City with a past and an incredible future

I must admit that what I knew about Berlin could have been written on the back of a postage stamp before my visit.

One of my recollections was the visit of President Kennedy in 1963 and his famous saying, "Ich bin ein Berliner" to a crowd of 120,000.

Literally translated this apparently means "I am a doughnut" to the locals so perhaps he was in the same situations as me as I stepped off the aeroplane.

I had arrived via BA Connect, a new daily low cost link to the German capital from Birmingham Airport operated by British Airways, with fares starting at £39.

BA's thinking seems to be that Berlin is the up and coming city in Europe and by offering reasonably priced tickets, it will be able to attract both business and tourist traffic.

Interestingly, more British visitors than anyone else choose to visit the city - 247,161 went there last year a rise of 19 per cent on the previous year's figure.

So I was not exactly blazing a trail as there is a huge marketing push to attract as many visitors as possible to the city.

But although my visit was brief, I was able to appreciate exactly why that is the case.

Berlin is a city in a state of flux there is a massive amount of construction taking place virtually everywhere you look.

It is literally re-inventing itself as a major centre of European capital and culture, a position it occupied happily at the turn of the 20th century.

There are 175 museums, 135 theatres and it is the only city in the world with three opera houses.

Determined culture buffs will have a field day but that is just part of the Berlin story.

Rarely will you find a place so steeped in recent history it is impossible not to be aware of it every minute you spend in the city.

This was where Hitler had his bunker which I was amused to find was now the site of a car park. Part of it still apparently exists, although is not open to the public.

Imposing buildings, once the headquarters of the Nazi party, have now been transformed into banks and offices.

The Berliners now seem willing to acknowledge the horrors of World War Two and the key role the city played in the final days of the conflict.

While I was there I also visited an exhibition of pictures and recordings of the Nuremberg trials, starkly pitched against the backdrop of part of the Berlin Wall. This was an eery but fascinating experience as was a visit to the Jewish memorial, a modern piece of architecture which is truly haunting.

The Berlin Wall itself is now available to view in very small sections, as a living memorial, while Checkpoint Charlie, the American-guarded gateway to East Berlin, has been preserved, sandbags and all.

The wall had effectively divided East and West, communism and capitalism, for 40 years but as I stepped through the Brandenburg Gate, just a small row of cobbles marks where it ran, with people obliviously cycling and walking through the area.

Now all efforts are being put into matching east with west _ hence the massive rebuuilding work to replace the tenament blocks with smart, modern buildings. In a few years you won't be able to tell where the East ended and the West began.

I stayed at the five star Westin Grand situated on Friedrichstrasse which runs between the old East and West parts of the city with the hotel situated in what was the East side.

This is again a hugely impressive piece of architecture and has an octagonal ground floor around which each storey is built.

The rooms are extremely comfortable and the food superb - especially the breakfasts where it is possible to have anything you wanty from champagne to a 'full English!' It also revels in nostalgia holding events themed around the 1920s when Berlin was booming. And with prices starting around 128 euros, (under £90), for a room, it is remarkably good value given its central location.

No wonder then that the Berlin tourist board is promoting the city heavily for conferences with 156 hotels offering conference facilities, catering for 3.8 million delegates last year.

There are six conference centres and halls on the River Spree with business traffic being directed through the Berlin Convention Office with characteristic German efficiency.

With a little thought, it could still be possible to arrange a conference with a chance of delegates being able to see some of the World Cup which would be a neat incentive/reward.

Some of the rounds and the final are being staged at the Olympiastadion, scene of the infamous 1936 Nazi Olympics and now given a £165m facelift.

But don't just rely on the football Berlin has an incredible amount to offer and I felt as if I had barely scratched the surface.

I would like to return and delve deeper into that melting pot of culture, history and regeneration which proved so fascinating on this occasion.

Contacts: www.berlin-tourist-information.de www.ba.com www.westin.com