A Delicious Chinese Brunch at a Dim Sum Restaurant - Berlin, Germany

Ms Lau, a lady from a local church invited us to a Chinese brunch at her friends' restaurant located in the Bergmannkiez area of Berlin. We took the public transit and had a nice walk from the Gneisenaustrabe Station to the restaurant. Bergmannkiez is quite a nice area with beautiful old buildings and many shops in the neighbourhood. Many people were enjoying meals or drinking coffee on the sidewalks. We also saw many Turkish shops in this area.

The Chinese restaurant we for our brunch was called Cha for Tea. The lady owner of the restaurant and her husband welcome us warmly. They set up a long table outside their restaurant and put up quite a spread for us. Patio dining is so common and popular in Europe. I wish we had more outside establishments like this in Canada.

The Cha for Tea restaurant used to serve Chinese food but now specializes in serving dumplings and dim sum to the community. The owners/ chefs kept serving us dishes after dishes throughout most of the meal. We felt as if we were treated like roylaty!

All the dim sums and other dishes were delicious and flavourful! We were surprised to find such a nice dim sum restaurant thousand miles from China, all the way in Berlin, Germany. It was relaxing sitting outside, soaking up the atmosphere while enjoying authentic Chinese food. Most important, meeting and having and an excellent fellowship with brothers and sisters in another country like Germany.

It was this kind of social interaction with the local residents that made our European trip so enjoyable and meaningful here in Berlin. RT, Berlin, Germany 062024

Navigating Our Way on the Public Transit System in Berlin, Germany

Recently, together with four other team mates from Toronto, Canada, we visited Berlin Germany. We were in Germany not as toursits as we were invited to lead a few workshops in a couple of church congregations in and around Berlin. On this trip, we spent about ten days visiting both the capital and a couple of nearby samll towns.

It was fun travelling with a small group. In Berlin, we were warmly welcome by one of the local churches. Our team would stay together in an apartment near a subway station. The local church pastor came and met us at the airport where we took the public bus to our B&B. How convenient was that? Thumbs up for an easy access to and from the airport in Berlin! In Toronto, we could take the public transit too but it would take us from two to three hours including waiting time from our house in midtown Toronto to the airport. Since we would be travelling via public transit on this trip, we look forward to experiencing the ease and comfort of train travel in Germany. We arrived at our B&A after less than an hour of bus ride. We met our host who had prepared a delicious lunch for us. What a difference from travelling alone knowing no one in the country to where we travelled. She gave us a brief introduction to the apartment and the neighbourhood. She was also kind enough to take us to a nearby supermarket where we bought some groceries for the next few days. Though English is spoken by many Germans, it was a challenge on our first day trying to purchase our subway tickets from a machine at an unstaffed subway station. We felt very uncomfortable as it took us time to figure out what to do with the ticket machine in a foreigh luggage while a lineup of people starting to build up waiting for their turns to purchase their train tickets. Most people were polite but one was not and he pushed us aside to get his ticket. That was not a good feeling at all.

Well, given time, we have leanred how to navigate the transit system in Germany and were able to travel to where we needed to be without much difficulties. Looking forward to the next ten more days in Germany! RT Berlin, Germany 052024