"Bitte bringen Sie mich Berlin " a Berlin Travel Page by smirnofforiginal

Berlin is large and sprawled and whilst I walked from mile before Bahnhof Zoo to Bebelplatz and miles beyond I would recommend using the very efficient transport system!

Berlin is much greener than I had anticipated - those bloody trees kept getting in the way! "I would have a fantastic shot of that if it wasn't for the sodding trees in the way" was heard many times.

And who says German's lack a sense of humour? Everybody we met was chilled and really lovely... and we managed a few laughs and jokes along the way too!

And "don't mention ze war" - In my opinion Berlin may still be licking it's wounds and building and reconstructing etc... but the war, Hitler and everything surrounding what happened is being dealt with in a sensitive but factual manner which leads me to believe that, hopefully, Berlin and indeed Germany is coming to grips with it's raw past and getting on with its future.

I am not sure quite what I expected from Berlin but it was so much more!

Berlin is large and sprawling but very easy to navigate and get about, especially with the transport which runs regularly and to time. It's is a very clean city with exceptionally clean buildings. I imagine the buildings are so clean because since reunification (which wasn't really that long ago) there has been a lot of restoration due to the damage inflicted upon the city in WWII.

What struck me about Berlin is how relaxed it is and how firendly it is. Perhaps I was just incredibly lucky but I never encountered horrendous crowds of people and when the Trabi tour guide complained about the traffic jams caused by streets being sealed off for the filming of Tom Cruise's new film (see piccie)... it was nothing compared to what I'm used to on an average day in London.

There's enough history to keep one going and lots of buildings of interest... all in all... I am really struggling to find anything that I didn't like. I really wish I had had longer in Berlin and as such I really want to go back. It's definitely got something for everybody and everybody should visit Berlin, if only the once.

This was a rare trip for me - I went to Berlin stripped of my children.

Had I have had my small people with me I couldn't possibly have got through as much as I did and neither would I have been able to absorb myself in a nice cup of Earl Grey up the Reichstag. I certainly would not have wanted to experience the rooms in the Jewish Museum with my cchildren and I could not have visited the Topographies des terrors. However, I did spend an awful lot of time thinking "my boys would love this" and "my boys would love to do that" and "I would love to take my boys there" - Berlin has so much to offer children.

Whilst in Berlin I very quickly decided I would have to re-visit and that next time I will definitely have my small fellas with me and I am convinced they will love it as much as me.