About Berlin

These are the districts of Berlin. The coloured ones are the ones which belong to the city’s center, the pink ones are the ones where we will go shopping together.MitteThis blog’s tour starts in Mitte (=center), which was the center of East Berlin and is nowadays a synonym for hipness, coolness, but also chichiness, not only in Berlin.Mitte has two main shopping districts: a more expensive and exclusive one around Friedrichstraße and Gendarmenmarkt, the other one north of train station “Hackescher Markt” which is more vivid and interesting. Some years ago I would have written that you wouldn’t find the usual suspect high street shops here, but small individual ones; many run by local designers. Unfortunately, also the big chains have understood that this area is hot. So the main streets Alte and Neue Schönhauser Str. and Münzstr. have amazingly fast being gentrified, lots of big names have opened flag ship stores here. The smaller shops have moved to the little side streets like Mulackstr. or Steinstr. which are definitely worth a visit.Prenzlauer BergAlso Prenzlauer Berg is a former East district.It is famous for its millions of bars, relaxed life style and vivid nightlife all over Europe.Actually, there is not one Prenzlauer Berg but a lot of different “Kieze” (neighbourhoods) of which every single one has its own atmosphere and charme. The part which is most interesting for retail and shopping is definitely the neighbourhood around Kastanienallee and Oderberger Straße. Another thing Prenzlauer Berg is famous for are the kids: a decade ago, it was a typical student’s area. Lots of unrenovated houses, cheap rents. The students stayed, but grew up and became parents; more and more houses are renovated. Nowadays, Prenzlauer Berg is about to be too expensive for students…Social life and parenthood: no contradiction in Berlin