Hi, I am new to that forum. Hello to everybody. Here are my 2 cents...
Prenzlberg and Friedrichshain can be nice if you don't look only on the Kollwitzplatz or the Simon-Dach-Kiez. I have moved to Berlin a few months ago and found myself an old but cheap appartment with stove heating "between Friedrichshain and Prenzlberg". From my flat i can see the new chic yuppie townhouses at the former Schlachthof area, too.
A lot of people from my hometown Hannover live here in Berlin, now. Berlin is big, but almost all of them live in Friedrichshain, only a few in Prenzlberg and some in Kreuzberg. Of course I new Berlin as a tourist, but the only thing I have heard in Hannover was "Go to Friedrichshain, this is really cool!":
Maybe me and all these Neuberliner are exactly that kind of neighbour some native Berliner might hate so much these days. And what can I say, I can understand all those who were born in Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg or lived there for a very long time. These new citizens have some irritating behaviour some times, maybe me too, strange rules I am really amused about. I remember some native Hannoveraner that say to me: "Oh, now EVERYbody is coming to Berlin, hm...?". Sometimes it is like a real tournament: "Who lives longer in Berlin", "Who knows the true true underground clubs and bars..." or "Who is able to avoid tourist behaviour...".
Fortunately, I get some Berlin coaching, now. Yesterday a friend told me that here in Berlin only tourists wait at red lights and cross the street when it's green. I thought to myself "Or do only tourists think about red lights and their behaviour when crossing a street... haha!". And I am wondering about so called Berliner that moved here in 2005 and show off as as a fighter against something they caused some years ago and still do so: "gentrification". I recommend movements like "Versenkt Mediaspree" but I am not sure about clubs like "Bar 25". I have been there only one time but for me that Bar 25 is a perfect symbol for gentrification. Isn't it the "Thorben" of the clubs...?
Btw. thanks for the link to that nice Zeit article, sehr am
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