Berlin (Germany) > Reviews > A city with a past and a future

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Sightseeing
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around

Advantages:	Good transport, lots of history, not that many tourists
Disadvantages:

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Berlin of 2000 is a wonderful city to visit and the hangovers of events of the past 100 years are plain to see. There is still a lot of differences between West and East, which are gradually merging together, but the benefits of the after events of reunification are slowly taking hold. The historical part of Berlin is in the east, as the city spread westwards (the Brandenburg gate was the former western border), and most of the dights to see are in the eastern half. Recommended above all is Checkpoint Charlie, and the museum accompanying it, which celebrates all the daring escape attemtps, honours those who didn't make it, and touches on other world episodes of human rights issues. Also in the east is Berlin Cathedral, complete with bullet holes from when the Soviets invaded in 1945. If you walk from the Brandenburg gate and follow the red line on the roads, where the wall used to stand, you will walk past a grass hill where the SS Headquarters used to stand. The building has been destroyed but parts of the underground cells remain which are now a memorial to those who suffered, including photographs. On a lighter note, Berlin is rich in bars, restaurants and cultural events of all things. The east is particularly cool!! And the transport is remarkably quick to get around. A walk along the Unter Den Linden, under the Brandeburg gate, through the Tiergarten forests is very relaxing and rewarding. I recommend you spend a few days in the city, and perhaps one out in Potsdam to visit the palace of Frederick The Great and see the place where the big three met in 1945 (but, alas, you're not allowed to sit in the chairs!!). Enjoy!