Berlin

Berlin has erased nothing of its past, and that is what makes it so gripping. The Wall split the city for twenty-eight years: one long painted stretch survives as the East Side Gallery, and a section stands untouched at the Berlin Wall Memorial. The Brandenburg Gate once sat in the middle of no man's land; it has been walked under freely since 1989. Inside the glass dome of the Reichstag Building, a ramp spirals up above the debating chamber. Five museums crowd onto Museum Island, where the painted bust of Nefertiti, more than three thousand years old, is the best-known resident. A third of the city is park, forest and lake, and people swim without ever leaving the city limits. Once it gets dark the neighbourhood cafés stay open very late, and the clubs are still going the next day.