'Where exactly do you live now?'

'Where exactly do you live now?'

'In Neukölln'

'Oh really?'

'Well, technically we live in Britz'

'??'

'Britz is a district of the Neukölln district. Berlin has 12 districts. It's something similar to a county with its own mayor.'

'Yawn'

'The Neukölln district has five neighborhoods. The northern neighborhood is also called Neukölln. It used to be called Rixdorf and is supposed to be called that again someday because it always leads to confusion...'

'Very interesting. But is it in the east or west?'

'West.'

'Oh, I see.'

'Well, it's located in the far south, next to the east, in the Treptow district.'

'Got it! Is it still considered a city?'

'The northern part of Neukölln, that is Neukölln or Rixdorf up to the S-Bahn-Ring, is clearly a city. From there, the construction becomes less dense and you can sense that the neighborhoods Britz, Buckow, and Rudow were once independent towns or villages.'

'So more on the outskirts.'

'Right on the border. Our U-Bahn station is called Grenzallee, which means border alley. The U7 serves all neighborhoods and connects us directly to Kreuzberg and Schöneberg. It's only five stops and you're in the middle of Berlin or on the outskirts.'

'Yes, but Neukölln...'

'You mean Buschkowsky City. We don't need to sugarcoat it. When you look for an apartment in Berlin, that's exactly what they try to do. Suddenly it's actually Tempelhof, or a completely new neighborhood that will soon become the new Mitte. Neighborhood is the magic word. But it has everything the doomsayers talk about.'

'And why...?'

'We wandered around Neukölln like a cat around the hot porridge and inspected all the districts. Then we eventually fell in love with this area.'

'???'

'Yes, you leave the U-Bahn at the Grenzallee station, which is at the ugliest place in the whole city. The city cleaning service has clearly forgotten about this corner. There are two kebab shops with at least 20 Turks sitting in front of them blocking the sidewalk, there's a convenience store, and a car dealership. You walk along Buschkrugallee towards the south and notice the heavy traffic. Then it slowly becomes greener, you pass a cemetery, and within 100 meters the scenery changes.'

'At the Teltow Canal, it gets even greener. Right on the south bank, you turn left and you're in our street. One side is the canal bank with a densely overgrown slope. The other side consists of two Gründerzeit buildings with beautiful old facades. Everything is full of big trees and the noise from Buschkrugallee suddenly becomes a soft rustling sound. After just 50 meters, the street turns into a bicycle path.'

'So everything's great?'

'We don't know yet. It remains to be seen. How the city affects you depends on where you are and what kind of person you are. If cleanliness, order, and quiet are your main requirements, then Goddert in the Westerwald is your thing. But if you're looking for a city, there are also corners in Munich or Stuttgart that are not really nice. Ask us again later.'

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