Who is a Berliner?

We all know John F Kennedy wasn’t a Berliner ... 

Berlin was named the most fun city in the world according to a survey of 2.000 travellers on TripAdvisor and Yelp, read it here.

Whenever someone asks me where I live and I respond with "Berlin" people instantly assume that I am cool (thank God I really am, haha). Everyone I talk to, no matter where I am in the world, loves Berlin. And most people want to live in Berlin or move to Berlin soon, have visited recently, or want to visit (you get it). And on the opposite side, there are the other Germans who say they can’t stand Berlin. To them the city is too big, too grey, too loud, too hectic, too … not good enough. Is it jealousy? Dunno. There is so much to read into this and to think about, it really is as complicated as everything in life. When I ask people why they love Berlin so much the answer I repeatedly hear is: "it is so cheap." Right, that is not quite the most flattering reason to love a place ... Come on, if you haven't seen it for yourself, come and visit us Berliners.

Oh my, just when I said “come and visit us Berliners” I knew there are people who will be upset about it. Many of the Berliners are very proud. They really thrive on telling everyone they have been born and bred in Berlin and lived in Berlin all their life, and their Berlin roots get back to at least 378 years and more. They get so excited about it, and yes, to them it is a really big thing. I am not sure. Would you fancy staying in the same place all the time? But each to their own, I guess, as long as everybody is happy.

Ich bin Berliner. Du nicht!
Meanwhile in Berlin: I'm Berliner. You aren't! 



Am I a Berliner? Yes I am

If JFK could claim to be a Berliner I am pretty sure, that Yes, we can certainly all claim to be Berliners. What I can’t say is “I am Berliner.” Everyone can in fact only say that, when born in Berlin, and to be more precise, only when ancestors were here, before dinosaurs roamed the area Unter den Linden.

Platz der Luftbruecke - sign at tube station

Stadtmitte - sign at tube station

Alexanderplatz -  sign at tube station

Here are 10 reasons why Berlin is indeed a lovely place to visit and to live in

1. Berlin is very affordable (cheap)

2. People are welcoming, nearly everyone is an immigrant of some sort, which makes it easy to settle

3. Lots of green spaces in the city

4. Many lakes in close proximity of the city

5. There are Restaurants, Cafés, and bars galore

6. The tube system (U-Bahn) is well developed. Dirty secret is that delays occur frequently, and passengers find themselves constantly at risk, to have to use the rail replacement service (Schienenersatzverkehr). But hey, simply take pictures of the station and post them on Instagram to shorten the wait time. Use your imagination, this is Berlin after all. See, it is a fun place to live (please see pics above).

7. 175 museums

8. 300 galleries

9. 250 public libraries

10. 130 cinemas

It feels really amazing to live in a place where everyone is so delighted to be. Would you like to move to Berlin? Are you already living here? What makes Berlin so popular for you? Looking forward to hearing from you.

From Berlin with love