My heart skips with a sense of excitement when I think of Berlin. It is a city that is always evolving and changing. Every time I have been to Berlin, I never fail to find something exciting that I have never seen before. After the Cold War ended, the newly reunified Berlin grabbed the opportunity and reinvented itself making it the most modern city in Europe.
I find getting around Berlin to be fairly easy. While my preferred method of transport in any European city is by foot, Berlin offers a good choice of public transit options. There are two train systems in Berlin: the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn. The U-Bahn is an underground subway system which is and fast and efficient way of getting around the city when you need to get from one place to another in a quick and efficient way. I much prefer the S-Bahn which, while slower, offers a great view of the city as the trains slip through the various neighbourhoods allowing a visitor to get a real feel for the flavor of Berlin. The S-Bahn is an above ground rail system that takes longer to travel on but is well worth the time investment.
While many aspects of Berlin are modern, history still has deep roots here. As I stood in the middle of the Brandenburg Gate, I couldn’t help but feel like I was a part of history. The Brandenburg gate has been the symbolic of Berlin and Germany since it was built in 1788-1791. It is the last remaining gate of a wall that predated the infamous cold war Berlin Wall that encircled West Berlin. I love walking through the Brandenburg gate and looking at the Reichstag and imagining what it would have been like to walk through it at various points in its storied past.
Staying in Berlin, like any other city, you have a choice of many chain hotels and various local options. I prefer to stay in one of the smaller independently run hotels when I am in Berlin. I have had good luck booking accommodations at the main train stations. I once stayed in a wonderful old prewar building with 12 foot ceilings that just oozed history.
I love visiting Berlin. It’s a wonderfully dynamic city that is ever evolving. When you visit Berlin, you never visit the same city twice. I hope you find Berlin as fascinating and fun to visit as I do.