rather amusing shop featuring the Berlin traffic light because the red/green man are quite distinct compared to other parts of the world. There are also many bookshops around Berlin, some bigger chains with a whole collection of novels and non-fiction books, or even smaller comic or sci-fi ones which also carry an interesting collection of English books....so managed to pick up a few good reads and look forward to finishing them in the few weeks. I also didn't have time to visit any beergardens while I was there, but Berliner Kindl is one of the more popular offerings around, so I bought home some from the supermarket.
I also got to visit the Tempelhof Airport which is an old airport in Berlin no longer in use (though used for events), but you can walk around the grounds and visit a small exhibit and learn about its rich history.
While Berlin may overall have a more grungy vibe compared to Munich, there seems to be a place for everyone and if you know your way around the lanes, you will find hidden gems everywhere. I can appreciate why it is home for a friend I met in Munich :)
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