My friend, Olivia, came to visit for a weekend over her spring break. I met her in the dorms freshman year in Santa Barbara and she currently is studying abroad in England.
Friday, we went into Berlin for the evening with most of the students from my program. Olivia and I slept in, ready for an afternoon and early evening at the Baumblütenfest, a festival in neighboring Werder/Havel. From what I understood, the festival is a celebration of spring, blooming trees, the fruits they bear, and fruit wines from the area.
One website described the festival as the spring equivalent to Oktoberfest. Somehow, I didn't realize that this probably implies debauchery. And debaucherous it was. The following pictures are quite censored from the acutal experience. We definitely were not as rowdy as the other attendees - half of them stumbling through the streets, often yelling and sometimes swerving over the division between fun and violence.
I enjoy taking pictures of my guests and bratwurst
Some areas were much like a carnival
This was taken from the huge ferris wheel - I wish it could be bigger. The view was nice in all directions. From this picture, note the mass of people walking across the bridge between the merchant booths and the carnival/music area.
We met up with my friends from the program and Uni Postdam. Everyone was getting a little annoyed of the drunk crowds, so we found a nice grassy strip to sit and hang out on the banks of a lake, only 20 steps or so from strips of bratwurst/wine/crepe/gyro stands leading to a music stage and bumper boats.
The wine was quite good. I enjoy sweet wines, so fruit was to my liking. I was able to have a taste of pineapple, apple, rhubarb, and pear wine before deciding on raspberry.
Trying to get home was absolutely insane. The festival was a 15 minute walk or so from the train station, so we headed out as the sun set, walking with huge crowds, who all had the same idea. Apparently, the place gets crazy after dark. To take advantage of the demographic, my german buddy helped me start a drinking song we learned in orientation, which was quickly joined by dozens around us. It was somethin' else - really entertaining. Anyway, the train station was too packed, so we took a cab home instead of trying to force through a concert-like crowd controlled by police.
Cat met up with us Sunday morning. We went out to a relaxed brunch in Potsdam with some girls from my program. Afterwards, we walked down Brandenburger Strasse to let Olivia see some of Potsdam and down through Sanscoussi. I just love that park. It was nice - Cat and I got to see some new views of the park as well.
The walk lead us straight to the train station by my house, so we took the regional train straight to Berlin for some more sightseeing. Cat split off to her hostel not too long after we got to the city.
Among other things, we checked out the Holocaust Memorial, just behind the American Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate.
And then to the Sony Center for dinner - a nice finish to a good weekend.
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