Berlin

The heart of modern Berlin is the broad Unter den Linden (“Under The Lime Trees”). At the west end is the Brandenberg Gate (totally covered in scaffolding on my visits) and nearby the reconstructed Reichstag with its stunning glass dome designed by the British-born architect Norman Foster (frost-covered during my February visit).

The skyline is a proliferation of cranes and everywhere there is restoration and conversion. Nowhere is this change process more apparent than at the Potsdamer Platz where a phalanx of ultra modern office blocks and shopping centres has now taken form. Berlin is a city which reeks with history, notably the Nazi era of Adolf Hitler. One of the many interesting museums commemorates those brave souls who resisted the Führer and usually paid for it with their lives. The museum is located in the war-time Supreme Headquarters of the German Army in a street now named after Count von Stauffenberg who unsuccessfully attempted to blow up Hitler in July 1944.