A Short Tour of Berlin

After half a century of isolation in a divided Europe, Berlin is full of metropolitan energy. Yet the city is still marked by its eventful history, a past mirrored in its disjointed urban landscape - dilapidated town houses, crumbling facades, glass and steel high-rises, a tilted gravestone inscribed in Hebrew.

The Heart of Berlin: "Mitte"

Conflict is omnipresent in Berlin, whether German, European or global, and is most obviously reflected in the city's architecture. A bus-ride down the wide avenue "Unter den Linden" in the city centre leads past the Schlossplatz, the East German Palace of the Republic down to the tatty, windswept square, Alexanderplatz. The other end of this boulevard peters out in the more representative part of Berlin's centre, where immaculately dressed businessmen and -women hurry across the historic Gendarmenmarkt, past the Schauspielhaus built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the early 19th century and the two large churches, Deutscher Dom and Französischer Dom. Fashionable restaurants border the square, offering expensive brasserie food in high-ceilinged rooms refurbished in style. Here, tourists mingle with workers from surrounding office buildings and waiters in formal attire.

The Reichstag

Not far from this more upscale part of "Mitte", is a large park, the Tiergarten. It's located close to the Reichstag, the German Parliament. The impressive building was built in 1894 by Paul Wallot. It has witnessed turbulent times and was partly destroyed in the Second World War. After German unification in 1990, the British architect Norman Foster built a huge glass dome for the Reichstag. The dome has become an architectural icon of the new Berlin. Inside the glass roof, the public can climb a winding ramp, reminiscent of the one in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. People are rewarded with a breathtaking view across the city.

From here they can see the new German chancellery - a huge building designed by architects Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank . The building houses four hundred offices for up to 500 employees. The architecture of the new chancellery is controversial: some Germans view the building as a symbol of power and needless extravagance, while others praise its clarity and openness.

The Reichstag is situated on what was once the bordering line between East and West. The Berlin Wall snaked by right behind the building. Even though there is no longer any trace of the Wall, the division between east and west Berlin sometimes still becomes obvious in everyday life - if only in people's heads.

Shopping: The Kurfürstendamm

To the West of the Reichstag lies the broad Kurfürstendamm, former West Berlin's prized cosmopolitan boulevard. Here shoppers can find expensive fashion and luxurious accessories. Side streets lead off the main road to rows of period town houses. Yet since unification, this once magnificent avenue has faded somewhat, and an increasing number of exclusive shops and traditional cafes have been forced to close due to exorbitant rents. Instead, dozens of fast-food restaurants have taken their place.

Wining and Dining: Hackescher Markt and Prenzlauer Berg

The area around the Hackescher Markt is the place to go to for small, exclusive, but still affordable restaurants offering a variety of international cuisine. The Hackescher Höfe is an Art Nouveau residential complex, just a stone's throw from the trendy district of Prenzlauer Berg. Here, the young and creative meet during the day for afternoon breakfasts, quick, creative lunches and late-night cocktails. Numerous cafés flank the pavements and galleries and small shops are tucked away in side streets.

In Prenzlauer Berg, the recent change Berlin has undergone is more than obvious: Up to two thirds of the pre-war apartment houses in the area have been thoroughly renovated and restored back to their original beauty. House fronts have been freshly painted and stucco decorations around windows and doorwayss painstakingly repaired. But some facades are still waiting for a face-lift: the newly refurbished houses are often right next to similar, but still grey, worn, houses. On some of these, you can still see wartime bullet holes in the stone.

The Museum Island

Just a short walk away is the Museumsinsel, the Museum island. Here, the Pergamon Museum of antiquities is situated, close to three other museums currently undergoing renovation. The Museum island was created by the Prussian leaders in their effort to make Berlin an important capital, similar to London or Paris.

City of Contrasts

Today, Berlin is once again striving to become a modern, European capital. The developments at the Postdamer Platz, with its newly-built skyscrapers and numerous construction sites are proof of the city's attempt to present itself as a modern, glamorous metropolis. Yet remnants of more recent history prevail only a half hours train journey away from the centre, with its bustling streets, historic sites and treasure-filled museums. On the eastern fringe of the city, skeletons of those pre-fabricated concrete apartment blocks so typical of the former GDR-era stand almost empty. Their inhabitants have left these grey towers in search for a more promising future. However, a walk through these areas gives a basic impression of what life might have been like in Eastern Germany only a decade ago.

In these districts, visitors are soon surprised by the amount of green spaces between the mass of dreary skyscrapers, otherwise difficult to see when driving past. It strikes one as remarkable that from one street corner to the next, high-rise apartment blocks give way to fresh green woods and clear lakes. Here too, hidden artworks can be found, tucked away between the buildings.

These contrasts make Berlin such a fascinating city. A provincial air still pervades much of a city divided for half a century. During this period, the Western half of Berlin was heavily subsidised by the FRG, while the communists who ruled in the other half, tried to make East Berlin a showcase of the Communist Block. Berlin still has a rawness, a sense of edginess that other capitals seem to have lost. The current sense of excitement and change makes a visit to this city a memorable and captivating experience.