Karneval der Kulturen (Carnival of Cultures)

Another weekend in Berlin, another street festival.

This Pentecost long weekend, it was the colourful 'Karneval der Kulturen' which attracted over 800,000 spectators out on to the streets of Berlin's multicultural district of Kreuzberg.

The four-day festival - now in it's 11th year - seeks to showcase the breadth of Berlin's resident international community and always concludes with a popular three and a half kilometre street parade on Sunday afternoon where floats attempt to outdo each other for loudness and boldness.

As is traditional, of the 70 floats taking part in this year's parade the most eye-catching floats were those with the ever-popular "pounding latin-american music/elaborate headwear/salsa dancers" mix....even if the dancers differed a little in their confidence levels!! al

Hysteria at the Hauptbahnhof.

There has been only one theme in the Berlin press this last week - the Hauptbahnhof Amokläufer (or 'main railway station maniac' in English).

After seven years of planning, last weekend's opening of Berlin's new main railway station was meant to be a symbol of progression for the new capital. However the events of friday evening - due to the behaviour of a drunken 16 year old Berlin youth running through the celebrating crowds stabbing people at random - are bound to be remembered for another reason. Or so the press would have us believe.

No less than 25 reports have appeared in the Berlin print and television media following the stabbings. At the very worst, some of these reports may have acted in contempt of the running court process, by televising an apology to victims from the alleged party's solicitor. At the very least, most reports have been characterised by elaborate hypotheses - be it on the likelihood of people contracting HIV from the attack (an early victim was confirmed as HIV+) or by making sweeping assumptions on Berlin's supposed inability to cope with terrorist attacks.

With the Football World Cup less than ten days away, let's hope that Berlin's media can retain it's professionalism infront of it's international audience. Or at least just curb it's fascination with youth violence for a month. al