Berlin is the city everyone is talking about, and has grown in popularity to become the third most visited city in Europe.
My friends keep returning over and over, and when I ask what they love so much about Berlin that makes them return again they say ”wellits Berlin!”.
Last time we were in Berlin we only spent two days there, and while we managed to see a lot of things despite the rainy weather we still felt like we had not given the city a chance and wanted to return to see what all the fuss was about.
Now, after having spent two weeks exploring the many streets and corners of Berlin at a slow pace, I can see what theyre talking about.
Berlin is a city which is alive, and ever changing while many European cities main attraction is its history and past, Berlin is the past, the present and the future all mixed into one.
Its a cocktail of ugly, beautiful, sad, quirky, and the charm and fascination about the city is nothing specific, but everything in a confusing mixture.
I have never been to a city where everything seems to change as often as in Berlin.
In Berlin, there is no specific ”party street” or ”shopping street”, but more like ”party street of the month”.
Berlin is very much like Asia in the way that you never know whats around the corner, and the best thing to do is to get lost and see what odd places you will find next.
Its a city full of randomness, where things seem to ”just happen”, almost by mistake.
There are hidden treasures around every corner, from small cinemas and shops to galleries and bars that will pop-up and close down before you know it.
Despite the tourism boom, Berlin is a rather poor city, which is one of the reasons why it has become one of the most popular graffiti-hubs – the government simply cant afford to take it all away.
Artists from all over the world come to leave their mark, and you can see some pretty amazing work by just walking down the street.
Its an interesting city, with no real center its neighborhoods, Kiez, actually feel more like small cities in themselves, and are treated as such by locals as well.
Talking to the locals, they say they rarely even leave their district, and are just as lost as any other tourist in the rest of Berlin.
Living in Schönhausallee I could really see why you have everything you need right by your doorstep; there are shopping malls, boutiques, supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, bars, theaters, cinemas in abundance.
On the same street where we lived there were restaurants serving food from all over the world, you would almost be silly to go through the hassle of finding a nice restaurant in another neighborhood when there were so many right across the street.
When we told people that we would travel down to Bavaria in southern Germany, they kept saying that Bavaria was ”different”, or that it would be very different from Berlin.
I would agree, but from another angle, down south it really is different from Berlin, but so is everywhere else as well.
In fact, I dont think that there is any place like Berlin, I think Berlin is the place which is ”different” and thats what makes it such a wonderful city.
Have you been to Berlin? What were your impressions of t
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