Berlin*, Berlin,
Wir fahren nach Berlin!

(pronounced Ber-leen, stress on the second syllable)

I've been to four Berlins in my life: when in my mother's womb I was in Berlin, then the capital of the Third Reich, from the GDR (German Democratic Republic), where we later lived, I visited Berlin once in the 1950s, a much smaller city then (only the Soviet sector), but still a capital, the capital of the GDR.

Berlin has not one centre but several, this has nothing to do with the partition, it has always been like that, the different boroughs have quite independent sub-centres, too, a tourist should know this in order not to be disappointed. I think it's a good idea if I take you through the city from West to East, starting at Bahnhof (train station) Zoologischer Garten which was the destination for everyone coming from West Germany before the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) was opened in May 2006.

Nearby is the famous Kurfürstendamm, 'Kudamm' in short, a 3.5 km long avenue with rows of trees and with expensive shops and restaurants, galleries, theatres and fashion boutiques (also in the side streets), a place to see and to be seen. If (window) shopping wears you out, then relax in the famous Café Kranzler. But you can also find refreshment in the KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens=Department Store of the West), one of the most famous European department stores, this year it celebrates its 100th anniversary. This store is a sight in its own right, people go there to visit the sixth floor where food is sold. Ah, but what kind of food! Delicatessen you've never seen - or do you buy and eat elk and bear ham? It was here some years ago that I saw my first real life yuppies slurping oysters and sipping champagne in their lunch breaks. The area has lost a bit of its former attraction now that people can also go to the eastern part of the city but it's definitely still worth a visit.

A good way to see the main sights is to take Bus 100 running from Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten in the west through the city to the Alexanderplatz in the east. The bus takes 33 minutes to cover the distance, if you don't want to travel American style (Europe in five days, "If today is Tuesday, this must be Switzerland."), you may need a day or two (or three), we'll get off occasionally and walk around a bit to also see the sights off the route.

Look left when we come to the stop Bellevue, this is where the German President resides, our Buckingham Palace so-to-speak (several sizes smaller, though). The next stop is the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of the Cultures of the World), nickname: 'Pregnant Oyster' because of its extraordinarily curved roof. Exhibitions are shown here, but even if nothing is on, it's worth while getting off here. Behind the building is the river Spree, not used for commercial traffic any more, it's too small for modern barges, but tourist boats run up and down the river and it's a good idea to get on a boat here and glide along behind the buildings of the Regierungsviertel (government quarter).

This boat tour is quite relaxing but it only gives us an overview, if we want to get near the buildings, we have to stay on Bus 100, the stop after the Haus der Kulturen der Welt is the Reichstag. Approaching it we can already see the queues, tourists want to get in and up and then look down into the assembly room where the politicians have their meetings (Who isn't listening but reading a newspaper? Shame on them!) and then walk up the ramp inside the cupola to the top. It's free of charge, my advice is to go there early or very late (admission from 10am until 10pm, open until 1am), the view of the cityscape is striking, I remember one summer evening when the city was still the largest building site worldwide with thousands of huge cranes and behind them a romantic sunset, unforgettable and never repeatable! The cupola has become the No 2 tourist attraction in Germany after the Cathedral in Cologne and it's closing ranks.

Standing in front of the Brandenburger Tor we turn to the right and walk down the street for about 200m until we come to the much debated Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe which was opened to the public in 2005. On a field of 19.000 m² stand (from the net) '2711 stones placed on sloping, uneven ground in an undulating wave-like pattern, giving visitors the feeling of insecurity as though the stones were on unstable ground. Visitors can enter from all four sides, day or night, and wander on their own through the maze of stones, as though visiting a graveyard with nameless tombstones. The columns are sunk into the ground to various depths and at some places, they are higher than the heads of the visitors. There are no set paths or sign posts to guide viewers. The memorial was designed by architect Peter Eisenman to deliberately disorient visitors by having all the stones tilted slightly and paths that are not level.' You have to find out for yourself how the memorial touches you, don't forget to visit the Information Centre.

Back to the Brandenburger Tor, the area east of it was also waste land until ten years ago when the Grand Hotel Adlon (five stars +) was reopened and other buildings, many embassies among them, were built on the street Unter den Linden (Under the Linden) which starts here. This Avenue was a famous promenade before the war and has now regained some of its former splendour.

There's a lot more to see near the Friedrichstraße, but I think we should hop on Bus 100 again and go to the Alexanderplatz now and look closely at Berlin's highest building (368m, Europe's third highest structure), the TV tower, nickname: 'tele-asparagus', if you want to go up, you may have to wait for some time in front of the lifts but you'll be rewarded with the best view of the city. There is a visitor platform at the height of 204m and a restaurant rotating every 20 minutes in the middle of the sphere.