>For a city that has endured so much in the last century, taking the 40min bus ride from Berlin’s Flughafen Tegel to the city center, on the face of it, reveals little in the way of the devastation brought about by years of conflict between 1939 and ’45.

Bold architectural statements now dominate the city, interspersed between the many historical buildings that remain or have been rebuilt post ’45. The first most striking of these is the Hauptbahnhof; an elegant glass structure that would seem to defy the conflicts that have so dominated Germany’s history. A structure built from the foundations of a renewed self belief and proclamation that Berlin has seen the last of conflict, for such a structure would, unlike those of masonry which still bare the scars of the past, stand the brutal consequences it brings.

And, of course, there is the addition to the refurbished Reichstag in 1999 by Norman Foster, which I chose to admire from the outside. Arriving late, having had to negotiate the men’s 50KM walk, taking place as part of the World Athletic Championships being held in Berlin, I refrained from part-taking in that supposedly very British pastime of queuing!

Like all major cities, Berlin has its fair share of museums and art galleries. Ordinarily as a tourist I would visit as many as possible in the time in which I’m in a place, but with marathon events taking place over the weekend, and with the weather being a pleasant 29C most days, I chose to spend my time meandering the streets, sitting in Café’s and taking time out in the Lustgarten to read and watch life (and the odd Marathon runner) go by.

No visit to Berlin is complete without going to see the last remnants of the Berlin Wall and ‘Checkpoint Charlie‘. It so happens that this year is the 20th anniversary since the momentous day when East Germans were allowed to visit the West. Crowds gathered on both sides of the wall resulting in some of the most memorable and historical moments ever captured on film, relayed the world over. It was the beginning of the end for the one physical entities of the Iron Curtain that had separated East from West, post WWII.