Guten Tag Germany: Day 28- Amazing Berlin flea markets
Pretty Sunday weather (i.e rain-free, yipee!); perfect day for flea markets! So many flea markets in Berlin, that we had to pick two key ones to avoid market-fatigue .. coined by me, got such thing as market-fatigue?
We started the morning at Strasse des 17. Juni, S-Bahn Tiergarten. Biggest and most popular antique flea market, but I thought that it was rather small. It was easy to walk around.
Highlights from our morning outing would be witnessing a marathon, and also eating at a Turkish food truck. And perhaps we also had an interation with a new migrant family.
I overhead the family asking whether the food was ‘halal’, and thereafter we were sharing a long table together. The mom of the family striked up a conversation with me, asking whether I know of a cheap secondhand market. And when I told them perhaps Mauerpark Flea Market and the corresponding train station info U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße, she told me that they have just ‘arrived’ and are still not familiar with the city.
We later bumped into the same family at Mauer market. They said thank you to me, and showed me their purchases. Glad I managed to help them. ZE said perhaps we were meant to help them, that’s why we stopped and had some food at the Turkish food truck (she was hungry).
Before Mauer market, ZE and I stopped at S-Bahn station Nordbahnhof, looking for Badeshiff outdoor floating pool. We didn’t find it, but ended up checking out ‘Berlin Beach‘ for a bit.
Mauerpark Flea Market was epic. We reached there around 3pm, for the infamous open-air karaoke. If you have limited time, do prioritize this market. We enjoyed everything: shopping, food, entertainment.
ZE also had her ‘best food‘ in Germany here: a vegetarian hot dog €3.00. The market has an International food section, but she wanted to try local German food. It was difficult for a vegetarian, as Germans are meat eaters! It was difficult to move around in the market, as it was really crowded.
After one round of checking out the stalls, I felt that she was already tired, and perhaps a bit disheartened. I asked her to sit at a bench, and I circled the stalls by myself. And I reported to her, that there ain’t any local vegetarian dishes.
Her face … Please don’t get me wrong. My niece is very mature at her age, and I am super proud of her. As her aunt, I hoped that I can make her ‘wish’ comes true.
I circled the stalls again … and I found a hotdog stall with vegetarian option! So I went back with a news, that I wasn’t 100% sure … vegetarian hot dog, not exactly local food, no?
She was soooo happy. I learnt to emphatize with vegetarian from this trip.
As for me, I finally tried ‘steckerfilsh‘, supposed to be ‘fish grilled in a stick’ … but it wasn’t prepared the traditional way. It was good, as I have always liked mackerel fish. €6.50 spent well on my fish.
The open-air karaoke was an experience that I will remember for a long time. Bravo to all singers, and the supportive crowd.
