The district of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin is special in many ways. It's a bubble, it is unique, and it is quite different from the rest of Berlin, sometimes in positive and other times in negative ways.
I used to frequent Prenzlauer Berg quite a bit back then. It has plenty of interesting bars and restaurants, and even though I live on the other side of the city, I made my way to Prenzlauer Berg quite often in the past. Nowadays, I only find myself in the area when I need to visit my favourite bookstore to pick up an order, or when I need to meet a friend in a restaurant nearby. And every time I go, I am amazed at the sociocultural bubble that Prenzlauer Berg has made itself to be.
First of all, there's so many foreigners. You hear English everywhere. In restaurants, sometimes, the staff doesn't even know German. Germans have to speak in English just to get food. This attracts a very different type of clientele, and it definitely does not reflect the rest of Germany. I know that there are ideas and proposals to make English a second official language in Germany, but as long as that is not the case, I would assume that one should expect to be provided services in the German language here. But in Prenzlauer Berg, this is not always the case.
There are also plenty of prams and playgrounds. There seems to be a baby boom. It is not exactly that people who live in Prenzlauer Berg are having sex and popping babies out all the time, but there is a disproportionate amount of young couples who live in the area. Prenzlauer Berg just seems to attract these young couples of childbearing age, and so when one walks on the streets of Prenzlauer Berg, you'll definitely encounter plenty of people pushing their prams along.
There's plenty of weird shops. Art stores, neighbourhood bookstores, boutique shops, what have you. The art scene is great. And there's plenty of opportunities to spend one's money. If you want gourmet pasta, there's a store for that. If you want to access your inner chakra, there's a session for that. There is something for everyone in Prenzlauer Berg.
However, as exciting as the district might sound, I am glad that I don't live in the middle of it. Almost everyone I know who lived in Berlin and eventually left lived in Prenzlauer Berg. It's not necessarily making people stick. The long-timers that I know who are still in Berlin are all living somewhere else.
Anyway, as I said, this district is rather far from where I am. So I don't frequent it too often. And when I find myself in Prenzlauer Berg, there's always something that makes me smile and smirk at the same time.
