Potsdammer Platz in Berlin’s Mitte district may look and feel like a busy intersection filled with tall buildings, cinemas and shops. But like much of Berlin its significance runs much deeper; in many ways Potsdamer Platz physically embodies the city’s unification, the principals of urban renewal and Germany’s renaissance. During the belle époque, Postsdamer Platz was an elegant thoroughfare. It was flanked by graceful grand hotels and palaces and was a popular meeting place for the elite. By the 1920s it had taken on a ‘Times Square’ ambiance, with cabarets, beer halls, neon lights and lots of lots of traffic. Appropriately, Potsdamer Platz can also lay claim to Europe’s first traffic lights which were controlled manually by traffic policemen: a replica of one can be seen today in the same spot where it first stood. WW2 of course put an end to all this of course, and most of Potsdamer Platz was destroyed during the Allied air raids. During the Cold War, the Berlin wall ran straight through it, with a wide strip being occupied by the infamous ‘No Man’s Land’. When the wall came down in 1990 local authorities were quick to contact top tier architects for this stellar ...

Berlin is full of historically significant architecture, both old and new. But perhaps none reaches the same emotive heights, nor manages to fuse both classical and contemporary elements, quite like the Reichstag. As most history students know, the Reichstag is the seat of the German Bundestag, or federal government. The original building dates from 1884 and from here on in it became the stage for many of Germany’s most dramatic events. In 1916 it was inscribed with the iconic words Dem Deutschen Volke (‘To the German people’), much to the displeasure of King Wilhelm II. Soon after he abdicated, Germany was proclaimed a republic from one the Reichstag’s windows. However Germany’s years of democracy were short lived. In 1933 the Reichstag suffered a severe fire. Although it origins were never clear, Hitler and the salient NSDAP party seized the opportunity and blamed a communist, kick-starting the horrors of WW2. In divided Germany, the country had two seats of power: one in West Berlin and the other in Bonn. But after 1990 when many of Germany’s institutions were moved back to Berlin, it was decided that the Reichstag would again house the Bundestag, The British architect Sr. Norman Foster was given ...

The remodeled Neues Museum is the first stage of prolific British architect David Chipperfield’s master plan for Berlin’s ‘Museum Island’ in the Mitte District. The neo-classical Neues Museum was built between 1841-1850 by Friedrich August Stüler. From its earliest history the museum has been renowned for its collection of Egyptian art; antiquities that were bought by Prussian adventurers during the age of exploration. One of its overall highlights is a delicate (and much photographed) bust of Queen Nefertiti, whose original colour and form has been preserved since the Amarna period The Neues Museum was severely bombed during WW2 and most of its remaining collection moved to other museums for safekeeping. The building however was left to the elements until 1997, when David Chipperfield won an international competition to make the Neues new again. The project was completed in late 2009 and immediately praised as a modern masterpiece: not just in large-scale restoration but also in re-thinking museum layout and design. Chipperfield carried out the project within the framework of the Charter of Venice, which demands respect and reverence for historical nuance. The original sequence of the rooms was restored and where interventions were made they didn’t compete with original materials ...

The Cold War’s most potent symbol met its end on November 9th 1989, when it was spontaneously hacked apart by joyful East and West Berliners. Over its 28-year history the Berlin Wall had claimed hundreds of lives (the exact number is still unknown) and forged a 150km-long division through the city: politically, physically and idealistically. The wall was dismantled very soon after unification and chunks of it were sold off as souvenirs (you may still see some around, though locals joke that if every piece sold were the genuine article, the wall must have been a thousand times as long). Today there are a few places to see what’s left, or at least where it was. The most extensive, and certainly the most colourful, is the so-called East Side Gallery. Running parallel to the river between Ostbahnhof and Oberbaumbrüke in the Friedrichshain neighbourhood, it is the world’s largest open-air museum, where over a hundred German and international artists left images, messages and graffiti along the remnants of the wall. Works to seek out include a huge flag mural by Gunther Schaefer representing key events in Germany’s history that led to the construction of the wall. Another is a pop art ...

Not far in distance but seemingly world’s away from the hip restaurants, design boutiques and bohemian vibe of the Mitte area, stately and graceful Charlottenburg is a reminder of the glories of the German Empire. The area was named after Sophia Charlotte of Hannover, a Prussian Queen Consort. Her Baroque Palace (the La Gazette de Berlin! | Since 2006 Holiday Velvet offers Berlin accommodation.

Because no matter what you are looking for in a holiday, Berlin has it all. Shopping, culture including street art, museums, theatre and opera, nightlife in cafes and clubs, leisure in parks and on beaches – there is nothing you won’t find, and this variety makes Berlin my dream destination every year. My favourites: Berlin Kreuzberg has been a no-go area for many years but has developed into the best hub for artists and youth culture, offering countless bars and trendy shops, especially on Orienburger Straße. But before you hit them, you should eat the best Currywurst you’ll find in Germany at Konnopke Imbiss in Schönhauser Allee a food stall that has existed since 1901. Mitte in East Berlin offers dozens of museums and galleries and is slated as the future centre of town. A highlight is the Museumsinsel (Island of Museums) and in particular the Pergamon Museum, the most visited museum in Germany. Don’t miss sitting on the stairs of the Pergamon Altar or walking through the Ishtar Gate, a relic from the ancient city of Babylon. It always make me feel like I have left the modern world and been transported back centuries. The TV Tower on Alexanderplatz is ...

In the Mitte district of Berlin, there are always places to eat and drink at all times of the day and night, set to a backdrop of Berlin’s greatest historical sights and more contemporary iconic buildings and monuments. Typical places that serve German food are Tacheles, Obst and Gemuese, Café Silberstein, and Café Orange, which has a stunning interior décor complemented by high ceilings and opulent chandeliers. Together with the best of German food there is also a choice of Italian dishes. Mitte, Berlin, is considered by many Berliners as the real centre of the city and there are many restaurants and eateries that offer the very best in German food, such as: • Café Restaurant Berlin, in Gleimstrasse 24, which presents a traditional German breakfast and a variety of German regional dishes throughout the day and evening; • Schinkel-Klause is located at Unter den Linden, 5, and is a German restaurant within the Opera House. Typical dishes on the menu include Berliner Weisse and Berliner Eisbein, with the quantity of food on the plate is eye-wateringly big; • Brecht Keller is at Chausseestrasse, 125, and is a renowned basement restaurant in the former home of the famous writer, Brecht. Some of the ...

This year, 2009, was the thirteenth Berlin Beer Festival and it ran from the 7th until the 9th of August. Themes for the beer festival vary and in 2008 the theme was a thousand years of Czech beer brewing culture. In 2009, the theme was all about the great beer brewing country, Belgium. Of course, at the Berlin Beer Festival there are fine examples of beers from every brewing country, especially Germany, but in 2009, twelve Belgian breweries including Brouwerij Housebrouck and Ingelmunster were at the festival promoting their beers. Another of the Belgian breweries attending the beer festival was St. Louis Kriek, which was nominated as one of the two festival beers. The beer is renowned for its fresh cherries and distinctive flavour which includes the taste of almonds thanks to the cherry stones being part of the brewing process. The other nominated festival beer of 2009 was Grimbergen Dubbel which is produced by Alken-Maes and is a beer that is full-bodied and dark due to the double fermentation during the brewing process. It is a beer that is brewed by Cistercian monks who drink it from goblets. It tastes good however it is drunk! Other beers that marked out ...

Schoenberg is Berlin’s gay district and has been an exciting part of Berlin since the 1920s and 1930s. Christopher Isherwood wrote his play, ‘I am a camera’ based on life in Schoenberg during the 1930s. Later, the play became the musical, ‘Cabaret’ where the spirit of Schoenberg was so well encapsulated. Today, Schoenberg is even more popular and every night people flood into its many bars and clubs to see and be seen and to party into the small hours. Beguine is a friendly bar where women meet to chat or to attend talks, dances, concerts and book launches. The bar is near Goltzstraße and Nollendorfplatz and the food and atmosphere are both excellent. Although it is predominantly for lesbians, there is no bar on men enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. Cafe Berio is a bar that is mostly frequented by gay men. The bar is situated in Nollendorfplatz, and is a popular place to meet and chat during the day. In the evening, the bar rapidly fills with men enjoying a few drinks before going on to one of the clubs in the area. Tom's Bar, is on the corner of Eisenacher Strasse and is one of the longest established gay ...

Berlin has two international airports that serve the city, Berlin Tegel and Berlin-Schönefeld. BERLIN TEGEL AIRPORT Berlin Tegel Airport is the closest to Berlin and is the airport used by major international carriers including the German companies, Lufthansa and Air Berlin. To get to Berlin from Tegel Airport is not a problem as the airport is almost within the city boundary. There are local trains and express trains that pass through Tegel Station but do not go to the actual airport itself. However, the JetExpress TXL bus connects Tegel Airport to Beusselstraße S-Bahn station in only ten minutes and connects to the main railway station in Berlin, Berlin Hauptbahnhof station, in about twenty minutes. The X9 is a bus route that connects Tegel Airport to the heart of Berlin and bus 109 goes from Tegel Airport to Jakob-Kaiser Platz U-Bahn station in little more than five minutes. The 109 also goes from Tegel Airport to Charlottenburg S-Bahn and the Regional Express station, in just under twenty-five minutes; and the 109 takes a little over half an hour to get from Tefel Airport to the Zoologischer Garten U-Bahn/S-Bahn/Regional Express station. Tickets for all the buses can be bought at the airport or at ...