City in love with itself

I am not sure if I will be able to write anything new about Berlin. And somebody could probably say: Then don’t write at all. But who can forbid me to write whatever I want in my own blog.

„Berlin is a city in love with itself.“ – my friend said when we met up for some German beer somewhere between Kreuzberg and Neukölln. And I have to agree. But not like Paris, let’s say. Berlin loves itself as it is and doesn’t think that it’s better than it is, as cities like French capital do.

Berliner Kidl Weisse

Berlin accepts itself like it is as well as its people and the ones who want to become Berliners. Here people don’t care about your strange name, they are not shocked if you don’t speak German or if your German is not so perfect.

There are plenty of people here who look like they don’t care about their looks. But I have a suspicion that they spend at least half an hour to make themselves look like they don’t care how they look like.

Despite being a capital city and a largest city in Germany, Berlin is relatively cheap and poor with the highest unemployment rate in the country. But as Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor of Berlin said several years ago - Berlin is poor, but sexy (Berlin ist arm, aber sexy).

And being poor, but sexy, in love with itself and laid back Berlin managed to become the most attractive/fashionable city in Europe for all sorts of artists, as Paris and London simply became too expensive for them.

By the way, some stick to the description that Berlin is not German, it’s like saying that NYC is not American. So I say that Berlin is German, just not the same like Munich or Hamburg. Berlin is Berlin, changing a lot, but still in love.

By the way, even the President of the US John F. Kennedy knowing about special spirit of the city when visiting it in 1963 said “I am a citizen of Berlin” (Ich bin ein Berliner). There is a funny story behind this.