Not far from him, on the playground in the courtyard, little Theo ponders with a sceptical look whether he should actually dare to take off down the two-metre-high slide towards the sandpit. The sight is tempting, after all, the toys usable by all children are waiting for him there. Some Bobbycars and tractors included. For the first time, his mother Carolin Brück cycled with the one-year-old from Auerberg to the playground in the old town. "Theo's father googled for the best playground in Bonn and now we are here," says the young mother.

Mother and child are an example that the playground is also frequented by families living outside the old town. For some residents, this is a nuisance and not a source of joy. "Thanks to its playground sponsors, the playground is clean and well-maintained," says Brück. Elina Schick also sees the fact that there is only one entrance to the playground from Adolfstrasse and one from Heerstrasse as an advantage. "Playgrounds like the one on Hofgarten, for example, are quite dangerous for the little ones," says the mother of two-year-old Linnea, who lives in nearby Dorotheenstraße and regularly visits the playground, as do most of those present. "You have to know the playground," she says. You don't find it by chance.

"It's a horror to live here," says one resident. No wonder she doesn't want to be mentioned by name in the newspaper. She feels inconvenienced because hordes of children and families keep passing her house or garden, often noisily. Confronted with this statement, an elderly neighbour waves it off. "I don't have anything to say about that," he says. "Today, children are sacrosanct and untouchable." Woe betide anyone who dares to criticise them, he shakes his head. He has long since turned to the police and the city, where he was told that children's noise is legitimised by law.

"For me, there is no disturbing noise here," Ludwigs says. For him, it is a question of attitude. Even though he does not have children, he would have understanding for the mostly cheerful coexistence. "Many neighbours go to work during the day anyway and only come back in the evening," he says. Then it is usually quiet. Many of his neighbours have created a little paradise behind walls in the gardens behind their houses. A large part of the courtyard is taken up by the women's museum, which projects far into the square, and the supermarket, which is accessible from Heerstraße.

The remaining area behind the divided gardens is shared by the playground and private parking spaces. In terms of layout, the inner courtyard is a classic form of inner-city development that was common in the centres of large cities, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. The courtyards were intended to shield from the noise and bustle of the surrounding streets and create a quiet living or working area. However, the only work done in the old town courtyard is in a beauty salon, which is located directly behind the courtyard entrance on Heerstraße.

The rather small garden plots that jut out behind the houses into the inner courtyard of the Old Town are mostly surrounded by high walls, which are not very conducive to sociable neighbourhood interaction. "Sometimes I think this reminds me of prison yards," says Sabine Maier, who was able to buy a house on Heerstrasse with her husband 18 years ago and initially moved in there with a shared apartment. Her three children grew up there.

The noises from the courtyard have never bothered her. She laughs. "Sometimes it's like an open-air swimming pool here," she says. But living next to the motorway is worse. She can't understand why people are upset about the playground: "It's always been there," she says." Whoever moved in here knew what to expect.“

"Even when we didn't have children," says Dominik Menno, his wife used to sunbathe on the playground lawn or read a book. She was able to enjoy "the positive energy of the place", he says. As a man, he tended to avoid sitting alone on the playground without children. Since the couple has two children, however, they have been on the square every day.

"With children, we had originally thought we would move to the countryside," says the father of six- and four-year-old boys. But in the meantime they feel so comfortable in the old town that they don't want to leave it today. "It's quite unique for Bonn," Menno surmises, "that you can look out on so much green in the middle of the city."

The 41-year-old can also look forward to the cherry blossom, which has become a problem for many a resident of the old town due to the large tourist crowds. "Then it becomes a bit more international here again," he says. The fact that some of the flats in the Karree will also be rented out to tourists via Airbnb during this time doesn't bother him. "I think it's good as long as the people still live in it themselves and only rent it out for the weekend or when they go on holiday." In the old town it can be worthwhile to rent out a room of maybe 30 square metres for 120 euros a night, he thinks. Only if there were pure Airbnb flats in the houses would he object. "That wouldn't do the area any good."

Original text: Stefan Hermes

Translation: Mareike Graepel