Travel unlocks a whole new self that isn’t restricted by the syntaxes of your routine life. This is why that extra bottle of champagne thrills us. So does the drenching with rain when no one’s watching. The frenzied dance on a new year’s eve, surrounded by strangers. To travel is to morph from foreigner to indigenous, to relinquish the monotony of your everyday burger and bourbon and eat like your new kin, celebrate like them. This article themes on such must-visits that are primitive to mighty Germany.
Germany doesn’t seem to shy away from hosting the world’s biggest wine festival to boast its exquisite local wines. In fact, with its rarest inbred varieties such as Rieslings and Gewurztraminer, it has no reason not to flaunt the same. An acidic-yet-sweet German Riesling and an aromatically distinctive Gewurztraminer will be the best flavours of wine you will ever taste. Started as a way to greet pilgrims heading to the Michaelskapelle chapel around 600 years ago, it is now known by the name ‘Wurstmarkt’ due to its enormous sausage sale.
Legend has it that this colourful road-parade is meant to ostentate Germany’s way of marking an end to xenophobic discriminations around the world. While amongst 5000 artists frenetically dancing to pumped-up music, you have all the more reasons to go wild.
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Christkindlmarkt succeeds big time at capturing the true spirit of Christmas. Carrying immense celestial vibes, the Christmas market in Berlin sports intriguing resemblances of the Harry Potter universe. Unravel shopping experiences like never before in the streets lined with fairy lights. Although this shopping carnival is gaining widespread fame all over Europe, Berlin remains the favourite hub with over 50 markets selling Christmas gifts and festive commodities. Also treat yourself with unadulterated versions of European gastronomy exclusive to this festival.
Germany is not one to take beer casually. Reinheitsgebot, Germany’s 500 years-old beer purity law strictly restricts the ingredients of beer to barley, water, hops and yeast hence delighting people with a phenomenal beer experience. Ever imagined bottling down Bavarian beers with strange folks in the streets? Get packing for the biggest beer festival in the world!! Although there are similar popular fests like Münchner Frühlingsfest, Oktoberfest cannot be taken for granted. You’ll get drunk to levels of insanity and yet come back the next year for more.
If you go crazy when someone even misquotes Tarantino, get ready for one of the biggest and glamorous film festivals. This big bear ensures that the cinephiles get a chance to relish their love for cinema. Not that it stops with this, Berlinale also serves as a perfect platform for you to interact with film industry aces which might even translate into fetching an entry into your field.
Diverse yet deep-rooted. Serious yet detached. Absurd yet meaningful is this quirky ‘Karneval’, which is an unapologetic flaunt of Germany’s humour on world politics and history. With satirical food fights, clown disguise of world leaders, fat Thursday parade, this festival is as eccentric as it can get. This fest sure makes up for a frenzied holiday mood.
Brace yourself for a celestial experience savouring a bit of music to complete your cultural extravaganza. Nothing short of intriguing is the history of how this festival came to be. Did Richard Wagner unleash his strings to heal injured Nazi soldiers? Was the auditorium constructed in a way that replicates the inner dimensions of a wooden musical instrument? How would it feel to revel in music with all your senses?
We are not one to sit and wonder right, especially when we know that you can Pickyourtrail to Germany in just a few clicks now?
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