First feel of Berlin

Welcome to the "Wurstland", the land of sausage, le pays de la saucisse.

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Wurstland, really? The tipical food for german is the Döner Kebab. Did you know it was invented in the Berlin Kreuzberg district? Confirmation here.

Welcome to Berlin, the European NYC (but way cheaper=)

Berlin was rebuit to accomodate a population of 5 million in 2010. There are now 3.5 million inhabitants.

Too many houses --> lot of empty or ran down houses --> Low real estate pressure -->

super cheap prices

I am currently paying 165€ a month for 12m² room  in Kreuzberg, the Paris' République  or London's Bricklane equivalent. This is NOT the cheap here.

This is Julien, a friend's friend who very kindly hosted me for 4 nights. Chilling in his room, next to the old school heating system.

 here comes the rest of his huge room 

Julien pays 160€ for 26m² in Wedding (north berlin) for a 4 bedroom shared flat.

and Neukoln, Berlin  poorest-but-upcoming district, is still cheaper.

Ran down or empty places + high unemployement =>

Occupied houses. By artists or punks or whoever. All of this in Central Berlin.

Below is Köpi, an occupied house in Mitte. 90 people leave here! Rent : 0€

A community of 25 punks rents this building next to Rosanthaler platz. They are working on buying this 500 000 euros-worth house.

EasyJet has started building a hotel complex next to it. Funny neighborhoods

Ran down or empty places + high unemployement =>

Cheap cost of life + Ran down or empty places + high unemployement =>grafiti and street art

Really feels like Berlin has been reclaimed by the people living in it. They express themselves publicly, with color, energy and paint.

Tacheles, old squat turned tourist attraction

Walking around Berlin is a pleasure since the architecture of the facade and outdoor decoration is very interesting :

A cafe in Rosanthaler platz

the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, a temporale and travelling museum

That is all for now...  next article : more streetart, shops and parties and maybe more..